GLERL Updates Archive

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• January 17, 2005
• February 2, 2005
• February 15, 2005
• March 15, 2005

• April 15, 2005
• May 4, 2005
• May 16, 2005
• June 1, 2005
• June 17, 2005

• July 18, 2005
• August 12, 2005
• September 16, 2005

• October 19, 2005
• November 21, 2005
• December 12, 2005

December 12, 2005

Contents
1. 2006 Proposals
2. New Reprints
3. CEGLHH - In the News
4. GLERL - In the News
______________________________________________________________________________

1. 2006 Proposals
Full text: http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/biz/mgt/prop/cy06/. {Contact Rochelle for Password}
These include updates on all the projects carried out by GLERL staff in 2005 as well as plans for 2006.
Still time to send comments to Dr. Brandt <Stephen.B.Brandt@noaa.gov> (by 12/14).

IFYLE

• Great Lakes Physical and Biological Measurement and Modeling Program - Lozano, Clites, Maira - continue the development of a retrospective data base of physical environmental variables for Lake Erie, begin the development a data base for the ecological and environmental variables collected during the summer of 2005 from Lake Erie, and develop a Lake Michigan database based on the Lake Erie model.
• Development of a Coordinated Lake Erie Science Program - Ludsin, Hawley, Eadie; Brandt, Lansing; Clites; Maira, Johengen (CILER), Yerubandi (CCIW)
  • Hold an all-IFYLE PI meeting in coordination with the Lake Erie Millennium Network, Assemble a modeling team (led by Joseph DePinto) to develop ecosystem-based forecasting models for Lake Erie.
  • The time series measurements made in 2004 and 2005 will be prepared for entry into the IFYLE data base. Analysis of the data collected during the winter of 2004-2005 will begin;
  • Repairs to equipment damaged during 2005 will be made and new equipment for 2007 will be purchased.
• The ecological consequences of coastal hypoxia: Lake Erie, Chesapeake Bay, and Gulf of Mexico - Ludsin, Brandt, Boicourt, Roman, Kimmel (University of Maryland), Zhang (NOAA), Rabalais (LUMCON), Vanderploeg; Mason -
  • Synthesize findings from Lake Erie, Chesapeake Bay, and the Northern Gulf of Mexico concerning the influence of hypoxia on pelagic fishes and their prey,
  • Host a workshop that focuses on the consequences of hypoxia to pelagic food webs in coastal systems.
• Ecological responses to low oxygen events in central Lake Erie - Ludsin, Vanderploeg, Pothoven, Nalepa, Peacor, Ruberg, Constantini, Cavaletto, Liebig, Lang, Miller, Fanslow, Yagiela, Hook (CILER), Roberts (CILER) -
  • Determine the spatiotemporal distribution and production of benthic macroinvertebrates in relation to oxygen availability in central Lake Erie. Process 2005 samples.
  • Describe the vertical and horizontal distribution of fish and zooplankton along cross-basin transects during both day and night in relation to oxygen availability in central Lake Erie. Process 2005 Plankton Survey System and acoustic data.
  • Describe the diel vertical migration behavior and spatial overlap of fish, Bythotrephes, and native zooplankton in relation to oxygen availability in central Lake Erie. Process 2005 zooplankton samples.
  • Quantify the daily ration and prey selectivity of important fishes in relation to oxygen availability in central Lake Erie, using samples collected at diel stations. Analyze fish gut samples collected 2005.
  • Begin developing habitat suitability maps (using growth rate potential) for select Lake Erie fishes, including rainbow smelt, emerald shiners, yellow perch, and walleye. Develop the grid-based models for habitat suitability mapping.
  • Conduct laboratory experiments to validate the use of RNA:DNA analyses to measure fish condition and instantaneous growth). - Process 2005 samples.
  • Assemble and field-test GLERL’s newly-purchased Laser Optical Plankton Counter (LOPC) so that it will be ready for the 2007 IFYLE field season.
  • Conduct a second year of field sampling to quantify benthic macroinvertebrate production in central Lake Erie. - At the depths sampled, chironomids likely have a one-year life cycle, and sampling for two consecutive years would allow us to follow a cohort through an entire life period.
  • Conduct limited diel sampling to characterize the vertical migration behavior of zooplankton and fish at a site of low (severe hypoxia) and high oxygen. - Sample two sites during early September 2006 (i.e., during the height of severe hypoxia), one in the hypoxic zone and the other outside of it
• Nutrient Loading & Dynamics Associated with Central Basin Lake Erie Hypoxia - Ludsin, Sellinger, Ford, Johengen - near completion
• Coupled hydrodynamic-ecological model of Lake Erie - Schwab, Yao (UM), Beletsky (UM), DePinto (Limno-Tech), Lang - calibrate the coupled hydrodynamic-ecological model of Lake Erie
• River discharge as a predictor of yellow perch recruitment in Lake Erie - Ludsin, Mason; Vanderploeg; Leshkevich; Fryer (U of Windsor); Heath (U of Windsor); Johnson (OMNR); Tyson (ODNR); Bunnell (USGS); Höök (U of Michigan); Mayer (U of Toledo), Cavaletto -
  • Determine if ZP availability and larval YP foraging, growth and condition are enhanced in areas receiving P-rich water from the MR relative to other west basin areas, and if differential growth and habitat use as larvae influence survival to the juvenile stage.
  • Determine if predation on YP larvae is lower in the turbid MR plume, relative to the rest of the west basin, and how mortality varies with a) physical plume attributes (e.g., turbidity, light), b) larval size, c) alternate prey for predators, and d) predator abundance.
  • Use a modeling approach to synthesize our findings and quantify habitat suitability for YP larvae across the west basin.
• Growth and filtering rates of Dreissenids in western Lake Erie (see also Filtering rates of Dreissenids in Lake Erie) - Lozano - remote sensing efforts for 2005 did not work in Lake Erie (turbidity interference). 2006 will concentrate on the historical data (habitat) to determine an effective sampling strategy
• Biomass, Condition of Western Lake Erie Dreissenids - Nalepa, Lozano, Ruberg, Fanslow, Lang - 2004-2005 samples have been processed, 2006 data analysis.
• The Sediments of Lake Erie - Eadie, Meyers (U MI Geol), Knowlton, Lansing -
  • Paleo-proxies: Analyses nearly completed. Draft ms circulating.
  • Eastern Basin Reference Site analyses are completed.
  • Complete a literature search of the properties and recent accumulation rates of Lake Erie sediments.
  • Trapping – CCIW trap samples are being combined with our trap samples from at the center of the central basin and the deep hole in the eastern basin. Mass, nutrient and carbon fluxes are being measured. Final analyses will be completed by the end of the year.
  • Lake Erie Millennial Group and EPA-GLNPO workshop was held in March and a report in online at: http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/rsch/erie/workshops/workshop200403.html.
• Spatial patterns of isotope signatures in sediments of Lake Erie - Raikow, Al Aasm (University of Windsor), Ciborowski (University of Windsor) - stable isotope analysis of 2005 samples
• Spatio-temporal patterns of zooplankton community structure in Lake Erie - Raikow, Cavaletto - stable isotope analysis of 2005 samples
• Sediment resuspension and transport in Lake Erie - Hawley, Eadie, Yehrudandi (CCIW) - rolled into IFYLE (Time Series...)
• Time series measurements in Lake Erie - Hawley, Yerubandi (CCIW), Miller - incorporation into the IFYLE database.
• Overlake Wind Events on Lake Erie - Lofgren - cyclones in the Lake Erie region are associated with a large-scale pattern of pressure that is quite reminiscent of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) pattern (see figure).

CEGLHH

• Next Generation Large Basin Runoff Model - Croley, He (Western Michigan University), Hunter - Continuation of the hydrologic modeling for finescale watershed hydrology and particle tracking. 9 watersheds calibrated in 2005, 9 more in progress. Enhancements to the system planned which will take advantage of hourly meteorologic data. Sediment movement simulations planned for Saginaw Bay, Lake Erie and Lake Michigan
• CEGLHH Research Task 4 - Near-Shore Transport - Schwab, McCormick, Yao (UM), Beletsky (UM), Whitman (USGS), Frick (USEPA), Phanikumar (MSU) - Burns Ditch
  • Compare modeling results to field measurements from 2006
  • Integrate nearshore hydrodynamics model into GLFS
  • Carry out second year field study
• Development of MODIS Phycocyanin Image Product - Leshkevich, Vincent (Bowling Green State University), Dash (BGSU) - algorithms for phycocyanin (blue-green algae) are in the early stages of development. Lake Erie (IFYLE) samples are being used to groundtruth.
• GLERL ECOHAB - Fahnenstiel, Dyble, Leshkevich, McCormick, Sturtevant, Millie (USF), Tester (NOAA-NOS), Rediske (GVSU), Scavia (UM), Morehead - Event response research to groundtruth satellite imagery. Event response website developed 2005 will be revamped for 2006 - including more of the 'negative' and low data. Intention to transition to Grand Valley State operation by 2007.
• OHH: Microcystins in the Great Lakes - Fahnenstiel, Dyble, Joseph (Sea Grant) - 2006 sampling at 2 master stations - Saginaw Bay and Toledo Light.
• Genetic and environmental factors influencing Microcystis bloom toxicity - Dyble, Fahnenstiel, Litaker (NOAA Beaufort), Gossiaux - quantitative genetics to determine strains and toxicity of microcystis
• Effects of zebra mussel grazing on genetic composition of Microcystis blooms - Dyble, Vanderploeg, Fahnenstiel, Sarnelle (MSU), Dionisio-Pires (NIOO), Morehead - Survey of small inland (MI) lakes, microcosm work on Gull Lake (MI), and genetic comparison of Great Lakes region and Netherlands strains.
• Evaluation of the Hazard of Microcystis Blooms for Human Health - Landrum, Dyble, Pothoven, Gossiaux - concentration of microcystin in fish (muscle and liver)

