Past Seminars

Title: "Biosecurity under uncertainty: the influence of information availability and quality on expert decision-making for risk outcomes"

Speaker: Dr. Alisha Dahlstrom, CILER Postdoctoral Fellow, Wayne State University

Abstract:
Alongside climate change and habitat loss, aquatic nonindigenous species (ANS) introductions comprise a large and increasing contribution of the anthropogenic threat to environmental, economic, sociocultural and human health values worldwide. Biosecurity agencies aim to prevent and manage introductions using various tools, including risk assessment. Risk assessment can prioritize threats, but is frequently compromised by uncertainty, often due to information availability, quality and interpretation. Many risk assessment processes lack consistent and transparent treatment of uncertainty, particularly when biosecurity objectives warrant a precautionary approach. Understanding and providing solutions to these challenges were the focus of my doctoral work, the general outcomes of which are presented in this seminar.

Title: "Employing State-of-the-Art Hydrological Modeling Tools to Improve Historical Estimates and Forecasts of Great Lakes Basin Runoff"

Speakers: Dr. Drew Gronewold, GLERL Hydrologist, and Dr. Lauren Fry, CILER Research Fellow

Abstract:
A thorough understanding of the Great Lakes water balance is the cornerstone of effective local and regional-scale water resources management. Streamflow simulations and forecasts, for example, are needed to quantify contaminant loadings to coastal ecosystems, and to assess potential impacts on the services they provide. Similarly, but on a broader scale, impacts of changing water levels across all of the Great Lakes impact multiple sectors of the economy (such as shipping, hydropower, and others) as well as human and environmental safety and health. To address the need for basin-wide estimates of the Great Lakes water balance, NOAA’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL), in the early 1980s, began developing some of the first tools for simulating and forecasting runoff for each of the Great Lakes basins. One of these tools, the Large Basin Runoff Model (LBRM), is still employed in operational forecasting and remains the only conceptual rainfall-runoff model to be systematically applied to the entire Great Lakes basin. With the availability of new datasets, new hydrological modeling tools, increased computing power, and modern geographic information systems, there is both a clear need and an opportunity to develop new estimates of historical runoff and basin-wide runoff forecasting schemes. In light of this opportunity, several new partnerships are forming between federal and academic institutions from both the United States and Canada to develop new runoff estimates for use in lake level and water quality forecasting. These partnerships can generally be categorized as focusing on: (1) characterizing hydrologic response and watershed attributes in gauged watersheds throughout the Great Lakes basin, (2) developing new historical basin-wide runoff estimates using new knowledge of drivers of hydrologic response, (3) recalibrating the LBRM so that forecasts of runoff reflect the effects of drivers of hydrologic response, and (4) applying new runoff forecasts to predict contaminant loadings.

Title: "Assessing Restoration Success in Muskegon Lake using Fish and Macrophytes"

Speakers: Dr. Carl Ruetz and Mary Ogdahl, Grand Valley State University, Annis Water Resources Institute

Carl Ruetz has a PhD in Fisheries from the University of Minnesota. His research interests are broadly focused on population and community ecology of fish in freshwater environments. Since arriving at GVSU, much of his research has been conducted in drowned river mouth lakes.

Mary Ogdahl is a Research Assistant in Al Steinman’s lab at GVSU’s Annis Water Resources Institute, where she has worked for 8 years. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Biology from Wittenberg University and a Master's degree in Environmental Science from Indiana University.

Title: "Big questions about small things: bacteria, archaea, and their viruses"

Speakers: Dr. Vincent J. Denef, Assistant Professor,
Dr. Melissa B. Duhaime, Research Scientist, UM Dept of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Future perspectives:
While the role of bacterio- and viroplankton communities as part of the freshwater microbial loop is well appreciated, the resolution at which these communities are incorporated in food web models is rather coarse. Efforts to increase this resolution by employing novel DNA sequencing-based technologies lag significantly behind similar efforts in the marine environment. The currently planned sampling by GLERL of the surface and profundal environment along the Alpena transect in April, July and September provides the opportunity to obtain a highly genetically resolved view of the bacterioplankton and virus communities in a Laurentian Great Lake in the context of analyses of the entire food web. Very few such studies have been performed in any system, terrestrial or aquatic. We are also examining impacts of the dreissenid invasion on the dynamic interplay between bacterial and viral populations, and their role in carbon cycling in inland Michigan lakes, and anticipate that insights from the Lake Huron project and the inland lakes project can complement each other.

