Field Programs: The FACE EnvironmentalMonitoring ProgramA long-term monthly water quality-sampling program for thesoutheast Florida coast will begin in 2009. The program willbuild a multi-year database of ocean currents (direction andvelocity) and seawater temperature along depth profiles atspecific sites in Florida’s east coast (see below).Specific analytes include temperature, salinity, depth,ammonia (NH3+), nitrite (NO2-), nitrate (NO3-), orthophosphate(PO4-3), silica (SiO2-2), and chlorophyll-a, total suspendedsolids (TSS), turbidity and pH. Measurements will be made atvarious depths to obtain vertical profiles. The data will beavailable to the public in accord with NOAA policy.Results of the program will be used in the elucidation ofenvironmental questions such as the quantitation of thecontribution of the various sources of nutrients into Florida’scoastal ocean.FACETheFloridaFloridaAreaCoastalCoastalEnvironmentEnvironmentProgramProgramNOAA/AOMLMiami, FloridaTheFlorida AreaCoastal Environment(FACE) ProgramThomas P. CarseyJack StamatesNOAAAtlantic Oceanographic andMeteorological Laboratory4301 Rickenbacker CausewayMiami, Florida 33149Tel: 305-361-4386Fax: 305-361-4392Email:Thomas.P.Carsey@noaa.govJack.Stamates@noaa.gov @noaa.govhttp://www.aoml.noaa.gov/themes/CoastalRegional/projects/FACE/faceweb.htmMarch 2009Sampling sites for the FACE monitoring program.VisionThe Florida Area Coastal Environment (FACE) program wascreated in 2004 to obtain the scientific knowledge and long-termdata needed to address key scientific issues of concern forenvironmentally compatible infrastructure operation, regulation,and coastal management. This program supports the keyNOAA mission goal to protect, restore, and manage the use ofcoastal and ocean resources through an ecosystem approach tomanagement.The FACE project is primarily concerned with anthropogenicdischarges in the Florida’s coastal ocean. FACE fieldoperations includes collecting a wide range of physical,biological, and chemical oceanographic measurements suchas ocean currents, nutrients,stable isotopes, acousticremote sensing of plumes, microbiological monitoring, andcoral reef health monitoring. These measurements willevolve into multi-year data sets to be employed to developan overall under-standing of the near-shore environment.This understanding will then be applied to answerenvironmental issues from a viewpoint that includesregulatory realities as well as environmental concerns.Geographic AreaCurrently, the FACE program isfocused on the coastal waters ofFlorida from Miami-Dade to BrevardCounty. This region includes a variety of economically significant recreational activities(fishing, diving,boating) and several coral reeftracks. These seven counties arehome to over 6.4 million people(2005). Their coastal waters supportFlorida’s $33.4B tourist industry,where sport fishing alone generated$3.5B and employed 58,000 peoplein 1996.1Nutrients in the Coastal OceanDissolved nutrients (nitrate, nitrite,ammonia, phosphate, silicate) arenecessary for life in the coastal ocean. However, excess nutrientsmay be harmful. They have been implicated in changes in primaryproduction, episodes of harmfulalgal blooms, marked changes inplant communities and diversity,changes in seawater transparencyand color, and other undesirable effects.3There are several probablesources of nutrients to the coastal ocean regions of Florida, includingthe following:Coastal inlets.Southeast Florida is characterized by lagoons withwidely separated inlets. The inlets are the primary means ofdrainage for a large portion of southeastern Florida (including majorcanals). This area includes significant agriculture and industry, and arapidly increasing population.Ground Water Seepageis known to be an important contributor ofnutrients (especially nitrate) to the coastal ocean in some regions ofFlorida.4Ground water seepage may be contaminated with variouschemicals from septic tanks, polluted aquifers, landfills, injectedtreated wastewater, or agricultural chemicals, and can transportthese materials to the