Coastwatch

• CoastWatch Operations - Leshkevich, S. Liu (CILER) - Continued operations of Coastwatch. New for 2006:
  • Further test and implement a new internet map server ("MapServer").
  • Convert the daily GLSEA composite SST chart to 1024 x 1024 format (with NIC ice concentration overlay during winter).
  • Produce and make available online color-coded, classified ice type images derived from RADARSAT SAR data (depending on RADARSAT data availability).
  • Continue building ties to GLOS.
  • Put Yellow Perch sampling grid online as JAVA GIS shape file overlay on western Lake Erie true color image (support of the yellow perch proposal).
• Development of New MODIS Algorithm for Retrieval of Chlorophyll, etc - Leshkevich, Shuchman (Altarum Institute), Pozdnyakov (NANSEN Environmental and Remote Sensing Centre) - Bio-optical models were developed during 2005. In 2006 the team will validate the new bio-optical model (algorithm) based on ground-truth data collected during IFYLE 2005. This will result in more accurate (quantitative) imagery for surface chlorophyll in the Great Lakes.
• CW Research and Product Development - Leshkevich -
  • Complete and validate SAR ice mapping algorithm
  • Complete scatterometer ice mapping algorithm development
  • Complete development of improved turbidity mapping and AVHRR data base for Lake Erie (collaboration with University of Toledo).
  • Continue analysis of GLAWEX2002 C-band, L-band, P-band data / product development as the calibrated data becomes available from NASA.
  • Collaborate on RADARSAT 2 proposal with Jet Propulsion Laboratory (data only)
  • Collaborate on EPA bacterial exposure forecasting pilot project

Fish

• Ecology of Lake Whitefish and Response to Changes in Benthic Communities in Lake Huron - Nalepa, Pothoven - whitefish diet and comparison to benthos distributions. Project winding down - 2006 activities primarily publication.
• Bioenergetics of lake whitefish in the Great Lakes - Pothoven, Madenjian -
  • Model growth and consumption in Lakes Huron and Michigan
  • evaluate how changes in diet and thermal regimes affect growth and consumption
  • evaluate how much of the available food production is consumed by lake whitefish and other planktivorous fish in different regions of Lake Michigan and Huron.
• Implications of Cercopagis and Bythotrephes to alewife recruitment and stability - Vanderploeg, Mason, Pichlová (CILER), Ruberg, Pothoven, Peacor, Warner (USGS), Madenjian (USGS); Krueger, Cavaletto, Lang, Liebig - near completion
• Salmonid spawning stock abundance, recruitment and exploitation in the Muskegon R - Mason, Rutherford - the abundance and spatial distribution of alewife (capacity to buffer predation on smolts) in Lake Michigan and Muskegon Lake using hydroacoustics. Planned last field season for this project.
• Ontogenetic and Seasonal Variation of young Non-Native Fish energy densities in L. Michigan - Hook, Pothoven - alewife and round goby
• Modeling historic and spatial variation of Great Lakes fish maturation schedules - Hook, Peacor - whitefish and walleye
• Micro-elemental analysis of statoliths - Ludsin, Marsden (U of Vermont), Brian Fryer (U of Windsor)- Continue developing method for using statoliths to determine the natal streams of adult lampreys in Lake Huron. (builds on a Lake Champlain pilot)
• Study group on fisheries acoustics in the Great Lakes - Mason - Project completed.
• Development of Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA) - Ludsin, Mason, Pothoven, Cavaletto, Fanslow, Hook - Near completion -currently using the remaining samples to modify NOAA-GLERL’s lipid-extraction protocol for use on large (fish) samples.
• Development of Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis for rapid assessment of fish condition - Pothoven, Ludsin, Mason, Fanslow, Hook (CILER), Collingsworth (Ohio State), Williams (Ohio State), Van Tassel (Ohio State) - species-specific calibrations for yellow perch, lake whitefish, and walleye
• Ecosystem Variability and Estuarine Fisheries - Ludsin, Brandt - Chesapeake Bay project near completion.
• Quantifying the impact of exotic invertebrate invaders on food web structure and function - Mason, Ulanowitz - complete models for Oneida Lake and Lake Michigan. Begin a model for Lake Erie.
• Habitat-Mediated Predator-Prey Interactions in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico - Mason, Lindberg (UFL), Fraser (UFL), Murie (UFL) - reef mapping, Steinhatchee River and the Suwannee River regions in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico

Invasive Species

• ISP / NCRAIS - Reid, Raikow, Mason, Sturtevant -
  • Database Summit
  • Report to Congress on the Efficacy of Ballast Water Exchange
  • Saltwater Vessel Traffic Database
  • NOAA AIS Research Strategic Plan
  • GLANSIS Database
  • Panel(s) (Great Lakes and Gulf/Southeast) Activities
• Assessment of Transoceanic NOBOB Vessels and Low-Salinity Ballast Water - Reid, Fahnenstiel, Johengen (CILER), Hong (CILER), Jacobs (CILER), MacIsaac (University of Windsor), Dobbs (Old Dominion University), Ruiz (Smithsonian Environmental Research Center), Jenkins (Jenkins and Associates, Ontario) - nearing completion
• NOBOB Best Management Practices - Reid, Johengen (CILER), Jacobs (CILER), Hong (CILER), MacIsaac (University of Windsor), Dobbs (Old Dominion University), Ruiz (Smithsonian Environmental Research Center), Jenkins (Jenkins and Associates, Ontario) - deploy instruments in ballast tanks through spring 2006.
• Computational Modeling of Ballast Tanks - Reid, Verosto, Chang, Wilson, Atsavapranee (Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division, West Bethesda, Maryland), Jenkins (Philip T. Jenkins & Associates Ltd., Ontario, Canada), Fednav International (Montreal, Canada) - continue physical model experiments
• Assessing Ecological Risks Posed by a Ballast Water Disinfectant - Landrum, Bartell (E2 Consulting Engineers) and L. Sano (CILER) - nearing completion
• Invertebrate Resting Eggs - An Unaddressed Secondary Aquatic Invasion Vector - Raikow, Reid, Vanderploeg, Landrum, Blatchley (Purdue University), Kerfoot (Michigan Technological University) - bioassays with Glutaraldehyde and Hypochlorite, resting egg catalogue that includes size, appearance, and unique morphological characteristics of resting eggs by species and taxa
• Trait-Mediated Effects of Invasive Predatory Cladocerans - Peacor, Vanderploeg, Cavaletto, Pangle - vertical migration of native species in response to Bythotrephes and Cercopagis
• Does infrared light inhibit the attachment of zebra mussels? - Hawley - deployment of a test platform near Muskegon
• Changes in the pelagic food web of southern Lake Michigan - Vanderploeg, Lozano, Johengen, Lang, Liebig, Cavaletto, Fahnenstiel, Pothoven, McCormick, Madenjian (USGS Great Lakes Science Center) - data rescue to fill gaps, complete analyses
• The role of zebra mussels in promoting Microcystis blooms and other ecosystem changes - Vanderploeg, Nalepa, Liebig, Kaur (CH2M Hill), Fahnenstiel, Lozano - Saginaw Bay and Lake Erie
  • Add zooplankton data to the database
  • examine relation between mussels and phytoplankton species composition and abundance
  • analyze zooplankton data between 1990 and 1996 to describe changes in the community structure
  • work with Sara Adlerstein of SNRE (U of Michigan) to help develop a model describing and explaining changes in all trophic levels—including fishes—in Saginaw Bay.
• Dreissenid mussels as homeostatic filter feeders and nutrient excreters - Vanderploeg, Dyble, Dionisio-Pires (former NRC postdoc now in the Netherlands), Sarnelle (MSU/GLERL ECOHAB project PI at MSU), Hamilton(ECOHAB project Co-PI at MSU), Rose (ECOHAB project Co-PI at MSU), Johengen (CILER) , Liebig , Morehead, Robinson (CILER) - Saginaw Bay, Lake Erie, Maumee plume, and experimental mesocosms in Gull Lake. Mussel selective filtering rate and ingestion of different phytoplankton and nutrient (N and P) excretion and assimilation
• Great Lakes Aquatic Nonindigenous Species Information System (GLANSIS) - Raikow, Reid, Ricciardi (McGill University), Fuller (USGS, CARS-Gainsville), Ruiz (Smithsonian Enviromental Research Laboratory) - Great Lakes ANS Information System
• Forecasting potential spread of introduced species - Raikow, Lodge (Notre Dame University), Stockwell (UCSD Supercomputing Center) - Identify and compile spatially referenced habitat parameter data relevant to benthos in the Great Lakes.
• Digital Organisms in a Virtual Ecosystem (DOVE) food web model - Peacor, Hunter, Button - exploration of plasticity effects

Other Biology

• Long term trends in Benthic Populations in Lake Michigan - Nalepa, Lang - Processing samples collected 2004-2005.
• Pelagic-Benthic Coupling in Nearshore Lake Michigan - Nalepa, Fanslow, Robbins, Morehead - Diporeia declines, testing the food availability hypothesis. Process samples previously collected.
• Assessments of benthic macroinvertebrate communities in the Great Lakes region - Nalepa, Ruberg, Lozano - Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. Process previously collected samples and video. Identification of oligochaetes and chironomids. Data analysis.
• Watershed - Great Lakes Interactions: Ecological Footprint of the Muskegon River Watershed - Eadie, Rutherford, Jude, Wiley, Diana, Adlerstein, Marko [UM School of Natural Resources and Environment]; Kennedy and Blum, [UM Geology]; Johengen,[ UM-CILER] - Another 500+ samples will form the basis for a food web ms – this still needs substantial work but should be completed by end of 2006.

