Road salt is primarily to blame for the shift, though the water remains within safe levels for now.
Great Lakes
Posted inNews
Drones and Crowdsourced Science Aid Great Lakes Data Collection
Important data collection can aid coastal monitoring and management.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Cyanobacteria Blooms Exceed WHO Thresholds in Midwest Lakes
A study of 369 lakes across the Midwest finds that many of them, especially those close to agriculture, have high concentrations of harmful algal bloom-causing cyanobacteria.
Posted inENGAGE, Features
The Changing Climate’s Snowball Effect
Shrinking snowpack, thawing permafrost, and shifting precipitation patterns have widespread consequences. Can new technologies—and public policies—help communities adapt?
Posted inNews
Longer Days Likely Boosted Earth’s Early Oxygen
Microbial mats in a Lake Huron sinkhole, combined with modeling work, suggest that the changing length of Earth’s day could have played a key role in oxygenating the atmosphere.
Posted inENGAGE, News
Lake Erie Sediments: All Dredged Up with Nowhere to Grow
Agriculture is a key contributor to the algae mats that plague Lake Erie. With so many fertilizers entering the lake, could sediment from the lake floor be used to grow crops instead?
Posted inNews
Long Live the Laurentian Great Lakes
Living in Geologic Time: Billion-year-old rifting events set the stage for Earth’s greatest lakes.
Posted inNews
Great Lakes Cities’ Sewer Designs Mean Waste in the Waters
In older cities, a single system of pipes may transport sewage and stormwater runoff. As the climate crisis brings more intense storms, urban areas like Toronto are overhauling their drainage systems.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Mapping Nutrient Inputs in the Great Lakes Basin
A new tool links nitrogen and phosphorus applications to land use classifications to better understand where and how much of the nutrients enter watersheds in the U.S. Great Lakes Basin.
Posted inNews
Algae Blooms and Gas Wells Drive Lake Erie Methane Emissions
In one of the first studies to investigate large lakes as methane sources, researchers found that Lake Erie is releasing more of the potent greenhouse gas than expected.