SoFLA-HYCOM (South Florida HYCOM) Regional Model around Florida Straits, Florida Bay and the Florida Keys: An Overview

The seas that surround the southern part of the Florida peninsula form a unique oceanographic environment that includes ecologically sensitive shallow areas Florida Bay and the Florida Keys reef tract, shelf areas the relatively broad southwest Florida shelf and the narrow shelf along the Atlantic side of the Florida Keys and deep areas Straits of Florida. The coastal seas around South Florida include Marine Protected Areas that are embedded in the Florida Keys Marine Sanctuary and the Dry Tortugas Ecological Reserve. The South Florida domain is the crossroads between the Gulf of Mexico and the North Atlantic and it has been the focus of long term, ongoing interdisciplinary surveys. The observations have provided concrete evidence that these distinct marine environments around South Florida are strongly inter-connected by circulation and biochemical exchange processes on a regional scale, while oceanic boundary currents connect them to remote regions of the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean. The coastal areas around South Florida will be the recipients of potentially drastic changes in freshwater flows associated with the Everglades Restoration Project. Observations and modeling have been employed to study the effects of such changes, in the context of natural disturbances associated with large scale flows, climatic variability and connectivity to remote reef systems.