Contaminants/Chemistry

• Bioavailability of Sediment-Associated Toxic Organic Contaminants - Landrum, Gossiaux - nearing completion
• Contaminant Effects Using Body Residues as the Dose Metric - Landrum - manuscripts

Physical Dynamics and Climate

• New Bathymetry of the Great Lakes: Huron and Superior - Reid, Virden (CIRES), Taylor (NOAA/NGDC), Holcombe (TAMU, Retired), Vincent (contractor) - Lake Huron to be completed 2006, Lake Superior to be completed 2007
• Plan of Study for Review of Regulation of Outflows from Lake Superior - Sellinger - Plan submitted to the IJC in October 2005. Expectation of IJC funding to organize the board and technical groups (which should both include Sea Grant representation) in spring 2006.
• Great Lakes Coastal Forecast System - Schwab, Beletsky (UM), Lang -
  • improve the spatial resolution of Lake Michigan and Lake Erie from 5 km to 2 km
  • transfer operational mode to NOAA CO-OPS
  • work with NWS NCEP to implement operational Great Lakes wave forecasts
  • GLOS integration
• Upwelling Dynamics in the Laurentian Great Lakes - Mason, Leshkevich, Schwab, Nalepa, Rutherford (Univ Michigan) -
  • Identify, classify, and quantify upwelling events in Lakes Huron and Ontario for the years 1992-2005, and for Lake Michigan from 2001-2005, using our previously developed semi-automatic algorithm.
  • Develop a statistical model to predict upwelling events using wind data.
• Thermal structure monitoring and related studies - McCormick -
  • The mid-lake mooring will be retrieved and redeployed in the spring of 2006.
  • The U. S. C. G. will deploy thermistors on the 45007 meteorological mooring.
  • data from the USCG thermistors, the NDBC SWT and the subsurface temperature data will be combined into a data set with temperature interpolated onto a 5 m vertical grid at hourly intervals.
• Measurement and modeling of wave-induced sediment resuspension in nearshore water - Hawley, Schwab, Lesht (Argonne National Lab), Wu (Univ. of Wisconsin) - incorporation of data into the lake circulation model
• Forecasting Resource Sheds in Lake Erie - Raikow, Croley, Atkinson (University at Buffalo), Fynn-Aikins (US Fish and Wildlife Service), Zelany (NY Dept. Environmental Conservation), Domske (NY Sea Grant) - Develop novel methods and models to hindcast particle movements, a limited set of resource shed forecasts for locations in Lake Erie
• Great Lakes Sensitivity to Climatic Forcing - Croley, Lewis (Geological Survey of Canada), Rea (U. Michigan), King (U. Rhode Island), Moran (U. Rhode Island), Moore (U. Michigan), Dettman (U. Arizona), Smith (Kent State U.), Blasco (Geological Survey of Canada), Coakley (Environment Canada), Edwards (U. Waterloo), Laird (Queens U.), McAndrews (U. Toronto), McCarthy (Brock U.)- Continuation of a project to hindcast paleoclimate (9000 years ago) impact on Great Lakes water levels. Workshop to be hosted at GLERL in 2006.
• Coupling QPE & Great Lakes Hydrologic Models - Croley, Kelleher (NSSL), Jorgensen (NSSL), Howard (NSSL), Gourley (NSSL), Watkins (MTU), Hunter - Continuation of modeling for prediction of Great Lakes water levels. Evaluation of potential new datastreams.
• Lake Champlain - McCormick, Beletsky, Fahnenstiel -
  • This year’s research efforts will be concentrated on the little studied Northeast Arm of Lake Champlain.
  • Fully three-dimensional modeling efforts will be conducted on the main body of lake Champlain.
• Rogue Waves and Explorations of Coastal Wave Characteristics - Liu, MacHutchon (Liebenberg & Stander International Ltd, South Africa), Wu (University of Wisconsin), Teng (NOAA/NDBC).
• Measurement and time-frequency study of nearshore wind and wave processes - Liu, Babanin (Swineburne University of Technology, Victoria, Australia) - wavelet analysis of breaking waves
• Broadening Topics and Participation in GLERL's Climate Program - Lofgren - Brent will be at ESRL (Boulder) for most of 2006 working to build collaborations with partners there - other climate projects will be largely completed or suspended
• Hydrologic Effects of Shifting Probability Functions for High Precipitation Events - Lofgren - evidence that precipitation increases proportionately more during heavy precipitation events than lighter events with climate change
• Dynamical Modeling of Great Lakes Regional Climate - Lofgren - 2005 goals met, suspended for 2006
• Climate and Land Use Change Processes in East Africa - Lofgren - 2005 goals met, suspended for 2006
• EEGLE - Phytoplankton Dynamics - Fahnenstiel - Project Ended - final manuscripts completed 2005.
• The Impact of Episodic Events on Great Lakes Ecosystems (EEGLE) - Eadie - near completion
• Lake Michigan Mass Balance - Fluxes of Carbon and Nutrients - Eadie - near completion
• GLERL ADCP data processing and archiving - Schwab, Hawley -- not funded 2005. Project not resubmitted.
• Origin and maintenance of the benthic nepheloid layer (bnl) - Hawley - suspended

Technology Development

• Real-time Environmental Coastal Observation Network (RECON) - Ruberg, Mason, Ludsin, Schwab, Johengen, Muzzi, Lane, Miller, Constant, Fanslow - one RECON buoy at the TBNMS, three buoys at Cleveland, and operate two fixed stations in Western Lake Erie (capacity development).
• Real-time Meteorological Observation Network - Ruberg, Schwab, McCormick, Quigley, Lane -
• Improved Mapping Methods - Ruberg, Nalepa, Vanderploeg, Johengen, Biddanda, Meadows - improve the resolution of BenthoCam imagery develop the capability to estimate the area of benthic features sinkhole mapping in Lake Huron (if the Ocean Exploration proposal is funded), Plankton Survey System upgrade
• Microsensor Development - Ruberg, Johengen - laboratory tests of the Sensicore instrument
• Alliance for Coastal Technologies - Johengen
  • 2005 workshop on drifter buoys
  • 2005 Technical Evaluation on fluorometers
  • 2006 workshop on Organic Contaminant Loading
  • 2006 Training Workshop for Managers on Dissolved Oxygen Sensors
  • 2006 Technical Evaluation of Turbidity Sensors

2. New Reprints

• Bundy, M.H. H.A. VANDERPLOEG, P.J. Lavrentyev, and P.A. Kovalcik. The importance of microzooplankton versus phytoplankton to copepod populations during late winter and early spring in Lake Michigan. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 62:2371-23965 (2005). http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/pubs/fulltext/2005/20050024.pdf
• EADIE, B. J., and J. A. ROBBINS. Composition and accumulation of recent sediments in Lake Michigan. In State of Lake Michigan (SOLM) - Ecology, Health, and Management. T. Edsall and M. Munawar (eds.). Ecovision World Monograph Series, Aquatic Ecosystem Health and Management Society, 89-111 (2005).
• Janssen, J. J., M. B. Berg, and S. J. LOZANO. Submerged terra incognita: Lake Michigan’s abundant but unknown rocky zones. In State of Lake Michigan (SOLM) - Ecology, Health, and Management. T. Edsall and M. Munawar (eds.). Ecovision World Monograph Series, Aquatic Ecosystem Health and Management Society, 113-119 (2005).
• NALEPA, T. F., D. L. FANSLOW, G. A. LANG, and S. A. RUBERG. Recent trends in benthic macroinvertebrate populations in Lake Michigan. In State of Lake Michigan (SOLM) - Ecology, Health, and Management. T. Edsall and M. Munawar (eds.). Ecovision World Monograph Series, Aquatic Ecosystem Health and Management Society, 269-292 (2005).
• Reavie, E.D., J.A. ROBBINS, E.F. Stoermer, M.S.V. Douglas, G.E. Emmert, N.R. MOREHEAD, and A. Mudroch. Paleolimnology of a fluvial lake downstream of Lake Superior and the industrialized regin of Sault Saint Marie. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 62:2586-2608 (2005). http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/pubs/fulltext/2005/20050025.pdf
• SANO, L.L., S.M. Bartell, and P.F. LANDRUM. Decay model for biocide treatment of unballasted vessels: Application for the Laurentian Great Lakes. Marine Pollution Bulletin 50:1050-1060 (2005).
• SCHWAB, D. J., T. E. I. CROLEY, and W. M. Schertzer. Physical, limnological, and hydrological characteristics of Lake Michigan. In State of Lake Michigan (SOLM) - Ecology, Health, and Management. T. Edsall and M. Munawar (eds.). Ecovision World Monograph Series, Aquatic Ecosystem Health and Management Society, 3-52 (2005).

3. CEGLHH - In the News
Dr. Joan Rose, Center of Excellence for Great Lakes and Human Health Deputy Director was interviewed last week on the Great Lakes Radio Consortium's series "Ten Threats to the Great Lakes." The Nov. 21 story discussed Sewage in the Lakes.
http://www.glrc.org/transcript.php3?story_id=2841

4. GLERL - In the News
Tom Nalepa was interviewed on the Great Lakes Radio Consortium's series "Ten Threats to the Great Lakes." The Nov. 28 story discussed Diporeia declines. http://glrc.org/story.php3?story_id=2848

November 21, 2005

Contents:
1. Internal Proposal Review
2. GLERL in the News - Ten Threats: Dead Zones in the Lakes
3. GLERL in the News - Big burp theory holds water
4. CEGLHH co-hosts Beach Health Research Needs Workshop
5. Diporeia Workshop
6. NOAA Great Lakes Seminar Series at GLERL

1. Internal Proposal Review
Many of the proposals are posted now - the rest should be up soon.

Sea Grant staff are invited to review GLERL proposals for 2006. Project proposals will be available for review November 18-30 at http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/biz/mgt/prop/cy06/. {contact Rochelle for Passwordl}. Project presentations will be made December 6 and 7, 2005 at GLERL. If you are interested in attending the presentations or formally submitting comments, please contact Rochelle. Please also cc me on any direct correspondence with the PI's relative to these proposals.

2. GLERL in the News - Ten Threats: Dead Zones in the Lakes
by Lester Graham, Great Lakes Radio Consortium, October 24, 2005 - http://glrc.org/transcript.php3?story_id=2812

One of the Ten Threats to the Great Lakes is nonpoint source pollution. Nonpoint source pollution might be part of the reason why some shallow areas in the Great Lakes are afflicted by so-called dead zones every summer. It was once thought that the problem was mostly solved. But, it's become worse in recent years.

The Environmental Protection Agency's research ship, the Lake Guardian, is tied up at a dock at the Port of Cleveland. Nathan Hawley and his crew are loading gear, getting ready for a five day cruise to check some equipment that measures a dead zone along the central basin of Lake Erie. "What I have out here is a series of bottom-resting moorings that are collecting time series data of currents and water temperature and periodically we have to come out here and clean them off and we take that opportunity to dump the data as well." Hawley is gathering the data for scientists at several universities and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Great Lakes Environmental Research Lab. The information helps them measure the behavior of the dead zone that occurs nearly every year in Lake Erie…"What we're trying to do this year is get a more comprehensive picture of how big this low-oxygen zone is and how it changes with time over the year." One of the scientists who'll be pouring over the data is Brian Eadie. He's a senior scientist with NOAA's Great Lakes Environmental Research Lab. He says Lake Erie's dead zone is a place where most life can't survive…"We're talking about near the bottom where all or most of the oxygen has been consumed so there's nothing for animals to breathe down there, fish or smaller animals."
The dead zone has been around since at least the 1930's. It got really bad when there was a huge increase in the amount of nutrients entering the lake. Some of the nutrients came from sewage, some from farm fertilizers and some from detergents. The nutrients, chiefly phosphorous, fed an explosion in algae growth. The algae died, dropped to the bottom of the lake and rotted. That process robbed the bottom of oxygen. Meanwhile, as spring and summer warmed the surface of Lake Erie, a thermal barrier was created that trapped the oxygen-depleted water on the bottom. After clean water laws were passed, sewage treatment plants were built, phosphorous was banned from most detergents, and better methods to remove phosphorous from industrial applications were put in place.

Phosphorous was reduced to a third of what it had been. But Brian Eadie says since then something has changed. "The concentration of nutrients in the central basin the last few years has actually been going up. We don't understand why that's happening." Eadie says there are some theories. Wastewater from sewage plants might be meeting pollution restrictions, but as cities and suburbs grow, there's just a lot more of it getting discharged. More volume means more phosphorous.

It could be that tributaries that are watersheds for farmland are seeing increased phosphorous. Or it could be that the invasive species, zebra mussel, has dramatically altered the ecology of the lakes. More nutrients might be getting trapped at the bottom, feeding bacteria that use up oxygen instead of the nutrients getting taken up into the food chain. Whatever is happening, environmentalists are hopeful that the scientists figure it out soon.

State and federal agencies and several universities are looking at the Lake Erie dead zone to try to figure out what's going on there.

3. GLERL in the News - Big burp theory holds water
by Anne Jungen, Erie Times News 10/6/2005

Biologists confirmed the lake released an aquatic burp of naturally occurring gases that wafted a foul odor over Erie County after powerful wind gusts tore through the region last week and upset the lake.

"The lake is still in the process of mixing," said Jim Grazio, a biologist for the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. "It's not likely, but there's potential it could happen again." Grazio said it was "scientifically exciting" to prove the hypothesized burp, or premature overturn of the upper and lower layers of Lake Erie caused by the day's forceful winds last Thursday.

The overturn of the lake allowed for the release of trapped hydrogen sulfide, a gas with a rotten egg smell, and methane, an odorless gas, Grazio said. He said their release, which residents described as smelling like raw sewage and gasoline, did not pose any health dangers to Erie County residents. The Erie County Department of Health reported no word of residents sick or hospitalized after last week's gas release. "In high concentrations, the gases can be dangerous," Grazio said. "But the concentration in the Great Lakes doesn't reach a dangerous level."

Grazio said an experimental National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration buoy stationed 15 miles north of Cleveland produced real time data from its water quality sensors that helped pinpoint the overturn. He said the buoy's sensors can determine temperatures, wind speed, direction and lake oxygen levels, among other things. Steve Ruberg, observing systems researcher with the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory in Ann Arbor, Mich., a branch of NOAA, said the $100,000 real time experimental buoy is in developmental stages. The research laboratory placed the 4-foot diameter buoy in the water briefly in 2003 and returned it to the lake in June this year to monitor the action of the lake. Ruberg said the experimental buoy performed well and the sensors revealed a low level of oxygen in the lake at the time of the overturn. The buoy can be used for a multitude of scientific conclusions, but in last week's case it helped in another way. "Another purpose in this case is that it helped people understand where that bad smell was coming from," Ruberg said.

Grazio said the lake overturns each spring and fall. While the overturn is normal, the powerful release of gases is not, he said. "What is different this year?" Grazio said. "There's a lot of active research going on to find that out." And the smelly overturn wasn't the only odd occurrence, Grazio said. At the exact time of the release of the gases, the water temperature of the lake was equal at top and bottom in the mid-60s range, while the bottom is typically much cooler than the surface. Grazio said he has never experienced a foul smelling overturn in his seven years as a biologist with the DEP and neither had many of his colleages. "It certainty was a memorable day on Lake Erie, wasn't it?" Grazio said.

4. CEGLHH co-hosts Beach Health Research Needs Workshop

Along with EPA, USGS and the Great Lakes Beach Management Association, the NOAA Center of Excellence for Great Lakes and Human Health co-sponsored a "Beach Health Research Needs Workshop" on November 4 following the joint meeting of the Great Lakes Beach Association and the Lake Michigan: State of the Lake conferences. Workshop attendance exceeded expectations, with more than 50 individuals registered to participate. Breakout groups on Forecasting, Monitoring, and Policy helped to answer the question "How can EPA, NOAA, and USGS research program(s) help state and local agencies accomplish their recreational water quality goals, related specifically to beach closures?" A report on the outcomes of the workshop is in development.

5. Diporeia Workshop
GLERL hosted a workshop on Diporeia on October 20-21. Contact Tom Nalepa for more information.

6. NOAA Great Lakes Seminar Series at GLERL

New in the video archive http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/news/seminars/pastseminars.html

* "Biotechnology development for monitoring coastal water quality" Dr. Kelly Goodwin, NOAA Atlantic Oceanographic & Meteorological Laboratories - by REQUEST ONLY (offline)
* "The creation of a binational Great Lakes human health network" Elizabeth Murphy, Great Lakes Human Health Network
* OHH Directors' Panel Discussion

Upcoming seminars:

* November 21 -1:00 pm "Challenges for pollution control technologies: from Superfund to emerging contaminants" Dr. Peter Adriaens, University of Michigan Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Natural Resources and Environment
* December 1 - 12:15 pm at 1680 Industrial and Operation Engineering Building, UofM, North Campus "Lake currents and human health issues in the Great Lakes - is there a connection?" Dr. David Schwab, NOAA/GLERL
* December 8 - 10:30 am "Health implications of fecal bacteria at Great Lakes beaches" Dr. Elizabeth Alm, Department of Biology, Central Michigan University
* December 15 - 10:30 am "Buddha's Palm -- A personal view of the state of wind wave studies and modeling" Dr. Paul Liu, Research Scientist, NOAA/GLERL

October 19, 2005

Contents
1. GLERL Annual Proposal Review
2. New Microbiologist
3. GLERL Researchers receive Outstanding Scientific Paper Award
4. New Reprints
5. NOAA Great Lakes Seminar Series
_________________________________________________________________

1. GLERL Annual Proposal Review

The purpose of the proposals is to provide the scientific rationale and requested resources for internal GLERL projects and to provide information about planned research activities and committed GLERL resources for externally funded projects. Relevance to ecosystem forecasting will be a major criterion for evaluation of proposals. High priority will be given to multi-PI, interdisciplinary, integrated proposals that are relevant to one or more of the GLERL themes and the theme of Ecosystem Forecasting (e.g. Lake Erie, Great Lakes and Human Health). For the Lake Erie (IFYLE) program, resources will be provided for data analyses. No new IFYLE field work is expected for IFYLE for 2006.

Sea Grant staff are invited to review these proposals. Project proposals will be available for review November 18-30 at http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/biz/mgt/prop/cy06/. {contact Rochelle for Password}. Project presentations will be made December 6 and 7, 2005 at GLERL. If you are interested in attending the presentations or formally submitting comments, please contact Rochelle. Please also cc me on any direct correspondence with the PI's relative to these proposals.

2. New Microbiologist

Dr. Juli Dyble has accepted our microbiologist position. She will start as a permanent P.I. in early January and will participate in the GLERL proposal presentations in December.

3. GLERL Researchers receive Outstanding Scientific Paper Award

NOAA announced the recipients of the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR) Outstanding Scientific Paper Awards for 2004. Awards for the OAR Outstanding Scientific Papers are made in each of the three areas: Climate, Ecosystems, and Weather and Water. A GLERL research team received the only award in the Ecosystems category for the following paper:

Henry A. Vanderploeg, Thomas F. Nalepa, David J. Jude, Edward L. Mills, Kristen T. Holeck, James R. Liebig, Igor A Grigorovich, and Henn Ojaveer. 2002. Dispersal and ecological Impacts of Pronto-Caspian Species in the Great Lakes. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 59: 1209-1228.

