Environment
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientist Mike McCormick, co-author of a study on Lake Michigan’s deep water temperatures, stands on an instrument buoy in southern Lake Michigan.

Rising deep Lake Michigan temperatures may portend shorter winters

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LAKE TEMPERATURE: The Great Lakes region should expect shorter winters, according to a long-term deep water temperature study of Lake Michigan. Abrupt changes in water temperatures in the Great Lakes would have profound effects on the region’s ecosystems, and fish populations could shrink as a result, a new study says. Scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory in Ann Arbor explain. By Brandon Chew. FOR HOLLAND, BENZIE, OCEANA, LUDINGTON, MANISTEE, CHEBOYGAN, TRAVERSE CITY, PETOSKEY, LEELANAU, HARBOR SPRINGS, ALCONA, MONROE, SAULT STE. MARIE, MARQUETTE AND ALL POINTS.

Capital News Service
A scuba diver explores the wreckage of the lost P-39Q Airacobra at the bottom of Lake Huron.

How archeologists excavate Great Lakes wrecks

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LAKE HURON WRECKAGE. A World War II fighter piloted by a Tuskegee Airman and lost over Lake Huron in a training accident will be recovered and displayed at Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary. It’s one of about 200 military aircraft that disappeared into the Great Lakes during the war. An underwater archeologist explains how the wreckage was found. The archeological director of the National Museum of the Great Lakes discusses the recovery of a sailing vessel that sank in Lake Erie in 1829. By Yue Jiang. FOR ALCONA, CHEBOYGAN, SAULT STE. MARIE, MONROE, MARQUETTE, OCEANA, BENZIE, LEELANAU, CHEBOYGAN, TRAVERSE CITY, PETOSKEY, HOLLAND, LUDINGTON, MANISTEE, HARBOR SPRINGS, STE. IGNACE AND ALL POINTS.

News
The capsized Eastland in the Chicago River cost 844 lives in 1915.

Folk songs preserve memories of Great Lakes shipwrecks

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SHIPWRECK SONGS: “The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down of the big lake they called Gitche Gumee. The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead,” including the 29-member crew of the Edmund Fitzgerald. A new study says folks songs memorializing victims of Great Lakes shipwrecks such as the Edmund FItzgerald, the Eastland, the Lady Elgin and the Rouse Simmons (a/k/a “the Christmas ship”) build public awareness and help preserve historic wrecks. A maritime cultural resources researcher, from Leslie, and a singer-songwriter specializing in the Great Lakes tell us why. By Eric Freedman. FOR MARQUETTE, BAY MILLS, SAULT STE. MARIE, ST. IGNACE, ALCONA, LUDINGTON, MANISTEE, OCEANA, BENZIE, MONROE, LEELANAU, HARBOR SPRINGS, TRAVERSE CITY, PETOSKEY, CHEBOYGAN AND ALL POINTS.

Capital News Service
Katherine Eaton, the lead author of a recent study on kiyis in Lake Superior, developed a new way to identify the vision gene carried by the fish.

Fish vision genes could inform Great Lakes restoration of native, deep-water species

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FISH GENES: Understanding how genes affect which fish can see deep in Lake Superior could help scientists understand how to protect them. Kiyis belong to the ciscoes, which play a key role in Great Lakes food webs and are food source for siscowet lake trout. They may have regained an ancestral adaptation that enables better vision in deep water. By Kyle Davidson. FOR MARQUETTE, SAULT STE. MARIE, BAY MILLS, ST. IGNACE, ALCONA, MONROE, CHEBOYGAN, HARBOR SPRINGS, PETOSKEY, TRAVERSE CITY, LEELANAU, HOLLAND, LUDINGTON, MANISTEE, BENZIE COUNTY, OCEANA COUNTY AND ALL POINTS.

Conservation
Scientists use simulations to protect walleyes.

