The Effects of Increased Water Flow on Ecohydrology of Sawgrass Marshes in the Everglades as Observed in Multi-year Time Series of MODIS Terra NDVI imagery

Abstract:

We utilized a 14-year time series (2001-2014) of 8-day composites of the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) from the MODIS Terra satellite to study how increased water flows have affected the photosynthetic activity in marshes and tree islands of the Shark River Slough in the northern portion of Everglades National Park, Florida, USA. Results showed that increased water flows associated with completion of 1.6 km bridge in 2013 increased photosynthetic activity of marsh and prairie plants in the dry seasons of 2013 and 2014. Time series analysis shows the potential of continuous NDVI monitoring as a way to follow the functional response of a large, subtropical wetland system to a large and sudden increase in freshwater inputs.