Footprints in the water

The water table is constantly on the move in the swamp.

Turns out it leaves footprints, too!

Hydrologic monitoring stations like the US Geological Survey gage at Tamiami Trail Bridge 105 provide a record of the path of the water table's footprints over time.  Larger blue dots indicate times of high water and smaller red dots indicate times when only the deepest domes and dry season refugia pools hold water.  Blank spots on the chart indicate times of severe drought when water is almost completely absent and wildfire severity is extremely high.

The above calendar chart displays a record of the ecohydrologic placement of the swamp's wetting front at the oldest hydrological monitoring station in Big Cypress National Preserve.  Big cool data points indicate times when the water table was high -- i.e. up in the pinelands.  Smaller red dots (and none-dotted blank spots) indicate times when the water table dropped low into the ground to the point where pretty much the entire swamp went dry -- even the deepest cypress domes and strands.

Can you see where we are now compared to decades past?


Point of interest:

Can you see how the 70s had shorter wet season's than in recent times?