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National Academies Report ... Offers Hope, Climate Change Concerns for Everglades Restoration Pr...
https://cmns.umd.edu/news-events/features/3788[font face=Serif][font size=5]National Academies Report Co-authored by UMD Scientist Offers Hope, Climate Change Concerns for Everglades Restoration Project[/font]
[font size=4]Fernando Miralles-Wilhelm led report committee’s climate change research efforts[/font]
[font size=3]The Florida Everglades’ cypress swamps, mangrove trees and “river of grass” cover the southern 20 percent of the state, making it the largest freshwater wetland in the United States. Since people started draining the wetlands for habitation and agriculture in the 1800s, about 50 percent of the Everglades have been lost, resulting in less available freshwater for residents, droughts and flooding.
As a result, Congress authorized in 2000 the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP), a multibillion-dollar project created to “restore, preserve, and protect the South Florida ecosystem while providing for other water-related needs of the region, including water supply and flood protection.” The CERP planned an extensive number of projects with the overarching goal of restoring water flow to pre-drainage patterns while accounting for the needs of current residents.
[font size=1]Comparisons of historic (left), current (middle) and Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) projected (right) patterns of water flow throughout the Everglades area. CERP aims to divert current water flow to be similar but not identical to historical patterns. Image credit: EvergladesRestoration.gov.[/font]
According to a new National Academies report on the project’s progress, the CERP has accomplished positive results—more water flows through the Everglades system than when the restoration began, and short of extreme conditions the new system performs better in the face of rain or drought. However, the CERP needs to account for climate change to achieve projected levels of water flow and extreme weather tolerance, according to the report.
“You can think of the CERP as a replumbing of the Everglades water system, and if you want the plumbing to work right, you have to account for how climate change affects the amount of water in the system’s pipes—its wetlands, canals and reservoirs,” said Fernando Miralles-Wilhelm, a co-author of the report and a professor of atmospheric and oceanic science at the University of Maryland and interim director of UMD’s Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center.
…[/font][/font]
[font size=4]Fernando Miralles-Wilhelm led report committee’s climate change research efforts[/font]
[font size=3]The Florida Everglades’ cypress swamps, mangrove trees and “river of grass” cover the southern 20 percent of the state, making it the largest freshwater wetland in the United States. Since people started draining the wetlands for habitation and agriculture in the 1800s, about 50 percent of the Everglades have been lost, resulting in less available freshwater for residents, droughts and flooding.
As a result, Congress authorized in 2000 the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP), a multibillion-dollar project created to “restore, preserve, and protect the South Florida ecosystem while providing for other water-related needs of the region, including water supply and flood protection.” The CERP planned an extensive number of projects with the overarching goal of restoring water flow to pre-drainage patterns while accounting for the needs of current residents.
[font size=1]Comparisons of historic (left), current (middle) and Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) projected (right) patterns of water flow throughout the Everglades area. CERP aims to divert current water flow to be similar but not identical to historical patterns. Image credit: EvergladesRestoration.gov.[/font]
According to a new National Academies report on the project’s progress, the CERP has accomplished positive results—more water flows through the Everglades system than when the restoration began, and short of extreme conditions the new system performs better in the face of rain or drought. However, the CERP needs to account for climate change to achieve projected levels of water flow and extreme weather tolerance, according to the report.
“You can think of the CERP as a replumbing of the Everglades water system, and if you want the plumbing to work right, you have to account for how climate change affects the amount of water in the system’s pipes—its wetlands, canals and reservoirs,” said Fernando Miralles-Wilhelm, a co-author of the report and a professor of atmospheric and oceanic science at the University of Maryland and interim director of UMD’s Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center.
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