Virtual walleyes fight new threats to real ones

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VIRTUAL WALLEYE: Using data from Lake Erie and the Maumee River, scientists are simulating Great Lakes walleye on computers to find out how contaminants harm the fish. The new technique helps experts more efficiently discover how to clean up contaminants from farming, household cleaning products and medications that end up in lakes and rivers. By Taylor Haelterman. FOR MONROE, BLISSFIELD, DETROIT, MICHIGAN FARM NEWS, ALCONA, SAULT STE. MARIE, MARQUETTE, ST. IGNACE, CHEBOYGAN, BAY MILLS, LUDINGTON, BENZIE COUNTY, OCEANA COUNTY, MANISTEE, HOLLAND AND ALL POINTS.

Great Lakes
The Michigan Shipwreck Research Association captured the first-ever footage of the SS William B. Davock shipwreck, determined to be a rudder that broke in the storm.

Impact of deadly 1940 Armistice Day Storm still felt today

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STORM: The Armistice Day Storm of 1940 went down as one of the most impactful weather events in Midwestern history. It occurred when a low pressure system rapidly moved into the Great Lakes region. Temperatures plunged from low 50s to single digits,. A deadly blizzard followed with gale-force winds. The death toll: 154 deaths and numerous shipwrecks. It’s the subject of an exhibition at the Port of Ludington Maritime Museum. By Lillian Young. FOR HOLLAND, LUDINGTON, PETOSKEY, HARBOR SPRINGS, TRAVERSE CITY, LEELANAU, MASON, OCEANA, MANISTEE, CHEBOYGAN, ALCONA, HOLLAND, BENZIE AND ALL POINTS.

Capital News Service
Where researchers did their study.

Herring gull eggs help monitor Great Lakes ecosystems

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HERRING GULLS: Herring gulls are “opportunistic generalists” that use whatever food sources are available and serve as environmental change indicators. It’s a “common species in steep decline,” says an expert from Audubon Great Lakes and the DNR. A new study found declining numbers in lakes Superior, Michigan and Huron and in colonies along the Detroit River. By Kalah Harris. FOR ALCONA, SAULT STE. MARIE, MARQUETTE, ST. IGNACE, CHEBOYGAN, TRAVERSE CITY, LEELANAU, HOLLAND, HARBOR SPRINGS, PETOSKEY, OCEANA, BENZIE, LUDINGTON, MANISTEE, DETROIT, BAY MILLS, MICHIGAN FARM NEWS AND ALL POINTS.

Capital News Service
This map shows the geographical composition of Great Lakes Basin surface freshwater and groundwater.

With all eyes on Great Lakes water, concerned researchers work to conserve it

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FRESHWATER CONSERVATION: As North America grapples with climate change and a rising population to feed, the agricultural industry’s interest in tapping into the region’s freshwater supply is growing. That’s setting off alarm bells for researchers in the U.S. and Canada, the two nations that economically rely on the water-rich region. A retired MSU soil biophysicist is among those working on the challenge to preserve freshwater. By Claire Moore. FOR MICHIGAN FARM NEWS AND ALL POINTS.

Conservation
Great Lakes Areas of Concern.

Great Lakes cleanup of contaminated areas making progress after 35 years

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AREAS OF CONCERN: During 35 years of restoration in the Great Lakes Areas of Concern, there has been gradual progress and a hopeful future, a new study says. Development of a plan to restore heavily contaminated sites in 42 Areas of Concern in the U.S. and Canada began in 1985. So far, eight have been delisted, including the Lower Menominee River on the Michigan-Wisconsin border, White Lake in Muskegon County and Deer Lake in Marquette County. Still listed are parts of the Detroit River, Clinton River, River Raisin, Manistique River, Muskegon Lake, Saginaw River and Bay, St. Clair River, Kalamazoo River, St. Marys River, Rouge River and the U.P.’s Torch Lake. By Audrey Porter. FOR MARQUETTE, BLISSFIELD, BAY MILLS, SAULT STE. MARIE, DETROIT, CHEBOYGAN AND ALL POINTS, GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS AND ALL POINTS.

Education

Great Lakes classrooms move outdoors during pandemic

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OUTDOOR CLASSROOMS: There are some schools and alternative programs that are keeping kids out of school — literally — during the pandemic. Winter or not, they’re teaching outdoors. We talk to the Detroit Waldorf School, a private school in Detroit, and the Cambridge Farm and Forest School in Ontario, which are giving students new outdoor learning options. By Chioma Lewis. FOR DETROIT AND ALL POINTS.