2017 volume 3 Aquatic Sciences Chronicle ASCaqua.wisc.edu/chronicle UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN SEA GRANT INSTITUTE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN WATER RESOURCES INSTITUTE INSIDE: WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH Aaron Carlson, Flickr pg.4 Fishing for Landslides Researchers use pg.7 spectrometry to map Wisconsin Social Science Superhero! wetlands’ health pg.9 Quagga Mussels Change the Rules Story on page 3 >> UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH COVER STORY Aquatic Sciences Chronicle FEATURED WEBSITE Aaron Carlson, Flickr University of Wisconsin Aquatic Sciences Center 1975 Willow Drive Madison, WI 53706-1177 Telephone: (608) 263-3259 Email: [email protected] The Aquatic Sciences Center is the administra- Mapping the health of Wisconsin tive home of the University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute & the University of Wisconsin Water wetlands using spectometry Resources Institute. Assistant Director for Communications Moira Harrington Editor Elizabeth A. White New Publication Writers Aaron R. Conklin, Moira Harrington, Website for Water- Irene Miles, Anne Moser and Marie Zhuikov Related Information Designer Yael Gen publications.aqua.wisc.edu ou’ve likely heard of fens, a particular presence of wells. Their work is backed by the type of miry and mineral-rich wetland, University of Wisconsin Water Resources Institute. Circulation Manager Seeing your way through the daily barrage of emails, tweets and news feeds to Linda Campbell get to information that aids decision-making, awareness raising and — quite in the context of European geography or The team’s research is backdropped by the simply — the enjoyment of water resources can be difficult. literature. Shakespeare referenced fens in ongoing debate over new high-capacity well appli- Y“King Lear,” and J.K Rowling included them in the cations in Wisconsin. The Wisconsin Department University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute is part At the Aquatic Sciences Center, two people recently stepped into the swirl of Harry Potter universe. (They were reportedly the of Natural Resources is looking for tools to help of a national network of 33 university-based Wisconsin-water-related material. They’ve brought new order and a snappy pre- home of wizard Salazar Slytherin.) efficiently and effectively evaluate the wells’ poten- programs funded through the National Sea sentation to more than 95 items on a publication website. Grant College Program, National Oceanic & “We wanted to provide an updated and cleaner look to assist visitors in more Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Department easily finding what they need,” said Web Developer Tom Xiong. of Commerce, and through matching contribu- Eric Booth tions from participating states and the private What they need could be anything from free downloads — fact sheets, manuals “We’re using vegetation as an indicator to changes sector. seagrant.wisc.edu and program-related information — to a colorful Fish of the Great Lakes poster for only $2.48, plus shipping. in the groundwater regime.” University of Wisconsin Water Resources Institute is One challenge for the new site, said Linda Campbell, was getting the postage cal- one of 54 Water Resources Research Institutes culations right. This involved building a system that was easy for shoppers to use ERIC BOOTH, UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN–MADISON nationwide authorized by the federal Water but also accurately tallied shipping costs for sales outside of the country. Resources Research Act and administered “Each year, we get interest from about a dozen international residents who want through the U.S. Geological Survey. wri.wisc.edu to purchase items. It was always difficult to let them know what the true cost would be for, say, an aquaculture manual because shipping costs could really add up,” said Campbell, the publication sales and distribution coordinator. “Now, the But fens aren’t fictional — they’re real, and tial effect on fens and other wetlands. Spectrometry, site displays the cost up front and eliminates the need for me to email back and they’re right here in the state, in the glaciated which delivers images that can suggest the levels of forth with a prospective customer. Solving this matter may seem small since it parts of southeastern and south-central Wisconsin. nutrients like phosphorous and nitrogen in plants, affects so few website visitors, but it’s actually an example of the care that our They’re home to several rare and important plant has the potential to be one of those tools. SUBSCRIBE web developer takes to make sure everyone has a good experience when visiting species — think sedges and orchids — and they’re “What’s needed is a good model that can Email [email protected] to request a no-cost our website.” an important indicator of overall environmental accurately estimate the impact,” Booth said. subscription to the “Aquatic Sciences Chronicle,” a quarterly Most online projects take longer than expected, but in this case the result was