Storm runoff can pose challenges for waterways like Paint Creek, which is known for being clear and cold. Runoff can disrupt a waterway's habitat by carrying sediment into the water. Hernz Laguerre, Jr., The Detroit News
Carol Thompson:
As climate change fuels storms and brings warmer average temperatures to the Midwest, it also is ushering in a challenging era for Michigan rivers and the fish and bugs that live in them.
Read More (subcription required)
Detroit News File Photo
Melissa Nann and Burke Riley Beggin:
$1 billion for the federal Great Lakes restoration program from the bipartisan infrastructure bill will speed the cleanup of nine damaged areas in Michigan to completion by 2030, officials said.
The Michigan areas to be cleaned up, including the Detroit, Rouge and St. Clair rivers and River Raisin, are among 25 in the lakes region designated as "areas of concern" by the Environmental Protection Agency due to damage caused by industrial pollution and development.
President Joe Biden is expected to announce the new funding for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative during a trip Thursday to Lorain, Ohio.
MODIS satellite image of the Great Lakes showing maximum ice extent on March 4, 2009. Image credit: NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory
Nearly all scientific sampling of the Great Lakes is done between May and October, when the lakes are free of ice and the water is warmer.
But this month, scientists from more than a dozen U.S. and Canadian institutions, including Central Michigan University, will brave the elements to sample all five Great Lakes and Lake St. Clair in a first-of-its-kind coordinated campaign called the Winter Grab.
Teams will drill through ice to collect water samples, measure light levels at various depths and net tiny zooplankton as part of a broader effort to better understand the changing face of winter on the Great Lakes, where climate warming is increasing winter air temperatures, decreasing ice-cover extent and changing precipitation patterns.
The specific goal of the Winter Grab is to help fill key wintertime knowledge gaps about ice properties, water movement, nutrient concentrations and lake biology. The event is funded in part by the Cooperative Institute for Great Lakes Research at the University of Michigan, a partnership with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
“Scientists have studied the Great Lakes extensively, but surprisingly, we know very little about what takes place during the winter,” said Don Uzarski, director of the CMU Institute for Great Lakes Research. …
We’ve updated our events pages with lots of new films, talks, and other activities on the theme of Deep Waters. Please see the events page for details and watch this space for more. We’ll be updating the site regularly with new events and links — including, in the not-too-distant future, details on next year’s theme and some of the events we have planned.
This is one of many stories this summer about the brutal drought in the Southwestern United States. As water levels rise in the Great Lakes, rivers, aquifers, and irrigation canals are running dry in the West.
Anticipating next year’s CE theme, “Deep Waters,” please see this call for submissions from CMU Libraries, in collaboration with the Saginaw Chippewa Tribal Libraries:
People of all ages may submit works of art or research that depicts the impact of recent big water events on the people who live in Michigan. This virtual exhibition will launch in September 2021.
Learn more and submit an application at library.cmich.edu/BigWaterExhibition.
This exhibition is co-sponsored by Central Michigan University Libraries and the Saginaw Chippewa Tribal Libraries and is made possible by a grant from the American Library Association.
Is the future urban? Is geography fate? Why and where are we polarized? The CE theme for 2022–2023 is “Cities, Coasts, and Everywhere Else.”
→ Details, events, and resources
Critical Engagements is a collaborative project housed in the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences that makes the academic mission of Central Michigan University concrete by highlighting how our students, faculty, and community are tackling the world’s most pressing and difficult questions. → More details
