The Great Lakes’ 10,000-plus miles of coastline provide millions of beachgoers with recreational opportunities, support 158 coastal counties, and serve as an economic engine for the region. Unfortunately, this coastline, including its beaches, watersheds, and nearshore waters, is highly vulnerable to pollution. Excessive nutrient loading, agricultural and stormwater runoff, industrial pollution, and wildlife waste all degrade water quality. Bacteria and other pathogens can threaten both human health and the integrity of the Great Lakes ecosystem. For this reason, the GLRI Action Plan III has identified nearshore health and protection of watersheds from polluted runoff as one of five issues requiring urgent attention.
Read on to learn about NOAA’s work in this Focus Area:
Continuing support for the Great Lakes region runoff risk decision support tool
The runoff risk concept was initiated by state request to meet state agency and farmer/producer needs for real-time actionable guidance on when to not apply nutrients to agricultural fields. Relying on National Weather Service (NWS) modeling, runoff risk tools inform farming managers of unfavorable forecast conditions where runoff could transport freshly applied nutrients off fields and into nearby waterbodies. Edge-of-field monitoring has indicated that application timing is an important factor on water quality.
Contact: Dustin.Goering@noaa.gov
Decision support tools for nutrients and Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs)
GLRI funds have helped NOAA to monitor phosphorus loading and develop models that forecast the locations of HABs, in turn giving resource managers the tools to make more timely actions to protect human health. This includes the HAB Data Explorer.
Contact: Reagan.Errera@noaa.gov
Demonstration and assessment of Runoff Risk v3.0 Decision Support Tool
Transitioning the existing runoff risk tools to the National Water Model will result in improved edge-of-field runoff predictions that rely on the operational continental-scale hydrological model. The project aims at conducting rigorous assessment of the newly developed NWM-based runoff risk products, which will improve the likelihood of transition into the operational environment.
Contact: Lauren.Fry@noaa.gov
Developing a Great Lakes Quagga Mussel bioenergetic and nutrient cycling model to predict responses of harmful and nuisance algae to tributary nutrient inputs
Development of the Great Lakes quagga mussel DEB bioenergetic model will: 1) improve effectiveness of nonpoint source nutrient control and refine management efforts, and 2) address a cross-focus area science priority by enabling biophysical models used to support nutrient management decisions to better predict impacts of quagga mussels on promoting HABs through selective feeding, nuisance algae (e.g., Cladophora) through enhancing water clarity, HABs and nuisance algae through nutrient excretion, and controlling phytoplankton abundance and productivity.
Contact: Ashley.Elgin@noaa.gov
Empowering communities with online action planning tools: Tipping points and indicators for improving water quality across the Great Lakes
GLRI funds are supporting a collaboration among NOAA’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL), the Cooperative Institute for Great Lakes Research (CIGLR), and multiple Great Lakes universities to identify “tipping points” of ecosystem health. Scientific research has identified the stressors that multiple Great Lakes resources, ranging from watersheds to high-priority fish species, can withstand and remain functional. Beyond these thresholds, or “tipping points,” ecosystem function is severely impaired.
Contacts: Ed.Rutherford@noaa.gov and Doran.Mason@noaa.gov
Enhancements to decision support tools to link nutrient reductions to harmful algal blooms and source water protection
The scope of proposed work includes monitoring, experiments, satellite remote sensing and modeling and forecasting -- all aimed at enhancing current work under ‘Decision support tools to link nutrient reductions of HABs and source water’ projects.
Contact: Reagan.Errera@noaa.gov
Leveraging new satellite assets to improve remote sensing and modeling tools for monitoring and prediction of nearshore water quality in the Great Lakes
This project will extend the Color Producing Agent Algorithm (CPA-A) to nearshore regions using new satellite technology. These new nearshore remote sensing and modeling tools generate a suite of unique products that can be used to plan and assess upstream management efforts made to improve nearshore water quality, as outlined in Annex 4 of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement.
Contact: Mark.Rowe@noaa.gov
Model development for Great Lakes nutrient adaptive management
This project will develop and assess models that relate lake ecosystem objectives to nutrient concentrations and loading from the watershed, which may be used for decision support in implementation of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement.
Contact: Mark.Rowe@noaa.gov
Risk Runoff Forecast Tool: Estimating ability to reduce nutrient and sediment, and assessing likelihood of adoption
A retrospective analysis of existing edge-of-field data (both surface runoff and subsurface-tile runoff), evaluating how timing of nutrient applications (both manure and fertilizer) affect the magnitude of nutrient losses in runoff.
Contact: Craig.Stow@noaa.gov
Role of Dreissenid mussels in transforming nutrient loads into HABs
This project will use a combination of field surveys to assess dreissenid mussel abundance, seasonal condition and growth, and lab experiments to measure mussel feeding and nutrient excretion rates to determine the impact of mussels in transforming nutrient loads into harmful algal blooms.
Contact: Reagan.Errera@noaa.gov
Saginaw Ecosystem and Algal DYNamics (SEA-DYN): Sag Bay nutrients and algae monitoring and assessment
This project aims to assess Saginaw Bay’s nutrient dynamics and ecosystem ecology during ice-free periods, and to provide the empirical basis to develop models that will inform management scenarios.
Contact: Reagan.Errera@noaa.gov
See also: Nearshore: Completed projects