Tag: NOAA

Will Budget Cuts Trim Great Lakes’ “Eyes and Ears”?

Published on April 23rd, 2025 by - Blog Posts

A critical Great Lakes program is at risk of being eliminated by federal budget cuts. Vitally important to science and society, the Great Lakes Observing System (GLOS) could shrink or vanish if proposals in Washington, D.C., become reality.

And that would be a major blow to our ability to understand and protect the Great Lakes.

“GLOS delivers real-time data that protect drinking water, support storm readiness, and ensure safe maritime commerce,” says Dr. Jennifer Boehme, the CEO of GLOS. “Fresh water is a critical input for agriculture, industry, and energy production, and access to safe and reliable drinking water is essential for public health and safety. Through GLOS, water treatment plant managers have access to real-time, in-lake information and customizable alerts that inform their treatment decisions for the best possible outcome.”

The threat to GLOS is part of a larger proposal to eliminate funding for the Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS), of which GLOS is a part. Housed in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) budget, IOOS has an annual budget of approximately $42.5 million.The NOAA IOOS program supplied GLOS about $3.3 million last year.

Mapping the lakebed (PHOTO: GLOS)

That funding supports information shared from more than 250 buoys, towers, and a high-frequency radar system in the Straits of Mackinac which helps map the speed and direction of currents, aiding vessel traffic and improving emergency response. The data generated by GLOS are used by anglers, beachgoers, and others.

GLOS also measures nutrient pollution entering the Maumee River, a major contributor to algae blooms on western Lake Erie.
Studies have shown each dollar invested in IOOS and ocean and Great Lakes observing provides about a five-dollar return on investment through data products.

Boehme says, “The proposed cuts would significantly limit the ability of GLOS to partner with the private sector to fill critical mapping data gaps and support the bipartisan Great Lakes Mapping Act, which aims to fully map the lakefloor of the world’s largest freshwater system. Mapping the lakebed is the next frontier for GLOS — it’s essential for emergency response, water quality protection, navigation and economic development.”

PHOTO: NOAA

IOOS data also supports:

  • The U.S. Coast Guard, via high frequency radar for search and rescue;
  • Ports and vessel pilots, through wave, wind, and water level data for safe navigation — e.g., from the Port of Duluth across Lake Superior;
  • Flood forecasting, with surface current and wave data for National Weather Service offices;
  • Water treatment and public health, via real-time harmful algal bloom alerts for plant operators and Great Lakes recreators.
  • Approximately 11 million meteorological observations that IOOS regions provide to the National Weather Service annually via the global telecommunications system (GTS), thus deteriorating weather forecasts nationally.
Here’s how you can speak out in support of GLOS:

Getting to the bottom of it: Marine sanctuaries and preserves help protect bottomlands

Published on October 17th, 2024 by - Blog Posts

Change is coming to the lakebed and waters of the Great Lakes. Two more units of the National Marine Sanctuary system are on deck for federal approval. The question is whether Michigan will take additional steps to protect its own Great Lakes lakebed and waters.

Administered by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), a federal agency, the sanctuaries are described as a network of underwater parks encompassing more than 629,000 square miles of marine and Great Lakes waters. Michigan became the first Great Lakes state to host a sanctuary when the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary off Alpena was designated in 2000. The primary rationale for the park is the abundance of historic shipwrecks that lie in the area’s waters, known as Shipwreck Alley.

Although local residents were initially skeptical about the value of a sanctuary, acceptance has grown. Thunder Bay has become a magnet for tourism and an important site for environmental education.

Now there are two new Great Lakes marine sanctuaries. The Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast sanctuary (designated in 2021) protects 36 historic shipwreck sites and the Lake Ontario sanctuary (2024) protects both shipwrecks and underwater archaeological sites in eastern Lake Ontario offshore of the State of New York. Designation of a Lake Erie sanctuary is in progress.

As this history implies, the bottomlands of the Great Lakes and the waters above them are public trust resources that cannot be privately owned. Governments have an affirmative duty to protect them.

Michigan has also established a system of underwater preserves of its own, protecting 7,200 square miles of lakebed and safeguarding shipwrecks. But there is little to no funding for the program, and much of the effort to monitor the preserves is the result of volunteer work.

The question is whether Michigan and/or the federal government should extend protection of public trust bottomlands through an expanded sanctuary and/or preserve program. Significant geological, biological, environmental and archaeological resources, including indigenous sites, are known to exist on lakebed that was above water millennia ago. It’s an issue worth exploring.