The Florida Area Coastal Environment (FACE) Program

Overview

The FACE program is designed to understand the many controlling oceanographic and coastal environmental factors that influence Florida public health and coastal biota, and to provide this knowledge to the area's environmental regulators, resource managers, utility operators, and to the public.

 The broad objectives of the studies include:

• Quantify the sources of selected nutrients and microbial contaminants into critical areas of interest within the FACE purview.

• Measure relevant physical parameters such as ocean currents and meteorology with which the chemical measurements must be interpreted.

• Determine the likely exposure of coral reef resources to those nutrients.

The study area of FACE covers 467 km of coastline in Miami-Dade to Brevard counties.  The area includes six treated wastewater plants [TWWP]: Miami Central, Miami North, Hollywood, Broward, Boca Raton, and South Central, which together contribute ~1 million cubic meters (284 millions of gallons) per day to the region.  In addition, this coastal area receives fresh water discharged through six inlets, from the Miami Harbor inlet in the south to the Boynton inlet in the north.  This area is the home of nearly 5.5 million people (U S Census Bureau, 2006) and an economy  heavily dependent on a healthy offshore environment.

Cruises and Experiments

The FACE program has had a strong field program since its inception in 2004.  These are some highlights.

• Hollywood Tracer Study.  This study, completed in 2004, investigated the plume from the Hollywood TWWP plume, using the introduced tracer sulfur hexafluoride (SF₆).  pdf

• Florida Outfalls Survey.  Two cruises were undertaken on the NOAA R/V Nancy Foster to perform surveys of each of the six TWWP plumes, in 2006 and 2008.  The studies included multibeam scans, nutrient and biological sample analyses, and three-dimensional nutrient surveys.   Pictures from 2006 here.

• Florida Outfalls and Coastal Inlet Experiment (FOCITE-1, FOCITE-2). These experiments employed two deliberate tracers: rhodamine-WT and SF6.  In FOCITE1 (February 2007), both the South Central TWWP plume and the Boynton Inlet plume were studied during the winter season.  In the FOCITE-2 experiment (June 2008), the South Central TWWP plume was studied under summer conditions.

• Boynton Inlet 48-hour Intensives.  Two 2-day sampling intensives were conducted at the Boynton Inlet , resulting in the sampling of eight ebb and eight flood tide flows (June 3-4 and September 26-28, 2007).  These samples were investigated for chemical and biological properties.  In addition, high-quality water flow measurements were conducted.  pdf

• Boynton Inlet Flow Experiment (BinFlo).  The flow through the Boynton Inlet has been measured for a time exceeding one year (February 2007 through October 2008) using a calibrated horizontally-directed acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP). 

• Ocean Currents at Gulf Stream Reef (GSR-ADCP).  Several vertically-directed ADCP instruments have been measuring the ocean currents at various locations on the Gulf Stream Reef (GSR) for more than one year (April 2007 through July 2008). 

• Boynton-Delray Monitoring Cruises (BD-WQM).  A series of eighteen water quality monitoring sites were sampled by the R/V Cable or R/V Nancy Foster approximately bimonthly from June 2007 through July 2008.  The samples were analyzed for nutrients and biological entities. 

The following field programs are currently underway or are will commence in the near future:

• Extended monitoring of the coastal ocean from Miami-Dade to Palm Beach counties.  This is an extension of the 1-year monitoring program which took place in the Boynton Beach / Delray coastal ocean in 2009-2010.  Measurements will include nutrients, microbiology, and ocean currents. 

• Biscayne Bay Turbidity Study (BBTS).  Three sites in the Bay will be instrumented to monitor turbidity and related parameters in order to determine typical turbidity levels, to characterize the particulates, and to increase our knowledge of the causes and transport of excess turbidity the Bay.  Supported by the U. S. Corps of Engineers.

• Port Everglades Shipping Channel Experiment (PESCE), a careful measurement of the flow through the Port Everglades Inlet.  Samples will also be taken at ebb flow for microbial analysis.  Supported by the U.S. EPA.

• Nancy Foster Eddy Experiment 2009 (NFEEX-09), a 9-day cruise aboard the NOAA R/V Nancy Foster to track eddies of the Gulf Stream as they interact with the SE Florida shoreline.  A array of CTD/rosette sites will be sampled before, during and after passage of an Gulf Stream eddy.  

Publications and Presentations

FACE fact sheet (2009) pdf.

Carsey, T., R. Ferry, K Goodwin, P Ortner, J Proni, P Swart, J Zhang, 2005.  Brevard County Near Shore Ocean Nutrification Analysis.   NOAA Technical Report OAR_AOML-37, July 2005.  pdf

Wanninkhof R, K Sullivan, W Dammann, J Proni, F Bloetscher, A Soloviev, and T Carsey.  Farfield tracing of a point source discharge plume in the coastal ocean using sulfur hexafluoride, Environ. Sci. Technol. 39: 8883-8890. 2005. pdf

Proni, J., M. Adler, N. Amornthammarong, J. Bishop, F. Bloetscher, T. Carsey, J. Craynock, S. Cummings, P. Dammann, C. Drayer, C. Featherstone, D. Meerhoff, K. Goodwin, E. Peltola, D. Pierrot, C. Sinigalliano, P. Swart, J. Stamates, K. Sullivan, R. Wanninkhof, J.-Z. Zhang.  Final Report: An Investigation of the South Central Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant Ocean Outfall and Coastal Environment, January 2009. pdf

Carsey, T, N Amornthammarong, J Bishop, F Bloetscher, C Brown, J Craynock, S Cummings, P Dammann, C Featherstone, K Goodwin, D Meerhoff, J Proni, C Sinigalliano, P Swart, J Stamates, J Zhang.  Boynton Inlet 48-hour Sampling Intensives, June and September 2007.  NOAA Technical Report (in press, 2009).  pdf

Carsey, T, H Casanova, C Drayer, C Featherstone, C Fischer, K Goodwin, J Proni, A Saied, C Sinigalliano, J Stamates, P Swart, J Zhang.  FACE Outfalls Survey Cruise, October 6-19, 2006.  NOAA Technical Report (in preparation, 2009).

