Florida on EARTH Magazine

Travels in Geology: Finding Florida's hidden freshwater gems

Wed, 13 Feb 2019 14:29:26 -0500

The largest of the 30 springs at Florida's Silver Springs State Park is called Mammoth, or Main, Spring. No swimming is allowed here, but visitors can view the spring from a glass-bottom boat tour. Credit: Bethany Augliere.

As a child, my family and I often traveled to Florida to escape the chilly Virginia winters and enjoy the Sunshine State’s warm sunny beaches. Occasionally, we’d make a trip to Orlando to visit one of the theme parks or stop at Everglades National Park to search for alligators, snakes and birds.

Getting there and getting around Florida

Wed, 13 Feb 2019 14:18:07 -0500

Camping and canoeing are popular pastimes on Florida's Peace River. Credit: both: Bethany Augliere.

For travelers flying in from out of state, Florida has several major airports, including in Miami (MIA), Orlando (MCO) and Tampa (TPA), as well as numerous other options. Orlando is the most central large hub and may be the best option if you’re heading toward the state’s springs, which are concentrated in the north-central part of the state. For traveling to and between sites, a car is the best option.

How to become a cave diver

Wed, 13 Feb 2019 14:15:22 -0500

While snorkeling the spring pools is cool (no pun intended), a more in-depth way to experience Florida’s freshwater springs is to scuba dive in them. However, entering the caves requires you to get a cave diving certification. That’s because cave diving has inherent challenges distinct from scuba diving’s own challenges. Even after you’re familiar with buoyancy control, breathing control and how to work your gear (all part of getting scuba certified), there’s much to learn about the specifics of cave diving. For example, if you kick incorrectly and stir up silt in an underwater cave, you can lose visibility and quickly become disoriented, which can turn deadly. Because of this, some of the most important parts of training involves learning about cave environments and talking about the psychological aspects of cave diving, along with emergency procedures, of course.

Benchmarks: November 16, 1990: Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary is established

Fri, 12 Oct 2018 12:51:58 -0400

Designated in November 1990, the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary protects nearly 10,000 square kilometers of ocean surrounding the islands, including North America's only barrier reef. Credit: K. Cantner, AGI.

Off the tip of the Florida Peninsula lies the world’s third-largest living coral reef, the Great Florida Reef. The only barrier reef system in North America, it is composed of a system of individual reefs that together extend 270 kilometers south of Miami through the Florida Keys, a crescent-shaped chain of more than 1,500 islands, about 30 of which are inhabited. This ecological treasure is home to more than 6,000 species of marine life, including colorful fish and endangered sea turtles, as well as extensive seagrass beds, mangrove islands and about 1,000 shipwrecks.

Ice age didn't freeze Florida's category 5 hurricanes

Fri, 12 Jan 2018 14:32:54 -0500

Seafloor sediment cores spanning the Younger Dryas (YD) into the warmer early Holocene (EH) suggest that, during the Younger Dryas about 12,000 years ago, sea-surface cooling (a), which tends to suppress hurricane formation, was less prominent near Florida than it was farther south in the tropics, near Barbados. The potential frequency (b) and maximum intensity (c) of tropical storms were also higher by Florida. Credit: Toomey et al., Geology, October 2017.

A new study looking at turbidites off the coast of Florida shows that category 5 hurricanes may still have battered Florida even during the chilly conditions of the Younger Dryas, about 12,000 years ago, at the end of the last ice age.

Nautical charts reveal coral decline around Florida Keys

Thu, 14 Dec 2017 14:31:40 -0500

Eighteenth-century British nautical charts — such as this one from 1774 (left), which shows the locations of coral reefs around Key West, Fla. — were compared to modern surveys of coral habitats in a new study. Credit: Loren McClenachan.

Coral reef cover is known to have decreased over the past few decades, but longer term estimates of coral cover have been difficult to reconstruct. In a new study, researchers used high-resolution historical nautical maps from the 18th century to determine changes to reefs in the Florida Keys.

What drives hot spots of sea-level rise?

Wed, 15 Nov 2017 14:40:28 -0500

Researchers first uncovered hints of a sea-level rise hot spot along Florida's coastline in 2011 in the Indian River Lagoon, pictured here. Credit: NASA.

As sea levels creep up around the world, scientists have observed hot spots where regional rates of sea-level rise greatly outpace the global average. But what drives the formation of these hot spots, and how long they last, have been mysteries. In a new study, scientists tracking sea levels along the Florida coast suggest that the combined effects of two naturally occurring climate processes, the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), control sea-level hot spot formation along the U.S. East Coast.

Geomedia: Film: Exploring Florida's aquifers with filmmaker Tom Fitz

Thu, 09 Feb 2017 09:45:13 -0500

Filmmaker Tom Fitz describes the first time he found himself sitting, alone, more than 20 meters below Earth’s surface and about 300 meters into an underwater cave: He was waiting in position to film a sequence of divers swimming through a narrow passageway as their lights illuminated the chamber for his new, yet to be named, documentary. “I was suddenly in absolute, complete black,” Fitz says. “The kind of darkness that we rarely experience.”

Sinkholes: Florida grapples with the wonders of the not-so-deep

Fri, 01 Mar 2013 13:56:41 -0500

Sinkhole lakes dot the landscape of northeastern Florida near Jacksonville. NASA

One of more than 130 sinkholes that formed in Florida last winter (2009). Southwest Florida Water Management District

Southwest Florida Water Management District

Sinkholes closed roads in west-central Florida last January (2009). Southwest Florida Water Management District

A sinkhole near Hawthorne, Fla. Alexander Landfair

This story was printed in August 2010. In response to the tragic sinkhole event in Tampa, Fla., on March 1, we are reposting this story.