NOAA Sea to Sky: Education resource database

View or print these digital posters of food webs for each of the Great Lakes and Lake St. Clair from the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory! They briefly describe the major species in each lake, and include a diagram summarizing the ecosystem energy flow (who eats or is eaten by whom!). These diagrams are based on a model from a paper published in 2003 supported by both NOAA and the Great Lakes Fishery Commission.

This web-based tool creates visuals that capture lake level changes that range from six feet above to six feet below historical long-term average water levels in the Great Lakes. Potential shoreline and coastal impacts are also provided through a social vulnerability index and a business layer that shows numbers of employees in coastal areas. This information can be used to think about appropriate preparations, including zoning restrictions, infrastructure improvements, and habitat conservation.

View real-time and recent satellite images from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument. Download high-resolution images in multiple formats.

This expansive Great Lake photo collection includes a wide variety of photo galleries, including harmful algal blooms, fish, historical images, ice, environmental sampling, shipwrecks, restoration, and more. The collection is curated by the NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory.

View real-time images and data collected by Great Lakes buoy stations or explore the data collected by the stations over the past 15 years. This real-time Great Lakes observational data is collected over time by sensors on coastal buoys as part of NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory's Real-Time Coastal Observation Network (ReCON). Each of ReCON’s 16 buoy stations has a webcam, collects meteorological data, and provides sub-surface measurements of chemical, biological, and physical parameters (things like wave height, dissolved oxygen, chlorophyll, and water temperature).

In this full-length web exclusive, National Geographic journeys along the remote Alaskan coast ... in search of garbage. A team of scientists and artists investigates the buildup of marine debris washing out of the great gyres, or currents, in the Pacific Ocean. Called the Gyre Expedition, their goal is to create art from the trash they find to raise awareness about its impact on the ocean and wildlife. Their artwork became part of a traveling exhibition in 2014.

Join Michigan Sea Grant for a series of fun-filled, family-friendly videos jam-packed full of Great Lakes (Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior or “H.O.M.E.S.”) fun facts, activity suggestions for your family, and daily challenges. Each video provides a high-energy experience that engages people of all ages in learning about the Great Lakes and activities you can do right at home! Anyone who completes five challenges will be emailed a Great Lakes Jr. Scientist certificate to print and proudly display at home.

After a record setting low in 2012, the 2013 summer sea ice extent rebounded – but only slightly. At 5.10 million square kilometers or 1.97 million square miles, 2013 comes in 6th place for the smallest summer sea ice minimum extent in recorded history.

After 2013's slight rebound from 2012's record-setting low, 2014 saw another dip in extent at 5.02 million square kilometers, or 1.94 million square miles, 2014 comes in 6th place for the smallest summer sea ice minimum extent in recorded history.

At 4.41 million square kilometers or 1.79 million square miles, 2015 was the fourth-smallest summer sea ice minimum extent in recorded history. This is 1.87 million square kilometers below the 1981 to 2010 average extent.