Friday,
March 16

Title: "Development and application of an unmanned surface craft: a sample of the future"

Speaker: Dr. Chunyan Li, Associate Professor of the Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences, Louisiana State University; Director of WAVCIS

Chunyan Li is the Director of WAVCIS (http://www.wavcis.lsu.edu), ExxonMobil Professor of the Coastal Studies Institute, and an Associate Professor of the Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences, Louisiana State University. He has a B.S. degree in Atmospheric Physics from the University of Science and Technology of China, a M.S. degree in Physical Oceanography from the Chinese Academy of Science, and a Ph.D. degree in Oceanography from the University of Connecticut. His recent interests include winter storm induced bay flushing, hurricane storm surges, innovative observations and instrumentation, among other topics.

Title: "The Potential of Multiple Discriminant Analysis for Seasonal Snowfall Forecasting in the Continental United States"

Speaker: Dr Daria Kluver, Assistant Professor,
Central Michigan University

Abstract:
Multiple Discriminant Analysis (MDA) is used to develop statistically based seasonal forecast models for several snowfall regions across the contiguous United States. Forecast skill ranges from correct forecasts near 70% to greater than 90% of the time, for broad snowfall categories. For winter snowfall amounts and frequencies, previously documented relationships are corroborated (with the PNA, NAO, and ENSO), and new relationships are identified, such as with Eurasian snow cover extent. On a monthly time scale, the variables are less consistent, however, a few regions clearly show a progression of influential teleconnection patterns changing throughout the winter season. An example is the Western United States, which is more highly influenced by the PDO earlier in the snow season and the PNA later in the season. This research not only verifies previous studies connecting large-scale teleconnection patterns with snowfall, but also supports recent work positing a relationship between northern latitude surface cover (snow and sea ice) and its relationship to North American snow.

Title: "Effects of increased water clarity on the catchability of fishes in Lake Erie due to Dreissenid activity "

Speaker: Dr. Martin Stapanian, Research Ecologist, USGS-GLSC-Lake Erie Biological Station

Abstract:
Water clarity in western Lake Erie increased markedly by the early 1990s, a few years after the invasion of dreissenid mussels (Dreissena polymorpha and D. bugensis). In other systems, increased water clarity has resulted in greater trawl visibility, resulting in lower catchability of fishes. We examine a 45-year time series of bottom trawl data collected during daylight and nighttime. For the 4 most common fish species, nighttime catchability was significantly higher than daytime catchability following recorded increases in water clarity in 1991. For an economic species, yellow perch (Perca flavescens) trawling at night resulted in more conservative and reliable estimates of harvestable stock.

Title: "Earth's Eye: Observatory for Ecosystem Changes in Muskegon Lake"

Speaker: Dr. Bopi Biddanda, Associate Professor
Annis Water Resources Institute and Lake Michigan Center
Grand Valley State University

Abstract:
Lakes are sentinels of change that reflect their regional climate and landscape. We have now established a long-term, multi-sensor buoy-based observatory in Muskegon Lake (Michigan) to track physical, chemical and biological changes taking place in this Area of Concern (AOC) undergoing restoration in real-time. Observatory-derived lake and meteorological time-series data will be used to assess indicators of ecosystem change such as food web structure, water quality and harmful algal blooms. Information is being shared through a live data display, web and regional observing networks for monitoring, research, and educational outreach and support for the restoration of this coastal environment.

Our observatory for tracking ecosystem changes in Muskegon Lake is now gathering vital time-series data on parameters including the lake’s water quality, currents, production, and respiration. The observatory seeks to link regional conditions to seasonal aquatic productivity. With the aid of the new Lake Observatory, I will discuss the implications of some observed trends in plankton metabolism to our understanding of carbon cycling and food webs in this Great Lakes tributary lake.