Carsey, T, N Amornthammarong, J Bishop, F Bloetscher, J Craynock, S Cummings, P Dammann, C Featherstone, E Peltola, D Pierrot, J Proni, C Sinigalliano, J Stamates, K Sullivan, R Wanninkhof.  The Florida Outfalls and Coastal Inlets Tracer Experiment (FOCITE-1), February 18 through March 1.  NOAA Technical Report (in preparation, 2009).

Presentations

Proni J.  Progress Report, Florida Area Coastal Environment Ecosystem Research Program, presented at the Florida International University, November 6, 2008, pdf. 

Proni J, J Stamates, T Carsey, J Zhang, C Sinigalliano, K Sullivan.  Acoustic methods for water mass delineation in coastal marine ecosystems. Presented at the Societe Francaise D’Acoustique Acoustics’ 08 conference, Paris, France, June 29 - July 4, 2008, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 123, 3212, 2008. Talk, Poster.

Boiteau R, D Wanless, C Sinigalliano.  Tracking Microbial Contaminants From Coastal Wastewater Discharges.  A poster at the Hollings Scholar Presentations, Silver Spring, MD., July 29-31, 2008. pdf  

Carsey T, K Goodwin, J Hendee, J Proni, C Sinigalliano, J Stewart, J Zhang, N Amornthammarong, J Craynock, S Cummings, P Dammann, C Featherstone, J Stamates, K Sullivan.  A glimpse of the Florida Area Coastal Environment (FACE) program.  Presented at the 11^th International Coral Reef Symposium, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, 7-11 July 2008.   Proceedings of the 11^th International Coral Reef Symposium, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, 7-11 July 2008, in press.  pdf

Stamates, J, C. McArthur and J. Proni.  Excess sediment loading of the coastal ocean near Miami from hurricanes during the active 2005 season.  Presented at the Coastal Zone 2009 conference, Boston, MA, July, 2009.

Earlier Publications and Presentations

Proni, J, R Williams.  Acoustic Measurements of Currents and Effluent Plume Dilution in the Western Edge of the Florida Current.  In Acoustic Remote Sensing Applications, Lecture Notes in Earth Sciences vol. 69, S. P. Singal (Ed.), Narosa Publishing House, New Delhi, 1997 (pdf).

Black, P, J Proni, J Wilkerson, and C Samsury.  Oceanic rainfall detection and classification in tropical and subtropical mesoscale convective systems using underwater acoustic methods.  Month. Wea. Rev. 125, 2014-2042, 1997.

Huang, H, R Fergen, J Proni, and J Tsai.  Probabilistic analysis of ocean outfall mixing zones.  J. Environ. Eng., pp 359-366, May, 1996.

Commons, D, J Proni, R Fergen.  Coastal oceanographic characteristics and their impact on marine effluent biotoxicity studies during the SEFLOE II project.  In Environmental Toxicology and Risk Assessment, vol. 4, La Point, Price, and Little, ed., ASTM International, 1996, pp. 71-93.

Proni J, H Huang, and W Dammann.  Initial Dilution of Southeast Florida Ocean Outfalls. J. Hydraul. Eng. 120: 1409-1425, 1994 (pdf).

Proni J.  Acoustic observations of anthropogenic discharge plumes.  Presented at the 127^th meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, Cambridge, MA, 1994, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 95, 2802, 1994.

Dammann W, J Proni, J Craynock, and R Fergen.  Oceanic wastewater outfall plume characteristics measured acoustically.  Chem. Ecol. 5, 75-94, 1991 (pdf).

Proni J, W Dammann.  Observations of acoustic backscatter from oceanic wastewater outfalls.  Presented at the 117^th meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, 1989.  J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 85, S42, 1989.

Proni J., W Dammann, J Craynock, and R. Fergen.  Oceanic wastewater plume characteristics measured acoustically.  Eighth International Ocean Disposal Symposium, Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia, October 9-13, 1989.

Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Department.  Southeast Florida Outfalls Experiment (SEFLOE) for North and Central District Wastewater Treatment Plants. 1989. 

Proni J and J. Apel.  On the use of high-frequency acoustics for the study of internal waves and microstructure. J. Geophys. Res. 80, 1147– 1151, 1975. 

Scientists and Support Staff

FACE Principle Investigators: Thomas Carsey, Jack Stamates

NOAA nutrients: Jia-Zhong Zhang, Charles Fischer

NOAA microbiology: Chris Sinigalliano, Kelly Goodwin

NOAA SF₆: Rik Wanninkhof, Kevin Sullivan

Scientific Support: Joseph Bishop, Cheryl Brown, Jules Craynock, Paul Dammann, Charles Featherstone

Associated Investigators: John Proni (Applied Research Center, Florida International University, Miami, Florida), Peter Swart (Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Miami), Frederick Bloetscher (Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida), and Dan Meerhoff (Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida).