Throughout 2024, NOAA’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL) is celebrating 50 years of science in service to society in the Great Lakes. Our new 50th Anniversary video highlights how GLERL has played a critical role in understanding and protecting Great Lakes ecosystems and communities over the last half-century, and looks ahead to a bright future of innovative science.
Fifty years ago, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration established the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory—GLERL. Tracing its beginnings to 1841 with the formation of the United States Lake Survey, the lineage of the laboratory began with the charting of lakes, and evolved into what is today the epicenter of freshwater research.
Our focus is the Great Lakes, while our relevance spans the country and the globe. This history allowed GLERL to lead the charge in freshwater research, with now more than 120 staff and partners within three major research branches. The voyage has not been easy. Often eyed for budget cuts, the lab has faced the possibility of elimination more than once.
Then the discovery of something small, barely larger than a pencil eraser, began to dramatically alter the Great Lakes ecosystem. The mighty invasive zebra mussel would begin its takeover of the lakes in the 1980s, and it brought with it a renewed focus on GLERL, as well as much needed funding, which would galvanize the importance of the lab in a changing Great Lakes ecosystem.
Even then, the journey was just getting started. During the past five decades, GLERL’s pioneering freshwater research has contributed immensely to our understanding of aquatic ecosystems. In developing and testing technology assets and models, we can better measure and predict environmental parameters. We’ve put our finger on the pulse of the Lakes, capturing the dynamic pressures and systems driving change—changes in our climate, and changes in the Lakes. From shrinking annual ice cover to dramatic changes in lake levels, our predictions are relied upon for public safety, community planning, assessing risks to infrastructure, or threats to our way of life.
[GLERL Research Physical Scientist Steve Ruberg] “GLERL’s mission is connected to really understanding what’s happening with this giant Great Lakes ecosystem. To do that, we have to observe things like the physical properties, like temperatures, the waves, the currents, but also looking at the ecosystem parameters around the chemistry and the biology. And we’re very successful at doing that.”
Some of that data and research is helping communities understand complex environmental concerns and threats to drinking water, like our work with numerous partners to understand and address harmful algal blooms.
[GLERL Research Ecologist Dr. Reagan Errera] “Getting an idea of how the bloom develops, what factors are related to not only the toxicity of the bloom, but the bloom as a whole, really gives us an idea of how we can affect and help with human health.”
[Scott Moegling, Water Quality Manager of Cleveland Water] “They’ve provided a lot of research insight, and these partnerships are really beginning to blossom. By getting advanced warning, we can effectively change our treatment strategies to address the water quality that we’re going to see. That’s important.”
We now go beyond research, having emerged as the regional center for NOAA’s expanding presence in the Great Lakes. As we look to the future, GLERL’s role in the Great Lakes cannot be overstated. With greater and better granularity, we can see changes happening now and on the horizon.
And with our collaborative, creative and passionate team, we will continue to be at the forefront of environmental science, service and stewardship in the 21st century. Here’s to 50 years of scientific excellence and to many more years of discovery. As we forge ahead into an uncertain future, our work will continue to inform responsible resource use and effective management decisions, making communities safer and ecosystems more resilient.
Here at GLERL, we see a future where the Great Lakes continue to be a source of life, beauty, and inspiration for generations to come. NOAA’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory—protecting our freshwater future.