health. “There’s just not a ton out there in terms of eval- publication. Please specify whether you prefer a mailed print worth the wait as items are now curated into easily searchable categories, accom- That’s why a team of researchers, led by uating the impact to an ecosystem that depends edition or electronic delivery to an email in-box. panied by images of the publications — aquaculture; aquatic invasive species; University of Wisconsin-Madison Hydroecologist on groundwater.” Eric Booth, spent much of the summer using both And fens most definitely depend on ground- Get ASC News Alerts by Email climate change; coastal communities; coastal engineering; contaminants; fish and fisheries; groundwater; habitats/ecosystems; maps; ports, harbors and marinas; partial and full-range imaging spectrometers to get water — more specifically, groundwater with a You can receive email notices about ASC news. Sign up at program information; quarterly newsletter; recipes; shipwrecks; water quality; and a detailed look at the health of two sets of fens unique water chemistry that’s high in carbon and our pressroom link at seagrant.wisc.edu. water safety. — three pristine and three degraded by the nearby calcium but low in the nitrates and phosphorous continued on page 11 >> 2 UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN SEA GRANT INSTITUTE WATER RESOURCES INSTITUTE 3 & SEA GRANT RESEARCH Fishing for Landslides BEFORE New Device Offers Insight Lucas Zoet Into How and When Lake Michigan Bluffs Fail he highest water levels in more than 30 The reel box also contains instruments that, years on Lake Michigan have caused ero- when stuck in the ground, measure soil humidity sion that threatens people’s homes and and temperature. Other instruments inside the box property. Wisconsin Sea Grant-funded measure air humidity and temperature. Tresearchers responded to the problem by develop- The BADGERs were developed by the researchers AFTER ing an instrument that can measure bluff failures with help from UW-Madison Department of and help predict when they might occur. Geoscience engineers in partnership with the Lucas Zoet (above) The unique instrument is a bluff assessment data Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey. used a new instrument generating experiment recorder, or BADGER. It is “We’re the first to invent something like this,” to capture information the brainchild of Lucas Zoet and J. Elmo Rawling Zoet said. “Nobody’s ever put one out on a bluff, about the exact events with the University of Wisconsin. and they haven’t coupled it with soil moisture that occur just before and “Bluffs don’t retreat at a stable rate,” explained measurements.” during a bluff failure. Zoet, an associate professor of geoscience at the Zoet wasn’t sure they’d be able to catch a land- University of Wisconsin-Madison. “What’s hap- slide in action. “It’s kind of like fishing,” he said. pening is that the bluff will sit in the same con- However, they were successful. On December figuration for days, weeks or months. Then, over a 13, 2016, a bluff in Racine County slumped and span of a few seconds or minutes, all of the mate- dropped about 500 cubic feet of material onto the rial will landslide its way down from a higher ele- beach below. vation to a lower elevation.” Catching a December landslide was unexpected. To capture what happens during this crucial “Most landslides occur during spring when time, the researchers deployed three BADGERs – there’s a lot of water moving around, not winter,” two in Racine County and one in Ozaukee County. Zoet said. The BADGER recorded the ground Zoet describes the BADGER in terms of a fishing moving for a day beforehand at “a pretty high rate, pole: “There’s a spool like the reel on a fishing pole, which is about one millimeter or two per hour.” and then there’s a line that comes out of it. At the During the hours before the landslide, the other end of the line where you would hook a lure, bluff started to move at an ever-higher rate. The we stake that into the part of the bluff that we researchers suspect that freezing water inside the think is going to fall apart. The reel box is back on soil expanded and wedged open cracks in the bluff, the stable part of the bluff. When the bluff fails and causing the landslide. the reel unspools the line, we can measure accu- Zoet said better understanding of the phys- rately how fast the bluff is moving by how fast the ical processes that cause bluff failures will help reel unspools.” researchers make more educated predictions about continued on page 11 >> 4 UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN SEA GRANT INSTITUTE WATER RESOURCES INSTITUTE 5 & < Erosion threatens a cabin on the coast of wisconsinwaterlibrary Lake Superior, Sand Island in the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. People and Stories WHEN SURVEY SKILLS ARE of Lake Michigan People are drawn to water for a variety of reasons — for work, YOUR SUPERPOWER for sport, for play, for spiritual meaning — and Lake Michigan has SEA GRANT’S SOCIAL SCIENTIST HELPS ESTABLISH A COLLABORATIVE inspired many to write about those experiences.