Tuesday,
November 22

Title: "Pacific Salmon in natal Alaska and introduced Great Lakes ecosystems: the good, the bad, and the ugly"

Speaker: Dr. Gary Lamberti, Professor and Chair,
Department of Biological Sciences
University of Notre Dame

Title: "Biodiversity and the functioning of ecosystems: The evolution and future of a paradigm"

Speaker: Dr. Bradley Cardinale, Assistant Professor, School of Natural Resources and Environment
University of Michigan

Dr. Bradley J. Cardinale is an Assistant Professor in the School of Natural Resources and Environment at the University of Michigan. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Maryland in 2002, and then completed a postdoc at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His work combines mathematical theory, novel experiments, and meta-analyses of existing data to develop predictive models of extinction risk, and to forecast how loss of genes, species, and entire communities can alter ecological processes that are required to sustain higher life. To date, Dr. Cardinale has published 59 peer-reviewed papers, including five papers in Nature, one in Science, three in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and 16 in Ecology or Ecology Letters. He has won several research awards, including the Hynes Award for the most influential paper by a young scientist in aquatic ecology from the North American Benthological Society and, most recently, the Harold J. Plous Award – the highest honor given to junior faculty at the University of Santa Barbara for excellence in research. He serves on the editorial board of Ecology and Ecological Monographs, and is an elected member of the Freshwater Biodiversity Committee of DIVERSITAS – An International Program of Biodiversity Science.

Title: "Developing a Great Lakes information management and delivery system to support landscape scale conservation"

Speaker: Dr. Scott Sowa, Senior Aquatic Ecologist,
The Nature Conservancy

Scott provides scientific leadership and advice to the Conservancy and its partners to help implement system
level aquatic conservation strategies throughout the Great Lakes. Since joining The Nature Conservancy in 2008,
Scott has been involved in projects with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Michigan State University that are developing decision tools that will help prioritize watersheds and agricultural conservation practices and predict which actions will have the highest ecological return-on-investment. He provides technical and scientific support for inland and coastal conservation and restoration programs, and establishes research programs to develop essential data and knowledge and test new restoration techniques. A major focus of Scott has been improving information delivery in collaboration with the USGS-Great Lakes Science Center in Ann Arbor.

Title: "Modeling Great Lakes Circulation and Ecosystem Responses Using FVCOM"

Speaker: Dr. Jia Wang, GLERL Ice Climatologist

Abstract:
An unstructured grid model, FVCOM (Finite Volume Coastal Ocean Model), was implemented for the entire 5 Great Lakes in order to investigate the response of lake ice, hydrodynamics, and ecosystems to large-scale climate forcing. The model triangle grids are variable with an average resolution of 5 km. The model uses atmospheric forcing derived from the NCEP North America Regional Analysis (NARR). The forcing has a spatial resolution of 30km and temporal resolution of 3 hours. The model was run from 1995 to 1998. The model was validated using buoys, water temperature records, satellite measurements, and in situ measurements derived from the EEGLE (Episodic Events-Great Lakes Experiments) field campaign in 1998. The 5-lakes FVCOM has produced reasonable seasonal cycles of water temperature, mixed-layer depth, and circulation patterns. Furthermore, the coupled lower trophic level ecosystem model (NPZD-nutrient-phytoplankton-zooplankton-detritus) was applied to Lake Michigan for the year of 1998. This talk will discuss in depth the model performance, and the potential for future climate studies using the coupled ice-circulation-ecosystem model

Title: "Great Lakes GIS, the Lakebed Alteration Decision Support Tool and the Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat Framework: How spatial data are used to support assessment, classification and management of aquatic habitats"

Speakers: Jason Breck and Lacy Mason,
UM SNRE and Institute for Fisheries Research

Abstract:
Advanced mapping, modeling, and assessment of coastal resources are critical components of coastal marine spatial planning, and support sustainable management and use of healthy marine and Great Lakes habitats. In this seminar, we review three geospatial database projects (The Great Lakes Geographic Information System, the Lakebed Alteration Decision Support Tool, and the Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat Framework) which we have developed to assist coastal and marine spatial planning of Great Lakes aquatic habitats. We discuss how the public may access the geospatial data and decision support tools developed for these projects, and the applications and future directions of our work.