4. New Reprints

• BEETON, A.M. Book Review: The Lakes Handbook Volume 2: Lake Restoration and Rehabilitation. The Quarterly Review of Biology 80(3):371 (2005).
• Crane, J.L., C. Richards, D. Breneman, S.J. LOZANO, and J.A. Schuldt. Evaluating methods for assessing sediment quality in a Great Lakes embayment. Aquatic Ecosystem Health and Management 8(3):323-349 (2005). http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/pubs/fulltext/2005/20050023.pdf
• KRUEGER, D.M., and T.R. Hrabik. Food web alterations that promote native species: the recovery of cisco (Coregonus artedi) populations through management of native piscivores. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 62:2177-2188 (2005). http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/pubs/fulltext/2005/2005002.pdf
• Lee, C., D.J. SCHWAB, and N. HAWLEY. Sensitivity analysis of sediment resuspension parameters in coastal area of southern Lake Michigan. Journal of Geophysical Research 10:C03004, 16 pp. (2005). http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/pubs/fulltext/2005/20050018.pdf
• LOFGREN, B.M. Development of the second-generation Hydrosphere-Atmosphere Research Model (CHARM) for the Laurentian Great Lakes region. Proceedings, 19th Conference on Hydrology, 85th Annual Meeting of the American Meteorological Society, January 9-13, 2005, San Diego, CA, 3 pp. (2005).
  http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/pubs/fulltext/2005/20050021.pdf
• LOFGREN, B.M. CLIP: Climate-Land Interaction Project – Investigating Human-cliamte interactions in East Africa. Proceedings, 16th Conference on Climate Variability and Change, 85th Annual Meeting of the American Meteorological Society, January 9-13, 2005, San Diego, CA, 3 pp. (2005).http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/pubs/fulltext/2005/20050020.pdf
• Lohrenz, S.E., G.L. FAHNENSTIEL, D.F. Millie, O.M.e. Schofield, T.H. JOHENGEN, and T. Bergmann. Spring phytoplankton photosynthesis, growth, and primary production and relationships to a recurrent coastal sediment plume and river inputs in southeastern Lake Michigan. Journal of Geophysical Research 109:C10S14 13 pp. (2004).
• LUDSIN, S.A., B.J. Fryer, Z. Yang, S. Melancon, and J.L. Markham. Exploration of the existence of natural reproduction in Lake Erie lake trout using otolith microchemistry. 2004 Project Completion Report, Great Lakes Fishery Commission, 45 pp. (2004).
• Madenjian, C.P., D.W. HONDORP, T.J. Desorcie, and J.D. Holuszko. Sculpin community dynamics in Lake Michigan. Journal of Great Lakes Research 31:267-276 (2005).
• NALEPA, T.F., D.L. FANSLOW, and A.J. FOLEY, III. Spatial patterns in population trends of the amphipod Diporeia spp. and Dreissena mussels in Lake Michigan. Verh. Internat. Verein. Limnol. 29:426-431 (2005).
  http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/pubs/fulltext/2005/20050019.pdf
• SANO, L.L., and P.F. LANDRUM. Evaluation of different biocides for potential use in treating overseas unballasted vessels entering the Great Lakes. Aquatic Invaders 16(3):11 pp. (2005).

5. NOAA Great Lakes Seminar Series
Check out the fall winter series at http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/news/seminars/. Human Health and the Great Lakes is a major theme for the series this year.

Many are video taped for the archive (Past Seminars) -- if you want to know whether a particular seminar will be videotaped (or request that it be) contact Rochelle Sturtevant.

Latest additions to the archive:

• NOAA Oceans and Human Health (OHH ) Directors' Panel Discussion - 10-15 minute video segments are a great introduction to the 3 new NOAA centers!
• Internal phosphorus loading in west Michigan lakes: importance and control." Dr Alan Steinman, Director,Annis Water Resources Institute, Grand Valley State University
• "Progress with Indicators, Methods, Monitoring, Remediation, and Epidemiology for Beaches" Dr. Shannon Briggs, MI DEQ
• "The disappearance of Diporeia in the Great Lakes: in search of a cause" Tom Nalepa, Research Scientist, NOAA/GLERL

September 16, 2005

Contents
1. NCRAIS - AIS Database Summit
2. New Reprints - Ballast, Hydrology, Zooplankton, Quagga mussels
3. NOAA Great Lakes Seminar Series
_____________________________________________________________________________

1. NCRAIS - AIS Database Summit
In recent years on-line resources, directories and databases relating to invasive species have proliferated. These include information on research programs, species biology and life history, policy, management and control and a variety of other information types. Several major databases for aquatic invasive species are publicly funded through federal agencies, mainly NOAA (including Sea Grant), Smithsonian, and USGS. Members of Congress have recently expressed concern over the proliferation of databases and have inquired as to the distinctions among these systems and as to what the agencies are doing to avoid duplication of efforts. The proliferation is also causing confusion for scientists, managers and educators trying to access the information (which databases have which types of information?).

In response, NOAA's National Center for Research on Aquatic Invasive Species (NCRAIS) organized an Aquatic Invasive Species Database Summit involving the three federal agencies listed above plus the NISC and the IJC, as a first step in assuring coordination across federally-sponsored programs at the national scale. Participants included program managers and technical support personnel for 10 current on-line databases. The Summit was funded by NOAA-NCCOS and was hosted by Ohio Sea Grant at Stone Laboratory September 12-14.

Findings and recommendations of the Summit Working Group will be published later this month. These include specific recommendations intended to minimize overlap in data gathering processes, formally distinguish missions to minimize potential for future overlap, create a single 'metaportal' for user access, maximize efficiency of database searching though use of distributed database technologies and create new products possible only through the use of combined databases.

2. New Reprints - Ballast, Hydrology, Zooplankton, Quagga mussels

Bailey, S.A., K. Nandakumar, I.C. Duggan, C.D.A. vanOverdijk, T.H. JOHENGEN, D.F. REID, and H.J. MacIsaac. In situ hatching of invertebrate diapausing eggs from ships’ ballast sediment. Diversity and Distributions 11:453-460 (2005).

CROLEY, T.E. II. Recent Great Lakes evaporation model estimates. Proceedings of the 2005 World Water and Environmental Resources Congress: Impact of Global Climate Change. May 15-19, 2005, Anchorage, AK. Environmental and Water Resources Institute (EWRI) of the American Society of Civil Engineers. 12 pp. (2005). http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/pubs/fulltext/2005/20050015.pdf

CROLEY, T.E. II. Improving hydrological forecasts for IJC Lake Ontario – St. Lawrence River Study. Final Report: Improving Hydrological Forecasts, Project 2: Forecasting Review. 58 pp. (2002). http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/pubs/fulltext/20020022.pdf

CROLEY, T.E. II, and C. He. Great Lakes spatially distributed watershed model of water and materials runoff. Proceedings of the International Conference on Poyang Lake Wetland Ecological Environment, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang, Jiangxi, P.R. China. June 27, 2005, 12 pp. (2005). http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/pubs/fulltext/2005/20050017.pdf

He, C., and T.E. CROLEY, II. Development of a 2-D large basin operational hydrologic model. Proceedings of the Workshop on Modeling and Control for Participatory Planning and Managing Water Systems. September 29-October 1, 2004, Venice, Italy. International Federation for Automatic Control, 12 pp. (2004). http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/pubs/fullttext/2004/20040034.pdf

He, C., and T.E. CROLEY, II. Estimating nonpoint source pollution loadings in the Great Lakes watershed. Proceedings of the International Conference on Poyang Lake Wetland Ecological Environment, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang, Jiangxi, P.R. China. June 27, 2005, 12 pp. (2005). http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/pubs/fulltext/2005/20050016.pdf

PEACOR, S.D., K.L. PANGLE, AND H.A. VANDERPLOEG. Behavior response of Lake Michigan Daphnia mendotae to Mysis relicta. Journal of Great Lakes Research 31:144-154 (2005). http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/pubs/fulltext/20050014.pdf

Zhulidov, A.V., D.A. Zhulidov, D.F. Pavlov, T.F. NALEPA, and T.V. Gurtovaya. Expansion of the invasive bivalve mollusk Dreissena bugensis (quagga mussel) in the Don and Volga River basins: revisions based on archived specimens. Ecohydrology and Hydrobiology 5(2):127-133 (2005). http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/pubs/fulltext/2005/20050013.pdf

3. NOAA Great Lakes Seminar Series

New video archives...http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/news/seminars/pastseminars.html

• "Is it safe to drink the water? Detecting toxic strains of Microcystis in the Great Lakes." Dr. Juli Dyble, NRC Post-Doctoral
  Fellow, Center for Coastal Fisheries and Habitat Research, NOAA National Ocean Service
• "The disappearance of Diporeia in the Great Lakes: in search of a cause" Tom Nalepa, Research Scientist, NOAA/GLERL

Coming this fall...

• Thursday, September 22, 10:30 am: "Progress with Indicators, Methods, Monitoring, Remediation, and Epidemiology for Beaches" Dr. Shannon Briggs, Michigan Department of Environmental Quality
• Thursday, October 6, 11:00 am: "Internal phosphorus loading in west Michigan lakes: importance and control." Dr. Alan D.
  Steinman, Director, Annis Water Resources Institute, Grand Valley State University
• Tuesday, October 11, 10:30 am: "OHH Directors Panel Discussion." Dr. Stephen Brandt, GLERL/NOAA, Dr. Usha Varanasi, Northwest Fisheries Science Center, Dr Fred Holland, Hollings Marine Laboratory
• Thursday, October 20, 10:30 am: "TBA" Dr. Stuart Ludsin, Research Scientist, NOAA/GLERL
• Tuesday, October 25, 10:30 am: "Challenges for Pollution Control Technologies" Dr. Peter Adriaens, University of Michigan
  Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
• Friday, October 28, 10:30 am: "US Great Lakes Human Health Network" Elizabeth Murphy, Great Lakes Human Health Network
• Thursday, November 10, 10:30 am: "A big lake's record preserved in a little lake's sediment: A history of lake level change in the Lake Michigan basin from Silver Lake, Michigan." Dr. Timothy Fisher, University of Toledo
• Tuesday, November 15, 10:30 am: "TBA" Dr. Kelly Goodwin, NOAA Atlantic Oceanographic & Meteorological Laboratories
• Thursday, November 17, 10:30 am: "TBA" : Dr. Brian Eadie, Research Scientist, NOAA/GLERL

Watch http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/news/seminars/ for abstracts. Contact Rochelle Sturtevant for more information.

August 12, 2005

Contents

1. GLERL in the News - Newest Lake Erie 'dead zone' brings horror story for fish near Sandusky
2. New Reprints - Ice, Fish

__________________________________________________________________________________________

1. GLERL in the News - Newest Lake Erie 'dead zone' brings horror story for fish near Sandusky
Tuesday, July 19, 2005
Excerpt from Toledo Blade Article By Megan Greenwell

In a dead zone, there is so little oxygen along the lake bottom that fish cannot survive. Scientists have monitored the phenomenon in Lake Erie's central basin from Ashtabula to Cleveland for years, but 70 miles west, in the Sandusky sub-basin, the problem has worsened to the point that there is no oxygen at all. "Anything lower than four parts of oxygen per thousand is problematic," said Stuart Ludsin, lead scientist on the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory's Lake Erie project. "Around Sandusky, it's between zero and one parts per thousand in several spots." To make matters worse, the dead zone arrived earlier than usual this year. Typically, oxygen levels are especially low in mid to late August; researchers discovered the low levels near Sandusky on June 29. Recent tests indicate that there are about six parts oxygen per thousand in the lake's central basin. Lake Erie's "dead zone" near here is expected to return in August, but scientists are more concerned about another such zone that is much closer to Toledo.

