HARBOR BRANCH - OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE

A VIRTUAL TOUR OF INDIAN RIVER LAGOON AND THE FATE OF WATER DISCHARGED FROM LAKE OKEECHOBEE

WHAT: HARBOR BRANCH physical oceanographer Dr. Ned Smith will be taking the public on a guided virtual tour of the Indian River System, including the lagoons from Ponce De Leon Inlet to Jupiter Inlet. The lecture, aimed at the general public, will emphasize tides, circulation patterns and the flushing of these waters.

DATE: January 21, 2004

TIMES: 4:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m., reception with speakers will follow each event

LOCATION: Main auditorium of the Johnson Education Center at HARBOR BRANCH Oceanographic Institution, 5600 U.S. 1 North, Fort Pierce, Florida

LOCAL SIGNIFICANCE: The lecture will include results of a recent study that found a significant portion of the potentially polluted water discharged from Lake Okeechobee into the St. Lucie River does not exit directly through the St. Lucie Inlet. As much as one third of this water moves north within the lagoon and exits through Ft. Pierce Inlet. This creates the potential for significant ecological impact on the entire southern Indian River Lagoon. Results of this study will be presented at the American Geophysical Union's Ocean Sciences Meeting in Portland, Oregon, on Jan. 29.

Ft. Pierce, Fla.-- Though we work and play along and in Indian River Lagoon, few of us appreciate how it works or how far it really extends. On Jan. 21, for the next event in HARBOR BRANCH's Ocean Science Lecture Series, Dr. Ned Smith will be the guide on a virtual tour of the entire Indian River System. In addition to Indian River Lagoon, this system includes Mosquito Lagoon, the St. Sebastian River, Hobe Sound and other water bodies with which most people are less familiar. The talk will also be the first public presentation of a recent study by Dr. Smith on the fate of the billions and billions of gallons of water pumped out of Lake Okeechobee and into the St. Lucie estuary each year.

Dr. Smith's goal for the talk will be to give an overview of the five lagoons and five inlets within the Indian River System and their unique features, and to explain why the system is worthy of both the public's attention and concern. He will describe the physical factors that can lead to lower water quality by slowing the flushing of polluted water from the system out to sea and he will contrast the recreational benefits of causeways and the blocking effect they have on lagoon circulation.

Dr. Smith will also describe the pathways taken by water discharged for flood control from Lake Okeechobee through the St. Lucie River based on his recent study of the topic. He will also make a presentation on the results of this study at the American Geophysical Union's Ocean Sciences Meeting in Portland, Oregon on Jan. 29.

"The work that I've been doing indicates that water we might think is going directly out through the St. Lucie Inlet is in fact shared with a much larger part of Indian River Lagoon, says Dr. Smith. " This means we have to be just that much more concerned with the quality and quantity of water emptied into the lagoon because the effects could be spread over a larger area than we might have thought."

The physical characteristics of the St. Lucie Inlet limit the amount of water that can flow in or out through it as tides change, preventing the full release of discharged fresh water. Because flow patterns in the southern part of Indian River Lagoon are generally northward, it follows that some of this water is forced northward to Ft. Pierce Inlet. In short, the study suggests that water from the interior of the state can significantly impact the entire southern Indian River Lagoon.

The study was conducted using a computer model of Indian River Lagoon water flow patterns along with South Florida Water Management District freshwater discharge data and wind data collected at HARBOR BRANCH from 1993 to 1996.

Various groups have raised concerns about the effect of Okeechobee discharges on Indian River Lagoon, and some have legally challenged current management policies. Reducing Okeechobee discharges to both the east and west coasts is a key goal for the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Program, which could take as long as 30 years to fully implement. Ongoing HARBOR BRANCH research suggests that discharged water may be having a serious impact on the health of Indian River Lagoon dolphins. Dr. Gregory Bossart, the director of Marine Mammal Research and Conservation at HARBOR BRANCH, will discuss this and other topics during the Ocean Science Lecture Series on Feb. 18.

The following lecture on Feb. 25 will also focus on the lagoon with a discussion of the new book Waterways and Byways of the Indian River Lagoon by Diane Littler, a marine scientist with HARBOR BRANCH, and her husband Mark Littler of the Smithsonian Research Institute, where Diane is also a research associate. This will be the couple's first and main book signing on the Treasure Coast.

Ned Smith is from Wisconsin, but nonetheless managed to acquire a love for the sea thanks to a 93-day oceanographic cruise during graduate school that took him to such ports of call as Bermuda and Senegal. The voyage convinced him to get a Ph.D. in oceanography, which he accomplished in 1972 at the University of Wisconsin. He came to HARBOR BRANCH in 1977 and since then has studied shallow-water currents around Florida and in the Bahamas. Results of his work answer such questions as whether polluted water from the Florida Bay makes its way through the Keys and out to the state's coral reefs.

For more information, please contact Mark Schrope at 772-216-0390 or schrope@hboi.edu.

Ocean Science Lecture Series 2004 Schedule - CLICK HERE for more information

January 14 - Shirley Pomponi - The Census of Marine Life: How Many Fish Are in the Sea?

January 21 - Ned Smith - The Indian River Lagoon System: Five Lagoons, Five Inlets, Five Sound Bites

January 28 - Mark & Diane Littler - Waterways & Byways of Indian River Lagoon

February 4 - Susan Sennett - Marine Chemical Ecology: Applications in Marine Drug Discovery

February 11 - John Scarpa - Clam Strips and Oyster Po'Boys: Florida Aquaculture and the Environment

February 18 - Greg Bossart - The Indian River Lagoon Bottlenose Dolphin Health Assessment Program: "Flipper" Gets an Overdue Physical Examination

February 25 - Tammy Frank - Do Fish See Color?

March 3 - Sarath Gunasekera - Search for Anti-cancer Drugs and Success Stories

March 10 - Ken Riley - Integrated Aquaculture Education: Food for Thought

March 17 - Brian Lapointe - Invasion of Green Tides

March 24 - Tracey Sutton - Predators of the Deep

HARBOR BRANCH Oceanographic Institution was founded in Ft. Pierce, Fla., in 1971 to support the exploration and conservation of the world's oceans. The institution has held to this mission and grown into one of the world's leading oceanographic institutions with a 500-acre campus, over 200 personnel, and a fleet of sophisticated research ships and submersibles.