Seasonal Salinity Trends in Central and Southern Biscayne Bay, Florida
Publication: Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
Volume 29, Issue 3
Abstract
Salinity in estuaries varies naturally due to tides, weather, geomorphology, freshwater flow, climate, and sea level. Before the 1950s, water management in southern Florida focused on diverting freshwater to the ocean to make historic wetlands more amenable to development and to protect human life. However, current water management activities aim to restore wetlands and estuaries while maintaining flood control and drinking water for the human population. Due to anthropogenic alteration, the spatiotemporal variability in salinity within Biscayne Bay, Florida, is a significant concern for ecosystem restoration under the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP). This study aims to analyze daily seasonal salinity trends within the Bay and quantify the change in salinity per year (salinity slope). Salinity data, collected at 30 stations within the central and southern regions of Biscayne Bay over 16 years (2005–2020), were examined for trends. The nonparametric seasonal Kendall trend test, at a 0.05 significance level, was used for the analysis. Results of the trend analysis show that salinity slopes were consistently positive (indicating increasing salinity over time) in the southern portion of the study area and negative (indicating decreasing salinity over time) in the northern portion of the study area. Throughout the study region, most salinity slopes were positive in the wet season and negative in the dry season. The study results show trends in seasonal salinity, which helps in understanding changes in this region. This study will aid future management efforts within Biscayne Bay.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or codes used during the study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request. Salinity data for the study area were obtained from the DBHYDRO-SFWMD environmental database (https://apps.sfwmd.gov/WAB/EnvironmentalMonitoring/index.html). The package used for SK trend tests is from the EnvStats package of R software, version 2.7.0 (Millard 2013). The package used for spatial analysis is from the gstat package of R software, version 2.1-0 (Gräler et al. 2016; Pebesma and Wesseling 1998).
Acknowledgments
This research was funded by a NOAA/Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory grant to the Northern Gulf Institute (Award No. NA210AR4320190). This research was also supported by the intramural research program of the US Department of Agriculture, National Institute of Food and Agriculture (Hatch Accession No. 7004342).
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Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
Volume 29 • Issue 3 • June 2024
Copyright
© 2024 American Society of Civil Engineers.
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Received: May 16, 2023
Accepted: Dec 18, 2023
Published online: Feb 29, 2024
Published in print: Jun 1, 2024
Discussion open until: Jul 29, 2024
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