| Description |
During the last few decades, the coastal environments of south Florida have shown signs of ecological deterioration that has been attributed to changes in freshwater inflows caused by management practices and corresponding increases of salinity and nutrient content in estuarine waters. With plans to restore water levels in the Southern Golden Gate Estates area north of Tamiami Trail to more natural conditions, changes are expected in the amount, timing, and distribution of freshwater discharge through bridges and culverts under US-41, and therefore altering current conditions in the wetlands and estuaries to the south. Bathymetric and hydrologic information throughout the Ten Thousand Islands Aquatic Preserve and adjacent ecosystems is critical for the development and calibration of hydrodynamic models that would help with the evaluation of restoration results. With construction of the Southern Golden Gate Estates Hydrologic Restoration and Tamiami Trail Culvert projects underway, the need to determine the physical characteristics of rivers and bays within the areas to the south of US-41 that will be greatly impacted by both of these projects, becomes even more urgent. There are significant physical information gaps throughout the wetlands and estuaries within the study area that still need to be addressed. Among these gaps are the bathymetry of rivers and bays of the Ten Thousand Islands Preserve, estimates of freshwater flows across the Trail, groundwater information within the marshes south of Tamiami Trail (including Specific Conductance/salinity), flows at or near the mouth of tributaries for the determination of contaminant transport, water level, and salinity data throughout the area. This report serves as an archive of processed single-beam bathymetry data that were collected offshore from Wiggins Pass to Cape Romano, Florida in 2005. Geographic information system data products include a XYZ data, bathymetric contours, and USGS quadrangle map. Additional files include formal Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) metadata. [More]
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