Florida’s Coral Reef Water Quality Data Compilation, Analysis, and Decision Support Year 5

Florida’s Coral Reef (FCR) has been facing a range of anthropogenic and biophysical stressors over the last several decades that have led to widespread declines in coral cover. One of the key concerns for FCR has been adverse water quality, which is affected by numerous factors that include pollution, land-use change, weather events, and water diversions. However, FCR stretches 350 miles with diverse localized and regional pressures that cause significant variation in water quality. As a result, efforts to monitor water quality on FCR are made up of a series of discrete regional field sampling programs, continuous sampling with autonomous instruments, and remotely-sensed and satellite- derived analyses. Thus, it is challenging to combine these disparate sources of water quality data to create a comprehensive picture of historical and current water quality trends across FCR. The water quality monitoring data aggregation and analysis project addressed this challenge by developing a unified water quality database ranging from Martin County in the northeast to the Dry Tortugas in the southwest of FCR. During year 5 of this project, the water quality team updated and improved the water quality database made up of 8 programs meeting the compatibility criteria, conducted inventory and methods analyses for ‘abiotic’ water quality and biological and ecological monitoring programs, contributed to statewide water quality management teams, investigated the capabilities of SEACAR to automate data aggregation, and investigated fine-scale patterns of water quality from pulse events. 

The unified water quality database is now updated with data through 2024 for 8 programs collecting discrete nutrient and water clarity that meet inclusion criteria developed in previous years of the project. After feedback from data providers and stakeholders, the team rebuilt the database using a more rigorous and replicable QA/QC process that better represents long-term monitoring datasets. Trend analyses, web maps, and visualization tools were updated to include 2024 data and reflect the improved QA/QC. The team supported and contributed to the Florida’s Coral Reef Coordination Team (FCRCT) and FCRRP Water quality team throughout the year by attending and presenting at meetings. The team completed two tasks to directly address priority actions for the FCRCT’s Unified Water Quality Monitoring Framework. The team conducted an inventory and methods analysis for programs monitoring abiotic parameters including temperature, salinity, pH, and dissolved oxygen to address action 1, an inventory of water quality monitoring on FCR. The team addressed action 2 by completing an inventory and methods analysis of biological and ecological monitoring programs on the FCR and associated ecosystems. Both inventories have interactive web maps where survey locations can be filtered by parameter, method, and other relevant categories. Using the large collection of data aggregated in this project, the team conducted a fine-scale analysis of water quality trends based on water quality parameters along with in situ observations of abiotic factors such as precipitation, river discharge, and salinity. The water quality and in situ abiotic data is complemented by satellite remote sensing data which provides synoptic views of the study area. 

In previous project years, the water quality team identified the Statewide Ecosystem Assessment of Coastal and Aquatic Resources (SEACAR) Data Discovery Interface as a potential solution for automating the unified water quality database. The team met with DEP and SEACAR staff to discuss what integration and automation would require. The research team produced a document investigating the differences between the data availability and QA/QC process on SEACAR and the water quality database to help direct future work on integration.