SUMMER 2018 APPLICATION AND TECHNOLOGY NEWS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL PROFESSIONALS NORTH AMERICAN LAKES Acid Rain Data Data improves Vermont’s water quality Muskegon Lake Data buoy helping with hypoxia research A Disappearing Act Salinity levels changing the face of Lake Abert CONTENTS ENVIRONMENTAL MONITOR | SUMMER 2018 Find it at 03 Web Exclusives fondriest.com 04 In the News 06 Featured Photo 08 Environmental Education 10 Product Innovation: CB-50 12 Battling the Dead Zone 14 Acid Rain Data Driving Change 17 Floating Islands 20 18 Grand Lake St Marys 20 Chesapeake Bay’s SAV 22 A Disappearing Act: Lake Abert 26 Great Lakes Meteotsunami 28 Muskegon Lake Hypoxia Research 30 Mirror Lake Salt Levels 32 Little Buoy. Big Waves 12 32 34 Great Lake. Great River. 36 Mississippi River Water Quality 888.426.2151 38 Dissolved Oxygen 40 Cleveland Metroparks WELCOME... STAFF 44 The Long Shadow of Nitrogen Legacies Welcome to the Summer 2018 edition of the Environmental Monitor, a quarterly collec- Steve Fondriest, President 22 tion of the best of our online news publication. In this edition, we showcase a number of [email protected] Monitoring Gear projects taking place in North American lakes. 46 Paul Nieberding, General Manager Bioinspired [email protected] 48 This includes a look at multiple environmental data buoys collecting data to help with Microalgae Katy Schwarz, Graphic Designer 50 research. The first example is a buoy in Muskegon Lake helping with hypoxia research. [email protected] The second includes a pair of data buoys that recorded a wave in Lake Superior that FishSens SondeCAM HD 52 reached a record-setting 28.8 feet in height. The buoys collected the data during a storm Katelyn Kubasky, Environmental Scientist [email protected] 54 In the Great Lakes in October that caused a lot of damage to the coast. Justin Walters, Application Engineer Saving Buzzards Bay 56 You’ll also read about scientists in Vermont using decades worth of acid rain data to help [email protected] 58 New Technology improve water quality. Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation started Steven McCoy, Application Engineer 30 48 a long-term monitoring program in the winter of 1979-1980 and has been using the [email protected] data to prove the efficacy of the Clean Air Act and improve local water quality. Located in Fairborn, Ohio, Fondriest Environmental is the trusted partner you can turn to Thanks for reading the for help with environmental monitoring projects. We can assist in everything from planning Environmental Monitor Subscription and monitoring to systems integration, equipment calibration and even staff training. Our The Environmental Monitor magazine applications engineers assemble, integrate and calibrate all equipment – when you get Use discount code is a publication providing the it, it’s ready to use. Our specialists have years of experience developing and deploying environmental professional with remote systems and working with leading suppliers such as YSI, Hach, Thermo Scientific, EM1803 the latest in monitoring technology, IN THE NEXT EDITION In-Situ, Solinst, NexSens and many more. product information and environmental Environmental research at some of America’s to save on your applications. Subscription is free. most diverse biological field stations will be next purchase at featured in the next edition. Also included will be Fondriest Environmental, Inc. tel: 888.426.2151 an introduction to the newest station, the Fondriest Michigan on Lake Park State Lighthouse in Ludington Big Sable Point Photo: Cover 2091 Exchange Court fax: 937.426.1125 fondriest.com Sign up today at fondriest.com/news/subscribe Center for Environmental Studies. Fairborn, OH 45324 [email protected] WEB EXCLUSIVES Read more @ fondriest.com/news Smart Lake, Healthy Ecosystem: The Jefferson Project at Lake George The Jefferson Project was begun by researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy, NY three years ago. The team has gradually transformed Lake George into what is argu- ably the world’s smartest lake, equipped with a tremendous range of sensors and equipment that collect more data points every week than researchers had been able to gather in the 30 years prior to the project’s beginning. Project leader Rick Relyea corresponded with EM about the endeavor. “The Jefferson Project (JP) was inspired by a 30-year study of Lake George by our Rensselaer biologists who documented that the lake was experiencing declining water quality over the decades,” Relyea begins. For the full story: https://www.fondriest.com/news/smart-lake-healthy-ecosystem-jefferson- project-lake-george.htm Lake Erie HAB Monitoring Network Matures to Protect Drinking Water When toxic algae in western Lake Erie cut off 500,000 