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PILOT STUDY LINKING AIR AND WATER MODELS FOR MERCURY IN THE EVERGLADES
Impact/Purpose:
The Pilot Study for the Everglades will provide examples of technical approaches for linking air and water models which will be useful in developing TMDLs for mercury and other water bodies, by other states and by EPA.
Description:
A major goal of the Everglades Pilot Study is to demonstrate the technical feasibility of linking atmospheric and aquatic system models to calculate an atmospherically-driven total maximum daily load (TMDL) for mercury, given the current state of knowledge of mercury cycling in the environment. A related activity is to incorporate the recent decade of scientific research on mercury in the Everglades into updated versions of both atmospheric and aquatic models of transport, reactions, and fate of mercury. The results will inform further analyses and model development to assess the effects of changing mercury emissions to the air on aquatic cycling and bioaccumulation of methylmercury in fish tissue. The Pilot Study will contribute much to the technical analyses which are central to future development of comprehensive TMDL documents for mercury by the State of Florida in many water bodies. The final report was issued in October 2002 and entitled"Atmospheric Mercury Deposition and Aquatic Cycling in the Florida Evergladester bodies."
