Everglades Depth Estimation Network: Integrating Real-time Networks to Provide Hydrologic Data for the Restoration of the Everglades

Successful restoration of the Everglades depends on restoring or approximating the former natural volume, timing, and distribution of wetland sheetflow and the corresponding response of the natural system to these changes. The Everglades Depth Estimation Network (EDEN) is a network of over 280 real-time water-level gages maintained by multiple State and Federal agencies including the South Florida Water Management District, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Everglades National Park, and Big Cypress National Preserve (fig. 1). The real-time water-level data is integrated with ground-elevation and real-time water-surface modeling results and provides scientists and managers with current (2000-present), on-line water-depth information for the entire freshwater portion of the greater Everglades. Presented on a 400-square-meter grid spacing, EDEN offers a consistent and documented dataset that can be used by scientists and managers to guide large-scale field operations, integrate hydrologic and ecological responses, and support biological and ecological assessments that measure ecosystem responses to the implementation of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan. Data from the multiple agencies are combined in the USGS National Water Information System (NWIS) database and then served real-time by NWISweb to scientists, managers, and the general public. The water-level surfaces are posted on the EDENweb. By combining the daily water-level surfaces with the ground-elevation model and using the EDEN applications, a full suite of hydrologic data is made available to scientists and others including: water depth, hydroperiod, water-surface slope, surface animations of water elevation and water depth over time, and transects of water depth animated over time. EDEN's computations of these important ecological drivers provide biologists and ecologists with the data necessary to examine landscape and trophic-level responses to hydrodynamic changes in the Everglades. In addition, the EDENweb serves as a portal to NWISweb for all the EDEN gages. Challenges in establishing, prototyping, and maintaining the EDEN network will be presented.