coastal ocean. The contribution of groundwater seepage has not been adequately evaluated in the FACEregion.Oceanic upwellingof deep, cooler water near shore has beenobserved off Florida’s east coast.5These waters are known to beenriched in nutrients. However, the quantity, duration, andseasonality of the upwelled nutrient contribution to the coastalnutrient budget has not been determined.Atmospheric depositionhas been shown to be the principal source ofnitrogen in some river systems in Florida.6It has been implicated incausing toxic algal blooms (e.g.,Karenia brevis).7Its importance forFlorida’s coastal waters is not known.Outfalls. There are six WTP releasepipes (outfalls) in southeastFlorida. Outfall effluent may contain nutrients (nitrate and phosphate),metals, pathogens, and pharmaceuticals.8The WTPs are monitoredand comply with current Florida standards. Their impact on thenutrient balance in the ocean is currently under study.FACE PublicationsJR Proni, H Huang, WP Dammann.Initial Dilution of SoutheastFlorida Ocean Outfalls.J. Hydraul. Eng. 120: 1409-1425,1994.TP Carsey, R Ferry, KD Goodwin, PB Ortner, JR Proni, PKSwart, J-Z Zhang.Brevard County Nearshore Ocean Nutrification Analysis.NOAA Technical Report OAR-AOML-37, July2005.R Wanninkhof, KF Sullivan, WP Dammann, JR Proni, F Bloetscher, AV Soloviev, and TP Carsey.Farfield tracing of a pointsource discharge plume in the coastal ocean using sulfurhexafluoride.Environ. Sci. Technol. 39: 8883-8890, 2005.M Adler, N Amornthammarong, J Bishop, F Bloetscher, TPCarsey, J Craynock, S Cummings, WP Dammann, C Drayer, CFeatherstone, KD Goodwin, D Meerhoff, JR Proni, E Peltola, DPierrot, C Sinigalliano, PK Swart, J Stamates, KF Sullivan, RWanninkhof, J-Z Zhang.Final Report: An investigation of theSouth Central Regional Wastewater Treatment Ocean Outfalland Coastal Environment,NOAA, January 2009.TP Carsey, N Amornthammarong, J Bishop, F Bloetscher, CBrown, J Craynock, S Cummings, WP Dammann, C Featherstone, KD Goodwin, D Meerhoff, JR Proni, C Sinigalliano, PKSwart, J Stamates, J-Z Zhang.Boynton Inlet 48-Hour SamplingIntensives, June and September 2007.NOAA Technical Report(in press, 2009).TP Carsey, KD Goodwin, J Hendee, JR Proni, C Sinigalliano, JStewart, J-Z Zhang, N Amornthammarong, J Craynock, S Cummings, WP Dammann, C Featherstone, J Stamates, KF Sullivan.A glimpse of the Florida Area Coastal Environment (FACE)program.Presented at the 11thInternational Coral Reef Symposium, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, 7-11 July 2008. Proceedings ofthe 11thInternational Coral Reef Symposium, Ft. Lauderdale,Florida, 7-11 July 2008, in press.HistoryThe FACE program is an outgrowth of scientific efforts that havebeen ongoing for more than two decades at AOML. TheSoutheast Florida Outfall Experiment(SEFLOE)2was a pioneeringstudy using acoustically guidedchemical and biological sampling to investigate the behavior of a Wastewater TreatmentPlant (WTP) effluent plume discharged into the Florida Currentduring various oceanographic conditions. This study was instrumental in the development of legislation by the state government of Florida.3R. Howarth, R. Marino, and D. Scavia,Nutrient pollution in coastal waters:Priority topics for an integrated nationalresearch program for the United States,NOAA, 2003.4e.g., D. Capone and M. Baustista,A groundwater source of nitrate in nearshore marine sediments,Nature 313, 214, 1985.5N. Smith,Temporal and special characteristics of summer upwelling alongFlorida’s Atlantic shelf,J. Phys. Oceanogr.13, 1715, 1983.6Winchester et al.,Atmospheric deposition and hydrogeologic flow of nitrogenin northern Florida watersheds,Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 59, 2215, 1995.7D.Griffin et al.,The global transport of dust,Amer. Sci. 90, 228, 2002.8B. Koopman et al.,Ocean Outfall Study, FDEP, 2006.1Martin, D. M. et al.,Estuaries on the Edge: the Vital Link Between Landand Sea,The American Oceans Campaign,Washington, D.C., 1996.2SEFLOE 1, 1986 and SEFLOE II, 1991.Southeast Florida Inlets and OutfallsFACE area of focus