Website

https://floridadep.gov/fco/aquatic-preserve

Region(s)

NW

Summary

Continuous water quality data are collected at five water quality stations (Station ID's: CPAH, CPAH2, CPFS, CPRH and CPWM) located within the St. Joseph Bay and Alligator Harbor Aquatic Preserves in 15-minute intervals for eight parameters using protocols established by the National Estuarine Research Reserve's System-Wide Monitoring Program. As of September 2019, only two sites are currently in operation, CPAH2 and CPFS. AP continuous WQ protocols and metadata: https://www.floridaapdata.org/

Parameters

water temperature (°C), specific conductivity (mS/cm), salinity (psu), dissolved oxygen (%), dissolved oxygen (mg/L), depth (m), pH, turbidity (NTU), and water level (m).

Notes

Application

To measure changes in estuarine waters that help provide a better understanding of how human activities and natural events can affect coastal resources and to provide valuable data on the short-term variability and long-term changes in estuaries to researchers, natural resource managers and other coastal decision-makers.

Publications

presentations, meetings, reports, and online

Start

2005

End

Current

Frequency

Continuous

Method

15-minute data collections at fixed stations using YSI 6600 data sondes, in situ, grab samples, weather station

Discontinuity

2011 - 2018

Data Location

Aquatic Preserve Data Portal - https://www.floridaapdata.org/

Data Format

.csv (yearly files)
https://www.floridaapdata.org/

Habitats

Water Column

SEACAR Citation

Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), Office of Resilience and Coastal Protection (RCP), Central Panhandle Aquatic Preserves. (2026). Central Panhandle Aquatic Preserves Continuous Water Quality Monitoring. Updated 05/20/2026. Distributed by: SEACAR Data Discovery Interface, Office of Resilience and Coastal Protection, Florida Department of Environmental Protection. https://data.florida-seacar.org/programs/details/468

Alternative Citation

indicates priority attributes