Site Name:
State,
Country, ETC: Southern
extent of the
Dade and
USGS Quad Name (if applicable): Long Island, Panther Mound, Pa-Hay-Okee Lookout Tower, Tarpon Bay, Harney River, Whitewater Bay West, Royal Palm Ranger Station, Madeira Bay, Joe Bay, Blackwater Sound, Royal Palm Ranger Station Southeast, Calusa Keys, and Schooner Bank.
POC Name: Linda Powell, FCE Information Manager
POC Address: OE 148, FCE LTER, SERC, Florida International University, University Park, Miami, Florida 33199.
POC Phone: (305) 348-6125
POC FAX: (305) 348-4096
POC E-mail: powell@fiu.edu
NSF Note: This POC will only be relevant for the LTER sites. The others would likely be listed under a generic NSF POC.
For a Circular Site or Point: (note: a site with a nine nautical mile diameter is considered a point)
Diameter of Circular Site in Nautical Miles:
Center Coordinates:
Latitude in deg/min/sec:
Longitude in deg/min/sec:
For a non-circular site:
NE Corner
Latitude in deg/min/sec: 25 45 41.10
Longitude in deg/min/sec: -80 43 38.64
SE Corner
Latitude in deg/min/sec: 25 10 44.10 Longitude in deg/min/sec: -80 29 22.98
SW Corner
Latitude in deg/min/sec: 25 54 46.26
Longitude in deg/min/sec: -80 56 17.28
NW Corner
Latitude in deg/min/sec: 25 21 52.70
Longitude in deg/min/sec: -81 04 40.60
Elevation of Center Point in Meters: Approximately 1.5m above SL (range = 2m to 0m)
Frequency of Collection: (collection of field data) Ranges from
continuously (water quality, hydrology) to bi-monthly (NPP, consumer biomass)
to annually (soil nutrients).
When (time of day or season or
whatever) should data be collected? Remotely
sensed imagery should be collected in March or April. This optimizes chances of cloudless days
while also capturing springtime plant conditions and minimal water levels on
wetlands.
Resolution needed from data
(or scale needed): Our transect sites
are kilometers apart, but at each site much of our sampling occurs on scales of
0.25 ha to 1m X 1m quadrats. Pixel resolution of 10m should be
sufficient.
What is the impact of not
collecting the data when requested? Cloudless
days are very rare in south Florida between mid-May and October, and are
unpredictable from November-January.
During the wet season (June November), water depths on Everglades
wetlands can exceed 1m and this obscures much of the landscape and
vegetation. March - April is the best
time to not only capture this wetland landscape when it is dry (or when water
depths are minimal) but also when cloudless days are most likely.
Describe the things or phenomena to be monitored and the purpose of the monitoring. Include information about the duration needed for monitoring to be effective.
Many FCE LTER questions
focus on dynamics at the estuarine ecotone, where
freshwater and estuarine wetlands meet.
This ecotone is dynamic in the landscape in
response to changing freshwater inflow (with Everglades restoration), sealevel rise (climate change responses), and disturbance
(particularly hurricanes and fire). It
is critical that we be able to document changes in the ecotonal
landscape on a regular basis in order to be able to model ecological phenomena
in this zone. To do this, we suggest
that remotely sensed imagery be collected at no more than 5 year
intervals.
What ecosystems are present at the site?
Freshwater wetlands, tree
islands/hammocks within the freshwater wetland landscape, mangrove estuaries,
open water estuary (Florida Bay), mangrove keys within the open water estuarine
landscape.
Are there management issues associated with the site?
Yesnumerous management
issues are associated with contemporary water use and management policies, with
the fact that the entire FCE LTER Program is located in Everglades National
Park, and ultimately with the close connection between the FCE LTER and
Everglades restoration.
Is the site designated for special management or use (e.g. long term studies, specially reserved regions)?
The entire FCE LTER Program is located in Everglades
National Park.
Have previous monitoring activities been done at this site? If so, are data available in digital form?
Yes, several outside
organizations have conducted monitoring activities at or near the FCE LTER
Sites and the digital data
and reports are available online:
1) Southeast Environmental Research Center Water
Quality Monitoring Network-http://serc.fiu.edu/wqmnetwork/
2) Seagrass
Ecosystems Research Lab at Florida International University Seagrass
Monitoring-
http://www.fiu.edu/~seagrass/
3) Many additional monitoring projects conducted by the USGS and Everglades National Park-
searchable at http://sofia.usgs.gov/
Describe any special characteristics of the site or the things or phenomena that are to be monitored (information that might help determine how it might be useful to monitor the things or phenomena at the site).
NONE