In 2014, the Regional Monitoring Program for Water Quality in San Francisco Bay (RMP) collected sediment and bivalve samples from San Francisco Bay as part of its long-term monitoring program. Results from these samples are now available on SFEI's Contaminant Data Download and Display (CD3) Tool.
An accurate basemap is fundamental to watershed planning and assessments. The California Aquatic Resources Inventory, or CARI, offers such a basemap for aquatic resource identification and classification. But to keep it current and enhance its details, SFEI-ASC must leverage local knowledge. The new CARI Editor promotes regional stewardship and allows users to submit updates, deletions or new features for streams and wetlands.
CRAM is a cost-effective and scientifically defensible rapid assessment method for monitoring and assessing the ecologcial conditions of wetlands throughout California. It takes less than half a day to assess a wetland area, and is designed evaluate the condition of the wetland based on it's landscape setting, hydrology, physical structure and biological structure. Because the methodology is standardized for over seven types of wetlands, ecological condition scores can be compared at the local, regional and statewide landscape scales.
Satellite remote sensing will aid the State of California in assessing cyanobacterial bloom threats to animal and human health across the state’s numerous large lakes.
Version 2 of the BAARI (Bay Area Aquatic Resource Inventory) GIS dataset has been released. Local experts provided advice on and reviewed BAARI’s baylands, stream and wetland data layers to increase its accuracy and detail.
The CRAM Bar-Built Estuarine module is used for assessing reaches of coastal rivers and streams that are ecologically influenced by seasonal closures of their tidal inlets.
The San Francisco Estuary Institute has been collecting water, sediment and tissue samples from the San Francisco Bay and tributaries since 1993. These samples are analyzed for ancillary parameters, trace metals and trace organics. Each year a summary of the year's sampling events is published in the Regional Monitoring Program’s Annual Monitoring Results. The results and associated graphics can be accessed using the Contaminant Data Display & Download (CD3) tool.
In April 2015, SFEI released a GIS-based decision support tool called the Riparian Zone Estimation Tool (RipZET). RipZET was developed with funding by the State Water Resources Control Board to assist watershed managers and restoration practitioners in the visualization and characterization of riparian areas next to streams and wetlands. The tool’s innovative approach uses readily accessible data to determine “functional riparian width,” which varies throughout a watershed based on local vegetation and topographic conditions.