The oxygen level is a cause for concern in late summer because of the physical attributes of the lake, scientists said. The Sandusky sub-basin - near where Sandusky Bay empties into Lake Erie - is deeper than the western basin, which takes in oxygen when the wind creates water movement. But the sub-basin and the central basin are not as deep as the eastern basin, which naturally maintains a sizeable oxygen layer along the bottom. Another part of the oxygen-depletion problem has to do with excess algae along the lake floor. Algae feed on phosphorus and other nutrients that enter the lake through falling rain or the runoff from rivers or sewage overflows, Mr. Ludsin said. Still, researchers said they do not fully understand what causes oxygen depletion. That question is at the heart of a six-month, multimillion dollar study involving 35 scientists from several universities as well as the United States and Canadian governments. "All our theories look very good on paper, but this is the first major study of its kind, so it's an opportunity to answer a lot of these questions," said Mike Quigley, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ecologist based in Ann Arbor.

Even more important than the causes of the dead zone, Mr. Ludsin said, are the effects it has on the ecosystem that surrounds Lake Erie. The researchers hypothesize that the lake's fish population will decrease, upsetting the food chain from the microscopic level up to the humans who eat fish from the lake. During the day, many species of fish cluster in schools along the bottom of the lake, where temperatures are cool, predators few, and plankton abundant. If the oxygen level is too low, fish have to move toward the surface of the water or horizontally out of the dead zone, abandoning the habitat in which they thrive. "Nobody has made a good link between the oxygen level and the fish population," Mr. Ludsin said. "The number of eggs depends on the size of the fish, and if they're out of their ideal conditions they may not grow as big."

To study the effects of the dead zone, engineers designed equipment capable of measuring the number and size of fish, the presence of the plankton that the predator fish feed upon, and the temperature of the water at different depths. NOAA engineer Steve Ruberg designed a "tow-yo," an electronic device towed by a boat that travels in wave patterns to quantify different factors. "We can watch the measurements at the very bottom as well as closer to the top," he said.

When the study ends in October, Mr. Ludsin and his staff will report their findings to the departments of natural resources in Ohio, Michigan, and Canada. If their research indicates a clear link between low oxygen levels and decreased fish populations, they will focus on controlling the factors they can. "Right now we have no way of controlling the oxygen levels," Mr. Ludsin said. "The only way to do anything is to figure out what causes it."

2. New Reprints - Ice, Fish

ASSEL, R.A. Great Lakes ice cover climatology update: winters 2003, 2004, and 2005. NOAA Technical Memorandum GLERL-135. NOAA, Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, Ann Arbor, MI, 21 pp. (2005). ftp://ftp.glerl.noaa.gov/publications/tech_reports/glerl-135/tm-135.pdf

Dobiesz, N.E., D.A. McLeish, R.L. Eshenroder, J.R. Bence, L.C.Mohr, M.P. Ebener, T.F. NALEPA, A.P. Woldt, J.E. Johnson, R.L. Argyle, and J.C. Makarewicz. Ecology of the Lake Huron fish community, 1970-1999. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 62:1432-1451 (2005). http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/pubs/fulltext/2005/20050012.pdf

July 18, 2005

Contents
1. CEGLHH/GLERL ECOHAB - HAB Event Response Project Launches Website
2. GLERL In the News
3. Recent Reprints

1. CEGLHH/GLERL ECOHAB - HAB Event Response Project Launches Website
Excerpt from NOAA Magazine

A new Web site, created by the NOAA Center of Excellence for Great Lakes and Human Health, serves as an electronic field guide to the types, locations and habits of harmful algal blooms in the Great Lakes.

"This is another way that NOAA can protect and monitor our water resources, while better understanding the effect of environmental factors on human health and well-being, and provide products that citizens can use," said retired Navy Vice Admiral Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Jr., Ph.D., undersecretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator. "Armed with this information, residents and visitors can make better decisions this summer when they use the beaches for recreational purposes."

Algae are microscopic plant-like organisms that live in water. When certain conditions are present, such as high nutrient or light levels, these organisms can reproduce rapidly, producing what is called a bloom. A harmful algal bloom contains toxins, other noxious chemicals or pathogens, which can cause the death of nearby fish, foul coastlines and produce harmful conditions for marine life and humans.

The new site provides public access to screening data generated by the NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (which houses CEGLHH) research on algae blooms and places these data in the context of international public health guidelines. The focus of this research project is to determine the factors controlling microcystin production and to develop methods for determining the location and extent of blooms from satellite imagery. A Frequently Asked Questions section provides information in easy-to-understand language. Suggestions are also offered on ways to keep individuals and their pets or livestock safe.

"These data are primarily for our research work into the dynamics of algal blooms in the Great Lakes," said Stephen Brandt, director of the NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory and the Center for Human Health and the Great Lakes. "But we also thought that it would be helpful to make these data available to the public so they can make decisions."

The data come from a project that will be taking samples this summer from Bear Lake and Muskegon Lake on Michigan's west coast, Saginaw Bay on Lake Huron and western Lake Erie. Using satellite images, scientists can see a "probable bloom" and send a sampling team to that area.

Check it out at: NOAA Great Lakes Harmful Algal Bloom Event Response
See the newroom link at the site for links to recent news articles relating to the website and HABs in general.

2. GLERL In the News
The May 27th issue of Science includes an article on GLERL's web-based Great Lakes Ice Atlas. The article is on pa. 1233 within Science's NetWatch section that highlights scientific web sites on images, education, archives and databases (where the ice atlas is featured).

3. Recent Reprints
Assel, R.A. Conditional probability of December and January ice cover at selected Great Lakes shore sites. NOAA Technical Memorandum GLERL-134. NOAA, Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, Ann Arbor, MI. 31 pp. (2005).

Hondorp, D.W., S.A. Pothoven, and S.B. Brandt. Influence of Diporeia density on diet composition, relative abundance, and energy density of planktivorous fishes in southeast Lake Michigan. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 134:588-601 (2005).

Moore, D.W., R. Baudo, J.M. Conder, P.F. Landrum, V.A. McFarland, J.P. Meador, R.N. Millward, J.P. Shine, and J.Q. Word. Bioaccumulation in the assessment of sediment quality: uncertainty and potential application. In Use of Sediment Quality Guidelines and Related Tools for the Assessment of Contaminated Sediments. R.J. Wenning, G.E. Batley, C.G. Ingersoll, and D.W. Moore (Eds.). Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, Pensacola, FL, pp. 429-495 (2005).

Word, J.Q., B.B. Albrecht, M.L. Anghera, R. Baudo, S.M. Bay, D.M. DiToro, J.L. Hyland, C.G. Ingersoll, P.F. Landrum, E.R. Long, J.P. Meador, D.W. Moore, T.P. OcConnor, and J.P. Shine. Predictive ability of sediment quality guidelines. In Use of Sediment Quality Guidelines and Related Tools for the Assessment of Contaminated Sediments. R.J. Wenning, G.E. Batley, C.G. Ingersoll, and D.W. Moore (Eds.). Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, Pensacola, FL, pp. 121-161 (2005).

June 17, 2005

Contents
1. Sea Grant Educator and Outreach Coordinator, GLERL Center of Excellence for Great Lakes and Human Health/Michigan Sea Grant
2. Harmful Algal Bloom Event Response Website
3. New Reprints
4. GLERL in the News: Ice
________________________________________________________________________________________________________

1. Sea Grant Educator and Outreach Coordinator, GLERL Center of Excellence for Great Lakes and Human Health/Michigan Sea Grant
Please help distribute the following position announcement to appropriate folks...particularly anyone with expertise in public health communication.

Position #: 1428 Sea Grant Educator and Outreach Coordinator, GLERL Center of Excellence for Great Lakes and Human Health/Michigan Sea Grant
Office Location: Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL), Ann Arbor, Michigan

Available: August 1, 2005

Starting Salary Range: Commensurate with training & Experience ($35K - $55K)

APPLICATION PROCEDURE: Apply by using the web employment process at: http://web1.msue.msu.edu/jobs

BACKGROUND AND POSITION RESPONSIBILITIES:
The NOAA Center of Excellence for Great Lakes and Human Health (the Center) is a new program of the Office of Global programs. It is one of three Centers of Excellence for Ocean and Human Health designated nationally to date. The Coordinator will seek to collaborate with the other NOAA Centers to develop a common core of education and outreach materials. Partners in the Center include NOAA=s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL), Michigan State University, Great Lakes Sea Grant Network, U.S. EPA (Great Lakes National Program Office B GLNPO - and Athens), the Great Lakes Human Health Network (GLHHN), U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Florida Institute of Oceanography, NOAA NOS Beaufort Laboratory, and the University of Michigan. Initial focus areas for the Center include ecological forecasting, nearshore transport, drinking water, beach closings, and harmful algal blooms.

The primary responsibility of the Coordinator will be to manage all stakeholder involvement with Center activities. The Coordinator will build on existing communications networks for Great Lakes human health issues - leveraging existing relationships within and through the Great Lakes Sea Grant Network, as well as resources of other networks such as the GLHHN. The Coordinator will seek to broaden the client base for water quality and human health related water quality forecasts to include more medical, drinking water, water treatment, and beach management constituencies.

The Coordinator will create and work with a Technical Advisory Board for the Center which will meet at least annually to advise the Center on priority research and user needs and appropriate outreach strategies for delivering research results to key user groups. During the first two years of the program, the coordinator will conduct a detailed needs assessment for water quality forecasting needs related to human health and the Great Lakes.