Title: "Brazil´s Amazon Region Protected Areas Programme (ARPA): A success story of society´s involvement in biodiversity conservation"

Speaker: Marco Bueno, Environmental Analyst,
Amazon Region Protected Areas Programme (ARPA), Ministry of Environment of Brazil

Abstract:
Brazil´s Amazon Region Protected Areas Programme (ARPA) is the largest worldwide initiative in tropical forest conservation, aiming to protect 600,000 km² of biologically priority areas between 2003 and 2016 through the establishment and permanent financial sustainability of parks and reserves. We present here the major results of ARPA in its first phase (2003-2009): almost 30% of all protected areas (PA) in Brazilian Amazon today are supported by ARPA (64 PA covering 320,000 km²); half of ARPA PA (extractive reserves and sustainable development reserves) directly benefit local human communities; ARPA PA hold decreased deforestation rates as compared to other PA in Amazon; ARPA protection holds the potential to reduce 5 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions by 2050; increased efficiency in PA implementation; increased society´s engagement in PA councils. ARPA has been innovative in developing decision support tools to manage effectiveness and prioritize investments in PA, in developing financial mechanisms to allow PA to be sustainable in the long term and in engaging a wide range of stakeholders (local human communities, governments at all levels, non-governmental organisations and the private sector) in its decision-making processes, proving to be a promising model of participatory PA management and biodiversity conservation.

Title: "Effects of climate on circulation in Lake Tanganyika"

Speaker: Dr. Piet Verburg, Limnologist
National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, New Zealand

Abstract:
Lake Tanganyika is the largest, by volume, of the East African Great Lakes with a maximum depth of 1.5 km. Surface energy fluxes were estimated from data collected on lake buoys with thermistor chains. The talk will illustrate how a gradient in meteorology along the length of the lake, driving a gradient in surface energy fluxes, results in a large-scale convective circulation, with currents in the surface layer against the dominant direction of the wind. The circulation may have slowed as the climate warmed over the past century. Changes in climate have affected productivity through effects on physical limnology in this deep tropical lake. The density gradient increased between shallow and deep water as the surface layer warmed more than deep water, resulting in reduced vertical mixing and circulation. The slow down of circulation has reduced internal nutrient loading to the epilimnion. The reduced mixing capacity of the lake between deep nutrient-rich bottom water and the oligotrophic epilimnion resulted in reduced primary productivity and reduced frequency of cyanobacteria blooms over the past century.

Title: "A Social Landscape Analysis of Land Use Decision Making in Coastal New Hampshire"

Speaker: Dr. Erika Washburn, Lakewide Management Plan Coordinator, NOAA/GLERL

Abstract:
Population pressure in coastal New Hampshire challenges land use decision-making and threatens the ecological health and functioning of Great Bay, an estuary designated as the site of both a NOAA National Estuarine Research Reserve and an EPA National Estuary Program. Regional population here has exploded in the last four decades, leading to sprawl, increased impervious surface cover, and ecological degradation of the estuary. All of Great Bay's contributing watersheds face similar challenges, resulting in the need for strategies that successfully address growth, development, and land use planning. This study sought to discover whether there was potential for shifting from political border-based to watershed-based land use planning by conducting a social landscape analysis of decision-making in one case study watershed. The background necessary for this study included a wide range of both natural and social science theory, accumulated through multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary training and practice. A mixed qualitative social science approach was applied using semi-structured interviews and geospatial tools as visual probes within a grounded theory analytical strategy. Importantly, this approach not only integrated social and natural science, but actively collaborated with decision-makers and resource managers, building a process which led to a highly successful methodology and a participatory action research environment. This collaborative engagement resulted in sustained civic action in all of the towns in the watershed, culminating in an outcome that transcended political boundaries, and was unprecedented in the history of the state. This presentation will describe the theoretical background, social science methods, data collection, analysis and results, and offer general reflections on the process, challenges, opportunities, and replication potential in the Great Lakes region.

Title: "Colonization dynamics and conservation in aquatic ecosystems"

Speaker: Dr. Abigal Fusaro, Research Associate, GLERL

Abstract:
The establishment of new populations and the maintenance of genetic diversity are essential to the survival of species, particularly in disturbed habitats. At deep-sea hydrothermal vents, communities persist in geologically and chemically dynamic, disjunct habitats despite local extinction events. In the Great Lakes, the cumulative impact of two centuries’ worth of anthropogenic stress has created an impacted and transformed ecosystem of nonindigenous species, open to new invaders. Meanwhile, the archival of genomic material from biologically diverse regions of the world, such as coral reefs, mangroves, and kelp forests, aims to protect species from extinction and sustainably explore biological resources. Dr. Fusaro will trace her journey from spatiotemporal population genetic studies of giant tubeworms and multinational DNA censuses of marine life to current research supporting early detection and rapid response through the Great Lakes Aquatic Nonindigenous Species Information System.

