GoHydrology.org

Delightful gator?

noreply@blogger.com (Robert Sobczak) — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 19:00:00 +0000

Never approach gators in the wild:
The swamp is their home,
We are just visitors!

Nuisance tourists!

noreply@blogger.com (Robert Sobczak) — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 00:49:00 +0000

You sometimes hear the word nuisance gator in the swamp.

That's code for an alligator that might be a threat.

Perhaps a better description is "tourist trained."

Gators know a free handout when they find one and thus, in areas were visitors are using food to attract them for a better view, they are commonly seen approaching to the sight of humans on the shore (or in a boat). They aren't being aggressive, they are just doing as they've been unwittingly taught.

The problem isn't the gators but rather tourists being a nuisance to themselves.

Swamp buggy facing south

noreply@blogger.com (Robert Sobczak) — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 19:00:00 +0000

As seen at Monroe Station

Wild rattlesnake BBQ roast?

noreply@blogger.com (Robert Sobczak) — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 00:09:00 +0000

Wild hogs used to scare me ...

But now they almost seem quaint.

Sixty one years and running!

A couple of decades ago the swamp was riddled with feral pigs to the point that the population was irreparably out of control.

The rebound in panthers took care of that.

Next thing you know the pythons have a strangle hold on the hogs that are left.

Why then is it rattlesnakes that are on the rise?

I wonder how old that buggy is?

Turns out rattlesnakes are among a wild hog's favorite feasts.

Of course nobody would want to BBQ one of them.

Fire in the pines!

noreply@blogger.com (Robert Sobczak) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:00 +0000

That looks like a prescribed burn

Collier County KBDI Cheat Sheet

noreply@blogger.com (Robert Sobczak) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Meteorological drought is upon us.

All you have to do is look at the KBDI map to know.

Save this link!
This map updates daily

But how good is a map really if you can't place the current value relative to the statistical framework and historical parade of data that came before?

The images below do just that.

Save this link!
I'll keep this graph updated weekly.

The above graph shows the rise and fall of the Keech Byram Drought Index (KBDI) for Collier County over the past three years. The black line shows the KBDI value, September 2009 to present. The color coding, i.e. horizontal layers behind, is identical to the color scheme used on the Florida Forest Service's famous map. The shading, i.e. degree of fading, shows the 11-year historical statistics, 2000 to present, and the dotted white line shows the median value over that period of time. The lower the KBDI index (blue and green range) the lower the level of meteorologic drought.

The power of this graph is that it paints the point relative to its statistical range.

But what if you want to look back even further?

That’s where the historical calendar comes into play.

Save this link!
I'll update this calendar weekly, too.

The calendar reads like the pages of a book:

Chronologically by years down and months of the year (from January to December) across. Similar to the graph, it is color coded to match the map. The thin line of blue and green points indicate periods of regular rain whereas yawning lines of red and purple points indicate times of extreme meteorologic drought.

You've heard of the rug that ties the room together.

The graph and calendar do the same thing for the map.

Sheetflow swamp

noreply@blogger.com (Robert Sobczak) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:00:00 +0000

Summer sheetflow ...
"Back in the day."

Rally cries of the glades

noreply@blogger.com (Robert Sobczak) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 01:40:00 +0000

The old mantra in the Everglades was:

"Put it back to how it was (if not 1880, 1930 is fine)!"

A lot has changed

The new thinking on the block is:

"How do we fight off future sea level rise, instead?"

In both cases the answer is the same:

Hint: it has something to do with sheetflow.

Free water!

noreply@blogger.com (Robert Sobczak) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 18:00:00 +0000

The best things in life are free

Audio hydrograph?

noreply@blogger.com (Robert Sobczak) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:08:00 +0000

High or low the Everglades always sounds the same.

That's because there aren't any rapids.

Who needs a hydrograph when you
can just listen to the flow rate, instead?

Compare that to the stream I grew up with when I was a kid.

It makes a different noise depending on how high or low it is on the hydrograph. For example, earlier this fall its famous run of rapids rose into the top of its high decibel range, i.e. deafening, as a result of Hurricane Irene. Had the same storm hit Florida, however, the sheetflow it formed would have been silent instead.

Such high water in autumn is unusual for continental streams.

Early fall is a time when Deer Creek usually enters its annual ebb as indicated by the tell-tale clamoring or rustling sound at its rapid run, or in cases of extreme drought, a meekly gurgling or even just whispering.

Clamorous

But winter and spring, continental rivers come alive.

If you go there now you can hear it roar.

Super Bowl Champs!

noreply@blogger.com (Robert Sobczak) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:00:00 +0000

Super Bowl V
Baltimore Colts 16 defeat Dallas Cowboys 13
January 17, 1971

Super Bowl tie?

noreply@blogger.com (Robert Sobczak) — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 20:19:00 +0000

It's a shame that one side has to lose the Super Bowl.

Wouldn't it be nice if both teams could shake hands a tie midfield at the end of the game instead?

Why root for the home team
when you can root for your watershed instead?

There's one thing you hear about the NFL that actually isn't true ...

That at the start of the season every team has a chance to win it all.

Try telling that to a Baltimore Colts fan.

They left town forever when I was just twelve.

How did I recover from such a traumatic event?

Answer: I did a lot of growing up quickly. The team wasn't the towns. It was just a business competing with other businesses and looking for the biggest handout it could get from the government to boost its economic bottom line in the form of a tax-subsidized stadium and other perks.

The Baltimore Colts may have left town,
but fortunately the creeks and river stayed put.

In a way its a shame that sports teams are what bring us together as communities.

What if we could just root for our watersheds instead?

It would be money better spent and everyone could go home a winner.