Toledo residents from their tap water in 2014, an effort to cobble together an algae-monitoring sensor network sprang up in the Managing environmental bloom’s slimy green wake. This September, as another bloom spread across the western basin, the coalition of water quality interests behind the project secured more than $2 million in backing to bolster it with project data should be easy. the best available toxin-monitoring technology, refine the way it distributes data to the people who need it, and ensure it stays funded well into the future. “We’re really building a sustainable funding model, unifying the network and solidifying it as a permanent observatory,” said Ed Verhamme, engineer with LimnoTech, one of the partners on the project. For the full story: https://www.fondriest.com/news/lake-erie-hab-monitoring-network-matures- Keep it simple protect-drinking-water.htm with WQData LIVE. Deep-sea Biodiversity Expedition Uncovers Thousands of Creatures What do more than a dozen new species of crustaceans, Cyclone Marcus, 31 researchers The new Dashboard makes it easier than and support staff, more than 40 new records for Indonesia and more than 12,000 marine ever to monitor all project data in one place. creatures have in common? The successful South Java Deep-Sea Biodiversity Expedition 2018 (SJADES 2018), of course. Professors Ng and Rahayu led the team on the 14-day expe- Stay connected anytime, anywhere with dition. The team returned from their odyssey in April, and Professor Peter Ng, Head of the Lee the cloud-based datacenter. Kong Chian Natural History Museum of the National University of Singapore, and Professor Dwi Listyo Rahayu, Senior Research Scientist at the Research Center for Oceanography of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, corresponded with EM about the expedition. “The overall aim was to see what deep-water animals are in southwestern Java, which is an area not well sampled before,” explains Professor Rahayu. “In fact, that whole area has hardly ever been sampled for deep water animals at all.” LEARN MORE AT V2.WQDATALIVE.COM Photo: (top) Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (center) NOAA/GLERL (bottom) SJADES2018 (bottom) NOAA/GLERL (center) Institute Rensselaer Polytechnic (top) Photo: For the full story: https://www.fondriest.com/news/deep-sea-biodiversity-expedition-uncovers- thousands-of-creatures.htm ENVIRONMENTAL MONITOR 3 IN THE NEWS Monitoring and Tracking Ocean Jacques Cousteau NERR Serves Up Riverkeeper Initiative Tackles Water Thirsty Moss Can Remove Arsenic The Baltimore Checkerspot at the Microbes with LRAUVs Vast Research Possibilities Monitoring, Activism And Education From Drinking Water Beaver Creek Wetlands TS210 Researchers for the University of Hawai’i The 116,000 acres of the Jacques Cous- Coosa River is a vital part of the commu- Researchers in Sweden have discovered The Baltimore Checkerspot, a native but- thermistor string at Mãnoa and Monterey Bay Aquarium teau National Estuarine Research Reserve nities surrounding it. The river provides an aquatic moss, Warnstorfia fluitans, terfly, decreasing in numbers, mostly due Research Institute deployed a small fleet (JC NERR) on the coast of New Jersey drinking water to several municipalities that can remove arsenic from drinking to a loss of wetlands. In Ohio, 90% of wet- • Fast response of long-range autonomous underwater flourishes with both animals and research- as well as recreation to the citizens. The water. The Stockholm University (SU) lands are now gone. Incredibly, there is • Rugged design vehicles (LRAUVs) in the waters of the ers. Gregg Sakowicz, Field Researcher river is also home to close to 30 endemic study found that in a single hour, the still a place in Ohio where the Baltimore • Modbus interface Pacific near Hawaii. The LRAUVs automat- at Rutgers University and System-Wide species that can’t be found anywhere moss can reduce the arsenic level low Checkerspot is thriving: Siebenthaler Fen, ically collect and archive samples of sea- Monitoring Program (SWMP) Coordina- else, the highest percentage in North enough to render previously non-potable one of the areas in the Beaver Creek Wet- • Buoy options water, enabling scientists to study and tor at JC NERR has been working at JC America. The Coosa River Basin Initiative water safe to drink. lands. The wetlands consist of a 10-mile track ocean microbes. The team who NERR since 2003. He and other NERR (CRBI) ensures that surrounding facilities corridor with a few roads interrupting it. undertook the expedition was hoping trainers help to educate new field techni- adhere to the standards of the U.S. Envi- For many Americans that rely on Fen fed, the wetlands are the sole source to survey and track Mesoscale eddies cians on SWMP protocol