Title: "Ice-lake models for Lake Erie: Sensitivity study of ice-water processes"

Speaker: Dr. Ayumi Fujisaki, Research Fellow
Cooperative Institute for Limnology and Ecosystems Research
School of Natural Resources and Environment
University of Michigan

Abstract:
Ice cover is an inevitable physical process in Lake Erie that might significantly affect the regional weather and climate, its circulation, and ecosystem. High-resolution coupled ice-ocean models are useful to assess such impacts. For future long-term simulations, a parallelized ice-ocean model is preferable.

In this study, a parallel hydrodynamic model coupled with ice processes is configured for Lake Erie with 2km grids. The hindcastfrom April 2003-December 2004 using hourly atmospheric forcing is evaluated based on the satellite-derived observations, in-situ measurements, and the previous model by Wang et al. (2010). The model reproduces a seasonal variation of ice cover, water circulation, and thermalstructure of the lake.

A series of numerical experiments have been conducted. 1.) Basal melting of ice significantly cools the surface water. Once such surface water is exposed to the winter air, it is immediately super-cooled, resulting in a more extensive ice area. 2.) The two formulae for the shortwave radiation “for lake” and “for ocean” were tested. The ”for ocean” over-warms the water column during the non-ice season compared with the thermister observation. 3.) Ice cover significantly dampens the water circulation below it because the congested ice cover due to the internal ice stress slows down the surface water.

The validity demonstrated in this study allows further model studies of the ice-water processes of the lake as well as possible modeling work of the entire Great Lakes.

Title: 'An ecosystem-based risk assessment of mercury in the Great Lakes and Beyond'

Speaker: Dr. Nil Basu, Assistant Professor
Dept. of Environmental Health Sciences
School of Public Health
University of Michigan

Abstract:
Fish consumption advisories, largely driven by mercury, plague the entire Great Lakes basin. Dr. Basuwill present an overview of his laboratory’s research concerning mercury risks in the Great Lakes region by focusing on fish-eating wildlife and humans. The lab is currently working with partners in academia, government, and NGOs to develop a multimedia assessment of mercury risks in the Great Lakes basin. The lab has conducted a series of studies on mink, river otters, common loons, bald eagles, and herring gulls from the Great Lakes region, and found that exposure to mercury in the brain could be associated with significant alterations in several important neurochemicals, in particular brain cholinergic and glutamate receptor levels. These results are of ecological concern, as the neurochemicalparameters studied have essential roles in wildlife behavior, reproduction, and survival. The lab has also conducted studies concerning mercury exposure in Michigan dentists who were exposed to mercury through fish and amalgam, and members of the AamjiwnaangFirst Nations, who are surrounded by dense petrochemical industries.

Title: 'Background on Ohio Sea Grant and Stone Lab and Critical Issues Effecting Lake Erie'

Speaker: Jeffrey M. Reutter, Ph.D
Director Ohio Sea Grant College Program, F. T. Stone Laboratory, Center for Lake Erie Area Research (CLEAR), and Great Lakes Aquatic Ecosystem Research Consortium (GLAERC) The Ohio State University

Abstract:
Ohio Sea Grant is one of 32 state programs in the National Sea Grant College Program in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), US Department of Commerce. Every coastal state, including the Great Lakes states, has a Sea Grant program. The program in Ohio started in 1978, and is based at The Ohio State University. Stone Laboratory has been Ohio's Lake Erie laboratory since 1895. As a part of Ohio Sea Grant, it is located on Gibraltar Island at Put-in-Bay, and is the oldest freshwater biological field station in the country. Since its inception, Ohio Sea Grant has supported approximately 500 graduate and undergraduate students working on over 450 research projects that are supervised by over 250 investigators at over 20 colleges and universities. In the last 20 years, over 100,000 students from over 100 colleges have participated in the programs at Stone Laboratory. Ohio Sea Grant has awarded over 1000 scholarships to students studying at the Laboratory, and has constructed or assisted with the construction of 10 artificial reefs in Lake Erie near Cleveland. Sea Grant is a matching program, requiring a minimum of $0.50 from non-federal sources per federal dollar.

Of particular interest are seven, interrelated, critical issues currently effecting Lake Erie and the Great Lakes: sedimentation, nutrient loading, harmful algal blooms (HABs), the "dead zone," aquatic invasive species, climate change, and coastal economic development. Dr. Reutter will look at these highly visible issues in terms of Sea Grant's role as a government, academia, private sector partnership that uses a combination of research, education, and outreach to address the 3 E's: the economy, the environment, and education.