Stadium in the swamp?

noreply@blogger.com (Robert Sobczak) — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 19:00:00 +0000

That cypress enclosed marsh
is about an acre or two in size

Old swamp effort

noreply@blogger.com (Robert Sobczak) — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 00:29:00 +0000

Ever see a spot that looks promising ...

Only to have your expectations drop with each passing step?

That sort of happened to me in this video.

Sometimes you never know unless you try!

Dead end swamp?

noreply@blogger.com (Robert Sobczak) — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 19:00:00 +0000

Sometimes you've got to cut your loses ...
and turn back.

Ghost farmers of the sky!

noreply@blogger.com (Robert Sobczak) — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 01:44:00 +0000

Can you see the old farm furrows?

They are the geometric precise lines straight below.

Farmers are gone, but the furrows remain.

As plain as you can see them from up above ...

Down on the ground they don't show a trace.

Or do they? - I can't find them on the ground.

Could it be I was staring into a wormhole back into time?

At just the right angle and just the right light, its not unusual to see the Ghosts of Watersheds Past!

Hat rack prairie view

noreply@blogger.com (Robert Sobczak) — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 19:00:00 +0000

Plenty of branches to hang your hat.
(just don't walk away too far!)

Portal into the swamp

noreply@blogger.com (Robert Sobczak) — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 02:00:00 +0000

Tamiami Trail is one of my favorite roads.

The stretch between Oasis Visitor Center and Barnes Strand I like most of all.

It's an alternating sequence of cypress strands, a little bit of slash pine, and open marl prairies in between. Sometimes I like to walk out into those marly meadows then turn back and watch the traffic, intermittently, go by.

If you can't hear it that means you've entered the swamp.

Groundhog escape path?

noreply@blogger.com (Robert Sobczak) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 19:00:00 +0000

Pythons could be anywhere!

No country for groundhogs

noreply@blogger.com (Robert Sobczak) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:39:00 +0000

At first glance, Groundhog Day seems like a bad fit for the south peninsula.

The holiday is a hold over from the continental north.

Could this be a groundhog gathering spot?

The ceremonial release of the groundhog coincides with winter's midpoint as a hopeful reminder amid the bare-branched gloom that the green of spring (and eventually warmth) is not far away. But winters in Florida are summer-like and (thanks to the palm trees and other ornamental shrubs) irrepressibly green.

Visiting northerners are skeptical that Florida winter even exists.

Bitter cold for a south Floridian is any day that air temp doesn't rise above 70° F. That's only happened under ten times in Naples of all winter ...

Or whatever it's called.

The winter half of the year is called the dry season:
During which you see your shadow almost every day.

Thus, can't we assume south Florida is winter and Groundhog Day free?

Not so fast: consider that although "Winter the noun" does not exist in Florida it is safe to say that "winter the verb" -- i.e. "we winter in Florida to escape the snow" -- is alive and well. It is in the same spirit then that can't we also say that although Groundhog Day the holiday doesn't exist in Florida the metaphorical Groundhog Day of one day after the other being the exact same (day after day after day), i.e. blue sky and lots of sun, does.

As for real groundhogs?

Suffice it say they wouldn't fare well in the Everglades or Swamp. That's because pythons are on the loose eating every small mammal they can find. (read article)

Groundhogs wouldn't stand a chance
in python country

The python northern limit is the frost line, i.e. "real winter."

Thus, if I were a groundhog I'd play it safe and look for my shadow up there.

All of a sudden cold doesn't sound so bad!

Groundhog eye view

noreply@blogger.com (Robert Sobczak) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 19:00:00 +0000

View of a marl prairie from two feet high

Groundhog day spun upside down

noreply@blogger.com (Robert Sobczak) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 00:22:00 +0000

January is on average the coldest part of the year.

But just a few days later comes Groundhog Day which means warming is on the way.

Florida has Groundhog Day:
Only it's Labor Day and reversed instead.

Of course it's been warm all winter long in Florida -- especially this year -- so it doesn't really count. It isn't the depth of the winter that necessarily rattles northerner's bones, rather it's the long duration that trips them up at the end.

They call it the spring blues.

Spring time blues usually don't strike until March or April as a result of the warm weather not quite breaking through thus miring the fine citizenry of New England, the northern Great Plains and the Finger Lakes into a moribund melancholia that only a warm dose of summer could shake free.

Our equivalent on the south peninsula is the fall funk.

Continental spring blues follow Groundhog Day ...
Similarly the fall funk follows Labor Day on the peninsula

The fall funk invades a Floridians psyche in the weeks following Labor Day, i.e. the traditional portal into crisp autumn air on the continent, when hot and humid weather shows no sign of letting up, sinking us into a swampy malaise that only a strong cold front could hope to shake free.

Thus, south Florida does have a Groundhog Day ...

Only it's the complete opposite and Labor Day instead.

Can you see the giant groundhog hole?

noreply@blogger.com (Robert Sobczak) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 19:00:00 +0000

Actually, that's a cypress dome.

My favorite holiday approaches

noreply@blogger.com (Robert Sobczak) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 03:04:00 +0000

My kids always ask me:

"Dad, what's your favorite holiday?"

"I see it! I see it! There it is!"

Surely, they assume, it must be Christmas or Halloween, possibly even Thanksgiving ... or how about Fourth of July? "Do birthdays count as holidays?" inevitably enters the debate.

I shake my head no to them all and answer Groundhog Day instead.

"Whaaat? That doesn't make sense!" They laugh in dismay.

"Someday you'll understand," I cryptically assure them.

The charismatic groundhog

Dads are sometimes difficult to understand.

Rumbling down the road

noreply@blogger.com (Robert Sobczak) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 19:00:00 +0000

Can you see where the road cuts through the strand?
A bridge at that spots sends the water south.