Florida Panhandle Estuaries: Optical Water Quality Measurements

Florida Panhandle estuaries are the focus of this dataset containing optical water quality measurements. The data likely includes parameters related to ocean chemistry, temperature, salinity, and optics, collected through a partnership with the University of South Florida (USF) and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission - Fish and Wildlife Research Institute (FWC-FWRI). It is hosted by NASA and appears on multiple government data platforms.

Use Cases

• Monitoring estuarine health based on optical water quality parameters.
• Analyzing relationships between ocean temperature, salinity, and chemistry in coastal systems.
• Calibrating satellite ocean color data with in-situ measurements from the Florida Panhandle.
• Studying the impact of land-based inputs on coastal water optics and quality.

Strengths

• Cross-platform presence on Data.gov and NASA Earthdata indicates importance and broad accessibility.
• Produced through a formal partnership with academic (USF) and state agency (FWC-FWRI) experts.

Limitations

• Critical metadata is missing: no column names, row counts, or file sizes are provided on any platform.
• The license is listed as 'other-license-specified' on Data.gov but is 'None' on NASA Earthdata, creating a conflict.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), in partnership with University of South Florida (USF) and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission - Fish and Wildlife Research Institute (FWC-FWRI).

Collection Method

Direct measurements made in estuaries.

Time Range

null

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-09 on Data.gov (future date suggests automated or placeholder entry).

Geography

Estuaries in the Florida Panhandle, USA.