US EPA, Great Lakes National
Program Office CollaborationsLake Erie 2014
Cooperative Science and Monitoring Initiative
Intensive Sampling Year
CSMI Rotational Cycle
Lake
Huron
Lake
Superior
Cooperative
Science and
Monitoring
Cycle
Lake
Michigan
Lake
Ontario
Lake
Erie*
Cooperative Science and Monitoring
Initiative Process
Each LaMP, with BTS, GLFC
and SOLEC and support from
CGLRM, GLRRIN organizes
Lake Based Forum to
discuss Science of the lake
YEAR 1:
LaMP Management
Committee identifies key
Science and Monitoring
Needs** for Lake
CSMI-SC vets list to
CSMI -SC will identify
where multiple
agencies are
conducting ONGOING
science that will benefit
from coordination
CSMI-SC will facilitate
coordination of
priority ONGOING
science
ONGOING Science
determine how science
priorities can be
addressed: ONGOING
work or NEW work
NEW Science
CSMI -SC vets list to
determine what NEW
science can be initiated
to address priority
information needs,
based on available
resources and expertise
YEAR 2:
required
Feedback: binational CSMI
workplan presented to
LaMP Management
Committee and CGLRM
and GLRRIN
CSMI facilitates the
development and
implementation of NEW
science activities
YEAR 3:
Year of
Field Activity
Laboratory Analysis
Phase
YEAR 4:
Data Analysis and
Report Writing Phase
Communicating
Out
YEAR 5:
1. BEC
2. Primary literature publications;
3. Conference presentations/posters; joint
synthesis reports
4. Outreach – CGLRM/GLRRIN
YEAR 1:
Assessing Nutrient /
Eutrophication Dynamics in
Western Lake Erie
Ohio Lake Erie Commission Gail
P. Hesse, Executive Director
Sample/experimental sites for internal load measurements
Subproject 1: Quantifying the internal nutrient loads to the water column in the
western basin.
Subproject 2: Evaluating the important factors of river hydrology and/or seasonality
of loads to harmful algal bloom formation and dynamics in the western basin of
Lake Erie, including the effects of storm and other meteorological/climatological
forcing events
This project will couple a
Bayesian Hierarchical
SPARROW (BH-SPARROW) fit
for the Great Lakes region and
SWAT models calibrated for the
Maumee and Sandusky River
basins to quantify both N and P
loadings.
Subproject 3: Developing a nutrient
mass budget for the western basin of
Lake Erie which includes sub-watersheds
AND overall modeling synthesis
This is a fine-scale linked hydrodynamic –sediment transport –advanced
eutrophication model suite for the lower Maumee River and the entire Western Basin
of the lake. The model, called the Western Lake Erie Ecosystem Model (WLEEM)
Central Basin of Lake Erie
Spring Annual Basin Averages for
Total Phosphorus
1983-2012
30
25
μg P•L-1
20
15
TP
Target Conc
10
5
0
11
Dissolved oxygen data loggers
• At all ten Lake Erie Central Basin stations
• Depths of ½ and 3 meters from bottom
• Will be in place all season, June through September
• Provide information on rate of oxygen loss, changes over season
US Geological Survey
• Ring Lake Erie’s central basin to look at extent of hypoxic zone.
• Transects (not shown) to look at extent and potential effect of hypoxic
zone on fish
• Lower food web and fisheries work requiring several ships/boats
Long-Term Water Quality Monitoring, Offshore –
consistent sampling and analyses.
• Lakes Michigan, Huron and Erie
started in 1983
• Ontario began in 1986
• Lake Superior began in 1992
TRIAXUS 3D Towed Undulating Vehicle
Specifications
• Triaxus is a towed instrument platform that houses several sensors:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
SeaBird CTD & D.O. probe
Active Fluorometer
Laser Optical Plankton Counter (LOPC)
Nitrate Analyzer
Side-Scan Sonar
Fluoroprobe
Transmissometer
• Towed behind the R/V Lake Guardian
Benthos survey – Buffalo State University and U.S.
Geological Survey
140+ stations
Mussel population estimates
Entire benthic community
US Geological Survey – David Krabbenhoft
• Mercury monitoring/research to take place in September
• Where is the mercury coming from
• How is it becoming methylated (made more toxic)?
Total Mercury by Lake Layer in the Great Lakes
(note: these do not include Western Lake Erie)
Same results plotted with Western Lake Erie included
US Geological Survey – Dale Robertson
• Developing techniques to estimate the load of
nutrients entering Lake Erie from the main
rivers.
• Extending work of Dr. Dave Dolan, whose last
estimates are from 2008.
• SPARROW model, but stepped down to a daily
estimate
Lake of the Year (LOY) Program
Top to bottom lake snapshot
Perform a detailed bioaccumulation study
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Water (dissolved and particulate)
Phytoplankton
Zooplankton
Mussels
Benthic macro invertebrates
Forage fish
Lake trout
Started with Lake Superior in the summer of 2011
Pushing the Science
Great Lakes Fish Monitoring Program
(GLFMP) Contaminant List
•
PCB congeners
•
PCB co-planers
•
Hexachlorobenzene
•
Octachlorostyrene
•
Lindane
•
Alpha BHC
•
Dieldrin
•
Heptachlor epoxide-b
•
Cis-chlordane
•
Trans- chlordane
•
Oxychlordane
• Hg
•
Cis-nonachlor
•
Trans- nonachlor
• PCDD/Fs
•
pp,-DDT
• pp,-DDE
• pp,-DDD
• Endrin
• Mirex (Lake Ontario Only)
• Toxaphene& homologs
• PBDEs
Comprehensive and Quantitative Screening
for Emerged and Emerging Contaminants of
Concern
PFOA, PFOS*
Fluorotelomer alcohols
Polychlorinated naphthalenes
Dacthal
Musks
Alkyphenols
Non-PBDE BFRs
Polybrominated Biphenyls
Pharmaceuticals
Siloxanes
Trace metals including thallium
* Also measured in routine samples
Pushing the Science
Sediment Survey
• Sediment cores taken throughout lake.
• Cores sectioned, dated and analyzed for contaminants.
• Determines history and current inventory of contaminants in the lake.