The Coordinator will work with the GLHHN to conduct focused workshops on topics central to the Center's core areas of excellence and a training institute that will team-teach short courses on related topics. These courses will be targeted to educate health professionals, municipal officials, and other key user groups and decision makers about the mechanisms that directly affect water quality and how water quality forecasting can be used to improve safety within their communities.

Additional Center outreach tools will include a website and newsletter. Content of these will include, but not be limited to, outlines and results of Center research projects, products of the focused stakeholder workshops, and test-bed forecasts. As the results of Center research become available, the coordinator will work with Center partners to develop appropriate outreach and extension strategies and forecasting products that will be useful to stakeholders.

QUALIFICATIONS:
Minimum Qualifications:
1. Graduate degree in an area directly related to fulfilling the responsibilities of the position.
2. Demonstrated effective leadership ability, effective human relations and communications skills - both written and oral. Proven track record of working with Great Lakes or coastal based groups to establish program/project direction.
3. Experience in establishing collaborations.
4. Computer skills, including the use of word processing, presentation software, development of multimedia programs and web design.

Desirable Qualifications:
1. Successful experiences in proposal development and grant management.
2. Working relationships with members of the Sea Grant or human health communities.
3. Working knowledge of scientific issues relating to coastal science and human health.
4. Proficiency in writing for diverse audiences.
5. Demonstrated creative ability.
6. Ability to create and enhance collaboration in research and education programs.

ADMINISTRATIVE RELATIONSHIPS:
The position reports directly to the Office of the Director of Extension who has assigned supervisory responsibility to the Specialist for the Michigan Sea Grant Extension Program (Sea Grant Extension Program Leader) in the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife.

The agent resides at GLERL and coordinates day-to-day activities with the Center Director.

Candidate selection, program planning, and the development of annual plans of work will be coordinated with, and approved by, the "Program Advisory/Oversight Committee" composed of the Center Steering Committee, the Sea Grant Extension Program Leader and the Great Lakes Sea Grant Extension Agent at GLERL.

FURTHER INFORMATION:

Rochelle Sturtevant, Ph.D.
Extension Sea Grant Agent
Washtenaw County Extension
Great Lakes Environmental Research Lab
2205 Commonwealth Blvd.
Ann Arbor, MI 48105
Phone: 734-741-2287
E-Mail: rochelle.sturtevant@noaa.gov

John D. Schwartz, Ph.D.
Program Leader
Michigan Sea Grant Extension
Department of Fisheries & Wildlife
334 Natural Resources Bldg
Michigan State University
East Lansing, Michigan 48824-1222
Phone: 517-355-9637
E-Mail: schwartj@msu.edu

Michigan State University Extension employment opportunities are open to eligible/qualified persons without regard to race, color, national origin, gender, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, marital status, or family status. Persons with disabilities have the right to request and receive reasonable accommodations.

To apply for this job posting, please go to the WEB Application Procedure
http://web2.canr.msu.edu/personnel/index.htm

2. Harmful Algal Bloom Event Response Website

A new website (http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/seagrant/GLWL/Algae/HAB/EventResponse/EventResponse.html), created by NOAA’s Center of Excellence for Great Lakes and Human Health, provides public access to screening data generated by NOAA-GLERL research on algae blooms and places this data in the context of international public health guidelines. The focus of this research project is to determine the factors controlling microcystin production and to develop methods for determining the location and extent of blooms from satellite imagery. Portions of the site serve as an electronic field guide to the types, locations, and habits of harmful algal blooms in the Great Lakes. A Frequently Asked Question section provides information in easy-to-understand language. Suggestions are also offered on ways to keep individuals and their pets or livestock safe.

“These data are primarily for our research work into the dynamics of algal blooms in the Great Lakes,” said Stephen Brandt, director of NOAA’s Great Lakes Research Laboratory and the Center for Human Health and the Great Lakes. “But we also thought that it would be helpful to make this data available to the public so they can make decisions.” The data come from a project that will be taking samples this summer from Bear Lake and Muskegon Lake on Michigan’s west coast, Saginaw Bay on Lake Huron and western Lake Erie. Using satellite images, scientists can see a “probable bloom” and send a sampling team to that area.

3. New Reprints

• CROLEY, T.E. II, and C. He. Distributed-parameter large basin runoff model. I: Model development. Journal of Hydrologic Engineering10(3):173-181 (2005).
• CROLEY, T.E. II, C. He, and D.H. Lee. Distributed-parameter large basin runoff model. II: Application. Journal of Hydrologic Engineering 10(3):182-191 (2005).
• Dermott, R., M. Munawar, R. Bonnell, S. Caron, H. Niblock, T. F. NALEPA, and G. Messick. Preliminary investigations for causes of the disappearance of Diporeia spp. from Lake Ontario. In Proceedings of a Workshop on the Dynamics of Lake Whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis) and the amphipod Diporeia spp. in the Great Lakes.
• L. C. Mohr, and T.F. Nalepa (eds.). Great Lakes Fishery Commission, Technical Report 66, Ann Arbor, MI, pp. 203-232 (2005). http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/pubs/fulltext/2005/20050008.pdf
• Johnson, T.B., M.H. Hoff, A.S. Trebitz, C.R. Bronte, T.D. Corry, J.F. Kitchell, S.J. LOZANO, D.M. MASON, J.V. Scharold, S.T. Schram, and D.R. Schreiner. Spatial patterns in assemblage structures of pelagic forage fish and zooplankton in western Lake Superior. Journal of Great Lakes Research 30(Supplement 1):395-406 (2004).
• LOZANO, S. J. and D.H. Merkey. Chapter 7: Restoration monitoring of soft bottom habitats. In Thayer, G. W., T. A. McTigue, R. Salz, D.H. Merkey, F.M. Burrows, and P. Gayaldo (eds.). Tools for Monitoring Coastal Habitats. NOAA Coastal Ocean Program Decision Analysis Series 23, Volume 2, NOAA National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, Silver Spring, MD (2005). http://coastalscience.noaa.gov/ecosystems/estuaries/restoration_monitoring.html
• LOZANO, S. J., and J. V. Scharold. The status of Diporeia spp. in Lake Ontario, 1994-1997. In Proceedings of a Workshop on the Dynamics of Lake Whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis) and the amphipod Diporeia spp. in the Great Lakes. L. C. Mohr, and T.F. Nalepa (eds.). Great Lakes Fishery Commission, Technical Report 66, Ann Arbor, MI, pp. 233-246 (2005). http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/pubs/fulltext/2005/20050009.pdf
• Madenjian, C. P., S. A. POTHOVEN, P. J. Schneeberger, D. V. O'Connor, and S. B. BRANDT. Preliminary evaluation of a Lake Whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis) bioenergetics model. In Proceedings of a Workshop on the Dynamics of Lake Whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis) and the amphipod Diporeia spp. in the Great Lakes. L. C. Mohr, and T.F. Nalepa (eds.). Great Lakes Fishery Commission, Technical Report 66, Ann Arbor, MI, pp. 189-202 (2005). http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/pubs/fulltext/2005/20050010.pdf
• MERKEY, D. H. Chapter 2: Restoration monitoring of the water column. In Thayer, G. W., T. A. McTigue, R. Salz, D.H. Merkey, F.M. Burrows, and P. Gayaldo (eds.). Tools for Monitoring Coastal Habitats. NOAA Coastal Ocean Program Decision Analysis Series 23, Volume 2, NOAA National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, Silver Spring, MD (2005).
  http://coastalscience.noaa.gov/ecosystems/estuaries/restoration_monitoring.html
• MERKEY, D. H., F. M. Burrows, and G. W. Thayer. Chapter 9: Restoration monitoring of submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV). In Thayer, G. W., T. A. McTigue, R. Salz, D.H. Merkey, F.M. Burrows, and P. Gayaldo (eds.). Tools for Monitoring Coastal Habitats. NOAA Coastal Ocean Program Decision Analysis Series 23, Volume 2, NOAA National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, Silver Spring, MD (2005).
  http://coastalscience.noaa.gov/ecosystems/estuaries/restoration_monitoring.html
• MERKEY, D. H., F. M. Burrows, T. A. McTigue, and J. Foret. Chapter 10: Restoration monitoring of coastal marshes. In Thayer, G. W., T. A. McTigue, R. Salz, D.H. Merkey, F.M. Burrows, and P. Gayaldo (eds.). Tools for Monitoring Coastal Habitats. NOAA Coastal Ocean Program Decision Analysis Series 23, Volume 2, NOAA National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, Silver Spring, MD (2005).
  http://coastalscience.noaa.gov/ecosystems/estuaries/restoration_monitoring.html
• MERKEY, D. H. Chapter 12: Restoration monitoring of deepwater swamps. In Thayer, G. W., T. A. McTigue, R. Salz, D.H. Merkey, F.M. Burrows, and P. Gayaldo (eds.). Tools for Monitoring Coastal Habitats. NOAA Coastal Ocean Program Decision Analysis Series 23, Volume 2, NOAA National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, Silver Spring, MD (2005).
  http://coastalscience.noaa.gov/ecosystems/estuaries/restoration_monitoring.html
• MERKEY, D. H. and B. D. Keeland. Chapter 13: Restoration monitoring of riverine forests. In Thayer, G. W., T. A. McTigue, R. Salz, D.H. Merkey, F.M. Burrows, and P. Gayaldo (eds.). Tools for Monitoring Coastal Habitats. NOAA Coastal Ocean Program Decision Analysis Series 23, Volume 2, NOAA National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, Silver Spring, MD (2005). http://coastalscience.noaa.gov/ecosystems/estuaries/restoration_monitoring.html
• Mohr, L. C., and T. F. NALEPA (Eds.). Proceedings of a Workshop on the Dynamics of Lake Whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis) and the Amphipod Diporeia spp. in the Great Lakes. Technical Report 66. Great Lakes Fishery Commission, Ann Arbor, MI, 310 pp. (2005). http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/pubs/fulltext/2005/20050004.pdf
• NALEPA, T. F., L. C. Mohr, B. A. Henderson, C. P. Madenjian, and P. J. Schneeberger. Lake Whitefish and Diporeia spp. in the Great Lakes: An overview. In Proceedings of a Workshop on the Dynamics of Lake Whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis) and the amphipod Diporeia spp. in the Great Lakes. L. C. Mohr, and T.F. Nalepa, (eds.). Great Lakes Fishery Commission, Technical Report 66, Ann Arbor, MI, pp. 3-20 (2005). http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/pubs/fulltext/2005/20050005.pdf
• NALEPA, T. F., D. L. FANSLOW, and G. Messick. Characteristics and potential causes of declining Diporeia spp. populations in southern Lake Michigan and Saginaw Bay, Lake Huron. In Proceedings of a Workshop on the Dynamics of Lake Whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis) and the amphipod Diporeia spp. in the Great Lakes. L. C. Mohr, and T.F. Nalepa (eds.). Great Lakes Fishery Commission, Technical Report 66, Ann Arbor, MI, pp. 157-188 (2005). http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/pubs/fulltext/2005/20050007.pdf
• POTHOVEN, S. A. Changes in Lake Whitefish diet: Lake Michigan. In Proceedings of a Workshop on the Dynamics of Lake Whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis) and the amphipod Diporeia spp. in the Great Lakes. L. C. Mohr, and T.F. Nalepa (eds.). Great Lakes Fishery Commission, Technical Report 66, Ann Arbor, MI, pp. 127-140 (2005). http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/pubs/fulltext/2005/20050006.pdf
• Thayer, G.W., T.A. McTigue, R.J. Salz, D.H. Merkey, F.M. Burrows, and .F. Gayaldo, (eds.). Science-Based Restoration Monitoring of Coastal Habitats, Volume Two: Tools for Monitoring Coastal Habitats. NOAA Coastal Ocean Program Decision Analysis Series No. 23. NOAA National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, Silver Spring, MD. 628 pp. plus appendices (2005). http://coastalscience.noaa.gov/ecosystems/estuaries/restoration_monitoring.html

