The Biscayne Bay model was developed over the years with support from SeaGrant, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, NOAA Coastal Ocean Program, National Park Service, and Dade County Department of Environmental Resource Management to determine the effects of changing the freshwater volumes discharged to the bay through canals, sheetflow, and groundwater.  The model predicts flows and salinities and their changes.  The present model application is focused on the less impacted south Biscayne Bay and results are used to better understand ecosystem dynamics through the use of population dynamics models of for example sponges and fishes. 

Biscayne Bay Model Topography

Related CMEA Research Projects

The slides show typical velocity fields over a tidal cycle. The direction and magnitude of flow is indicated by the sticks and the magnitude is also indexed by color which varies red-orange-yellow-green-blue with decreasing strength. The stage of the tide is indicated in the inset graph. In the interest of clarity, only a fraction of the high resolution model information is shown in a plot.

Flood Velocity Field

Ebb Velocity Field

Simulations have been run for several 31-year scenarios of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Project using historical information on meteorology. Runoff was obtained from simulations with the Water Management Model of the South Florida Water Management District.

A paper entitled  "Flows, Salinity and Some Implications for Larval Transport in South Biscayne Bay, Florida" was recently published in the Bulletin of Marine Science.

latest revision: 20 February 2004