Foundations for Future Restoration Actions: Lake Erie Central Basin Hypoxia Monitoring
The recently reauthorized Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement calls for a reduction in severity and spatial extent of hypoxia (low oxygen zones) with emphasis on Lake Erie’s Central Basin.
To evaluate progress in achieving this goal, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and USGS have been monitoring water quality in Lake Erie to map hypoxia. This project supports ongoing cooperative hypoxia monitoring between USEPA and USGS for mutual benefit to address water quality goals and improved implementation of fishery assessments, both of which are high-profile components of public resource use in Lake Erie.
Annually, ten long-term monitoring stations, established by the USEPA throughout the Central Basin of Lake Erie, are sampled with electronic water quality profiling instruments. In addition, water samples are being collected and evaluated independently as a quality assurance for dissolved oxygen. Electronic data files in the native format are processed with the calibration file specific to the instrument, and the outputs are reconciled with hand written deck sheet records of navigation and weather. Processed and raw data are archived at USEPA by Great Lakes National Program Office staff. Finalized data are provided to USGS researchers and other partners for analyses via existing data sharing policies. Comparison sampling between research vessels, USEPA Lake Guardian and the USGS Muskie, was conducted to estimate interlaboratory measurement variance in support of data quality assurance.
Seasonal hypoxia is known to force fish from preferred to marginal habitats with attendant lethal and sub-lethal effects on fish populations. Data collected from this survey are providing a foundation for determining long-term trends in the availability of summer time cold-water refuge habitats in support of fish restoration and fishery resource management. USGS analyses of these data are in progress.
Contributions
- This collaborative project is making it possible to achieve the goal of monitoring hypoxia in the Central Basin of Lake Erie on a semimonthly basis, which would not be possible for either agency alone due to the logistics of competing sampling needs in Lake Erie and the other Great Lakes. Importantly, this work addresses broader Great Lakes Restoration Initiative objectives to track the severity and extent of hypoxia in support of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement.
Partners
- NOAA-GLERL
The recently reauthorized Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement calls for a reduction in severity and spatial extent of hypoxia (low oxygen zones) with emphasis on Lake Erie’s Central Basin.
To evaluate progress in achieving this goal, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and USGS have been monitoring water quality in Lake Erie to map hypoxia. This project supports ongoing cooperative hypoxia monitoring between USEPA and USGS for mutual benefit to address water quality goals and improved implementation of fishery assessments, both of which are high-profile components of public resource use in Lake Erie.
Annually, ten long-term monitoring stations, established by the USEPA throughout the Central Basin of Lake Erie, are sampled with electronic water quality profiling instruments. In addition, water samples are being collected and evaluated independently as a quality assurance for dissolved oxygen. Electronic data files in the native format are processed with the calibration file specific to the instrument, and the outputs are reconciled with hand written deck sheet records of navigation and weather. Processed and raw data are archived at USEPA by Great Lakes National Program Office staff. Finalized data are provided to USGS researchers and other partners for analyses via existing data sharing policies. Comparison sampling between research vessels, USEPA Lake Guardian and the USGS Muskie, was conducted to estimate interlaboratory measurement variance in support of data quality assurance.
Seasonal hypoxia is known to force fish from preferred to marginal habitats with attendant lethal and sub-lethal effects on fish populations. Data collected from this survey are providing a foundation for determining long-term trends in the availability of summer time cold-water refuge habitats in support of fish restoration and fishery resource management. USGS analyses of these data are in progress.
Contributions
- This collaborative project is making it possible to achieve the goal of monitoring hypoxia in the Central Basin of Lake Erie on a semimonthly basis, which would not be possible for either agency alone due to the logistics of competing sampling needs in Lake Erie and the other Great Lakes. Importantly, this work addresses broader Great Lakes Restoration Initiative objectives to track the severity and extent of hypoxia in support of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement.
Partners
- NOAA-GLERL