Tag: great lakes

Jan 18

2013

Lack of ice in Great Lakes threatens economy, ecology

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There is less ice cover on the Great Lakes, which poses numerous economic and ecological problems, scientists say. The map above is a snapshot of the Great Lakes for January 17, showing very little ice cover so far. Normally, Lake Erie would be iced over by the second week of February. For example, watch this ice coverage video that shows each winter day, frame by frame, in 2007. George Leshkevich, a physical scientist with the NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, said that while there is variability in the data, trends show there is less ice coverage on the Great Lakes over the past 40[...]

Posted 11 years ago

Dec 27

2012

Seiche caused low water levels

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People took to Facebook and Twitter Wednesday wondering why water levels for Lake Erie and its tributaries were abnormally low. I thought I was going to have to make calls today to meteorologists and other weather experts to explain what happened, but our partners at WGRZ did it for us. Channel 2 WGRZ discovered that a seiche is the culprit. A seiche starts with a storm surge or high sustained winds from one direction that push the water up at the opposite — which in this case would be in Toledo, OH, — and cause the other side to drop like it[...]

Posted 11 years ago

Dec 20

2012

The Great Lakes are stressing out

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This map shows a sea of red off of Buffalo and many other Rust Belt cities where environmental stressors are harming the nation’s largest fresh water source, the Great Lakes. People can heed the data and maps as a warning — the red doesn’t mean death, but it helps point people to where the focus needs to be to reverse the impacts of these environmental stressors, said the chief researcher for the project,  J. David Allen, a professor of aquatic sciences at the University of Michigan’s School of Natural Resources and Environment. Other Great Lakes experts might argue that the places[...]

Posted 11 years ago

Nov 26

2012

Can fracking threaten the Great Lakes?

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It is against the law to drill for natural gas under the Great Lakes, but that doesn’t mean they are safe. Lois Gibbs, an environmental activist famous for leading the charge to clean up the Love Canal in Niagara Falls, points out that it is still legal to drill for natural gas underneath rivers, streams and creeks that feed into the Great Lakes. Gibbs says the natural gas industry is already starting hydrofracking around the Great Lakes. “This is insane,” she wrote. “It’s unbelievable, hundreds of chemicals injected all around our fresh water lakes that both the U.S. and Canada have[...]

Posted 11 years ago
Investigative Post

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