TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) – A Florida State University researcher will work to map Wakulla Springs underwater caves, some of which have never been explored before.
While divers have explored much of the underwater cave system, there is no 3D model. But, that’s going to change thanks to FSU professor Ming Ye and some Tallahassee based engineers.
Ye, a professor in the Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science, was awarded more than $2.5 million from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to research groundwater sources in the Wakulla Springs basin.
A test conducted Friday on Lake Bradford included the team from SunFish, a Texas-based underwater field services company, who will help map the caves with its Underwater Autonomous Vehicle.
A photo of the SunFish Underwater Autonomous Vehicle taken at Jackson Blue Springs.(Woodville Karst Plain Project)
“It does have some capabilities for going out and exploring. We can tell it: Go out in this direction and map out the area,” said Kristof Richmond, the CTO for SunFish Inc.
The team will also take samples in an attempt to answer a long wondered question: Why is the Springs’ water quality going down?
“We have been in drought condition for a long time. Would that have a long-term impact or just short-term? And then when a hurricane comes, does everything go back or not?” Ye said.
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The Florida DEP recently announced it is testing wells and other sources for “forever chemicals” known as PFAS. Ye said pretty much anything introduced to the water table in Tallahassee flows to Wakulla Springs.
“PFAS, microplastic, pharmaceutical. So whatever we put as a source of contamination is going to eventually find a way out,” he said.
Ye will partner with the University of South Florida and a cave diving team of the Woodville Karst Plain Project.
“The divers have been working here for decades and even two people lost their life so that we can understand the conduit, but it’s still not enough because we’re human,” Ye said
He hopes this round of funding will prove the concept of the project and that they may receive more grant money in the future.
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