4. GLERL in the News: Ice
Ray Assel's Ice Cover Atlas featured in Ann Arbor News
http://www.mlive.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news-0/1118673641316510.xml?aanews?NECTA

June 1, 2005

Another time-senistive mid-course update -- please help advertise these opportunities to suitable candidates...

Contents
1. Physical – Biological Modeler
2. Distinguished Visiting Scholar - Great Lakes and Human Health
3. Great Lakes Research Investigator Program

1. Physical – Biological Modeler

We seek an enthusiastic research scientist to examine physical-biological coupling in Great Lakes and coastal ecosystems. The candidate will be expected to develop, coupled, spatially-explicit models of Great Lakes ecological and physical dynamics, with particular emphasis on ecosystem forecasting, e.g., episodes of hypolimnetic hypoxia, harmful algal blooms, and fish production and recruitment. The approach would involve coupling multiple state-variable ecological models with 3-d hydrodynamic, hydrologic, and/or sediment dynamics models. Experience with the Princeton Ocean Model or similar numerical hydrodynamic models and biological processes and/or larval recruitment / phytoplankton transport models is required. The individual will present results in peer-reviewed publications and scientific presentations and grow the program by submitting research proposals.

This is a full time permanent federal position at the GS-13 level with a starting salary of $77,161. The position will remain open until 09/30/05; however, the position may be filled before that date. Applications received by June 30, 2005 will be given first consideration. Applications will be reviewed on a monthly basis thereafter until the closing date.

This position is posted on the U.S. Department of Commerce website: <http://www.jobs.doc.gov/> under four vacancy numbers. The first two are for individuals with formal training in the biological sciences OAR-LABS-2005-0100 and OAR-LABS-2005-0095 (current federal employees) and the second two are for individuals with formal training in the physical sciences OAR-LABS-2005-0102 and OAR-LABS-2005-0104 (current federal employees). Applicants must be U.S. Citizens. Candidates are required to submit applications on line. Further information can be obtained from Peter.Landrum@noaa.gov. In addition to making a formal application on line, please send a courtesy CV to Dr. Landrum either electronically or by mail to Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, 2205 Commonwealth Blvd. Ann Arbor, MI 48105. Further information on NOAA’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory can be found at http://www.glerl.noaa.gov.

2. Distinguished Visiting Scholar - Great Lakes and Human Health

The NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL) seeks a Distinguished Visiting Scholar to work at the interface of Great Lakes and Human Health. The NOAA Center of Excellence for Great Lakes and Human Health is a multi-disciplinary research center which focuses on understanding the inter-relationships between the Great Lakes ecosystem, water quality and human health. The Center will focus on using ecosystem forecasting to minimize risks to human health in coastal environments in three main areas:

· Water Quality
· Beach Closures
· Harmful Algal Blooms

The ecosystem processes affecting water quality, beach closings, and harmful algal blooms are all similar. Land-use and meteorological processes and events in the watershed determine the sources and loadings of bacteria and nutrients to the lakes. These processes, particularly hydrodynamics, will determine the fate and probability of transport of this material to beaches, drinking water intakes, and regions of harmful algal bloom generation. Defining and forecasting these relationships is the primary research focus of the Center. (See http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/res/Centers/HumanHealth/).

We seek an enthusiastic Distinguished Scientist to help build NOAA’s capacity in this field by providing specialized training, new research approaches or other expertise, spending 2-15 months on-site at GLERL and actively participating with NOAA scientists on collaborative work. A full program description can be found at http://www.coreocean.org, then click on “NOAA OHHI Distinguished Scientist Program Call for Proposals”.

If interested, please contact Stephen.B.Brandt@noaa.gov.

3. Great Lakes Research Investigator Program
The University of Michigan’s School of Natural Resources & Environment, in conjunction with NOAA’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory and the USGS Great Lakes Science Center , is seeking qualified candidates for two-year Joint Research Investigator positions. The following positions are in the University of Michigan’s School of Natural Resources & Environment. A primary goal of this program is to develop new Great Lakes capabilities at the University of Michigan and to build bridges between the University of Michigan’s scientific community and NOAA or the USGS. As such, these shared, jointly-funded researchers are expected to work closely with NOAA or USGS scientists to develop joint programs with the University. NOAA and USGS scientists associated with each position are identified below. Candidates are encouraged to contact them and Dr. Scavia (scavia@umich.edu) for additional details. Unless otherwise noted, all positions are located in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

UM-NOAA Appointments

1. Statistical Modeling and Forecasting Use large spatial and temporal databases to formulate models that statistically forecast conditions (e.g. algal blooms, beach closings, physical hazards, fish recruitment, water quality) in the Great Lakes.
(Stephen.B.Brandt@noaa.gov, Stephen.Lozano@noaa.gov)

2. Ecological Toxicology Address the impacts of toxicants at the individual, population and ecological levels of the Great Lakes. The studies can include both legacy and emerging chemicals of concern. The main effort will be to develop forecasting tools through collaboration with GLERL scientists. (Peter.Landrum@noaa.gov)

3. Watershed Hydrology Apply theoretical and applied hydrologic principals to produce spatially explicit watershed and open lake forecasts of water and material (nutrients, sediment, pollutants, etc.) movement. A background in linking water motion forecasts with soil, nutrients or contaminants is highly desired. (Tom.Croley@noaa.gov)

4. Near-shore Coastal Hydrodynamics and Particle Transport Study how hydrodynamic processes in the near shore zone (such as the complex interactions between nonlinear waves, breaking-induced turbulence, infragravity waves, mean currents, bottom ripples, sand bars and the turbulent boundary layer at the seabed) affect the transport of dissolved and suspended materials in the near shore regions of the Great Lakes for the purpose of operational predictions of near shore water quality. Applications would include predictions of the fate of tributary loads as well as the simulation of non-point
source inputs. Near shore models would be imbedded in an existing whole-lake coastal forecasting system for high resolution predictions in selected regions. An important part of this research will be the study of the interaction and exchange between lake-scale and near shore regions. (David.Schwab@noaa.gov)

5. Coastal Observation Apply Coastal Observing systems (e.g. Real-time Buoy-deployed chemical, biological, physical sensors and or remote sensing) to study and forecast physical or biological processes in Great Lakes ecosystems. (Steve.Ruberg@noaa.gov, Stephen.B.Brandt@noaa.gov)

6. Environmental Toxicologist Study potential of cyanobacterial toxin exposures to human health and food webs. Initially focus on microcystin and determine concentrations in edible fish tissue and the dynamics of fish exposure including the temporal concentrations and the time to recovery. In addition, the work will examine the potential impact of cyanobacterial toxins on fisheries populations and the potential of other cyanobacterial toxins for transfer through this route of exposure for human exposure. This work will be collaborative with the NOAA Center of Excellence for Great Lakes and Human Health.
(Peter.Landrum@noaa.gov, Gary.Fahnenstiel@noaa.gov)

7. Fish Ecology Study the distribution, habitats, feeding ecology and bioenergetics of fishes in the Great Lakes and Chesapeake Bay using underwater acoustics and spatial bioenergetics modeling. (Stephen.B.Brandt@noaa.gov)

UM-USGS Appointments

8. Fish thiamine deficiency Thiamine deficiency in Great Lakes salmonids results in early life stage mortality and has secondary negative effects collectively referred to as Thiamine Deficiency Complex (TDC). We are seeking candidates to work on the identification of trophic pathways associated with TDC in Great Lakes salmonids and characterization of fish diets using fatty acid profile analysis. This research will contribute to understanding the spatial and temporal variation in TDC, and will identify factors that influence the occurrence and severity of TDC in the Great Lakes. (sriley@usgs.gov).

9. Beach Bacterial Contamination Studies of interactions of hydro-meteorological and ambient conditions with indicator
bacteria, such as E. coli or enterococci. The candidate should have interest and experience with microbiological indicators, and their occurrence and distribution. Experience in aquatic microbiology, spatial-temporal movement and fate of particles, plankton, or microbes, or sediment-water interactions would be useful. Research is geared to the service of federal, state,
county beach managers respon