Thursday,
March 10

Title: "Recent developments at the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary"

Speaker: Russ Green, Deputy Superintendent
Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary
Alpena, MI

Abstract:

The Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary (TBNMS) is the thirteenth national marine sanctuary in a system that extends from American Samoa to Massachusetts. The Sanctuary was established to protect a nationally significant collection of shipwrecks, spanning 150 years of Great Lakes shipping history. TBNMS works with a wide range of technology and partners to locate and document historic shipwrecks in northern Lake Huron. Since its designation in 2000, the sanctuary has also acquired in-house resources that help facilitate both cultural and natural resource research and management. Russ Green will discuss recent fieldwork at the sanctuary, with a focus on technology, partners, operations, outreach, and opportunities that may be of interest to Great Lakes researchers.

Wednesday,
February 23

Title: "A Tale of Two Coasts: Causes and Consequences of Cross-shelf Thermal Structure in Lake Michigan"

Speaker: Cary Troy, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering
Purdue University

Abstract:

Cross-shelf thermal structure in the Great Lakes plays an important role in setting species distributions, offshore transport and dilution, and nearshore circulation patterns. Results from two Lake Michigan field experiments investigating cross-shelf thermal variability during the summer stratified period are presented. The first experiment was carried out near Michigan City (IN) in 2009 and involved 7 temperature moorings, an Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP), and transmissometers. A second experiment, carried out near Muskegon (MI), involved a similar arrangement and extended the measurements to deep waters (110m). Cross-shelf thermal transects from the relatively shallow Michigan City transect show that although the Indiana coast is not upwelling-aligned with the dominant summer winds, it is nonetheless a location of high subsurface thermal variability. An attempt is made to quantify this variability in a biologically-relevant manner. Analysis of data from this site also suggests that basin-scale circulation patterns (themselves caused by the dominant winds) are responsible for the flow along this coast, and that basin-scale internal seiches (Poincare waves) are not the dominant process responsible for moving the thermocline along the lake shelf. Recently-processed data from the Muskegon 2010 experiment highlights the thermal variability seen along this coast, and points to some interesting questions for upcoming work.

Upcoming work involving the use of a Self-Contained Autonomous Microstructure Profiler (SCAMP) is also presented in the context of motivating questions on the effects of basin-scale internal seiches on mixing and dispersion in Lake Michigan. This National Science Foundation-funded work involves the correlation of basin-scale internal seiche structure with temperature and chlorophyll microstructure, and may help to answer questions related to phytoplankton blooms and the effects of invasive bivalves on water-column filtering.

Seminar: "Hunting caribou hunters beneath Lake Huron"

Speaker: Guy Meadows, Ph.D.
Professor, Departments of: Naval Architecture & Marine Engineering / Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences
Director, Marine Hydrodynamics Laboratories (MHL)
College of Engineering
University of Michigan

Abstract:
During the late glacial formation period of the modern Great Lakes, the Lake Stanley low water stage (10,000-7,500 BP) represents a period whose physical evidence has remained lost beneath modern lake levels. In particular, during the late Lake Stanley stage of Great Lakes history, much of the water that presently fills the Lake Huron-Michigan basin was locked in a retreating ice sheet located in the vicinity of what is now Lake Superior. During this low lake level stage, water levels were as much as 80 meters below modern levels. At these lake levels, what we now call the Alpena-Amberley Ridge, present day Lake Huron was separated into the Manitoulin and Goderich Basins. This rough, narrow, and irregular and continuous rock ridge persisted, exposed for approximately 2000 years. With persisting glacial retreat, the basins filled with melt water, drainage pathways were altered, and the Alpena-Amberley ridge was inundated, and to present time, never re-exposed.

Recent exploration of this region of Lake Huron by O'Shea and Meadows (2009) has revealed the existence of a series of stone features that match in form and location hunting structures used for caribou hunting in both prehistoric and ethnographic times. These discoveries represent the first evidence for early hunters on the Alpena-Amberley corridor, and raise the possibility that intact settlements and ancient landscapes are preserved beneath Lake Huron. The existence of these preserved landscapes raise many interesting questions concerning the physical dynamics in operation though this time period and during the subsequent filling of the basins to modern lake levels.