GLERL Archives - NOAA Research

A long, torpedo-shaped device is strapped to the side of a boat that is moving fast through lake water.

Can robots provide data on toxic cyanobacteria in lakes?

July 1, 2024

Blooms of toxic cyanobacteria can impact human and ecosystem health and have led to the death of pets and livestock. Providing accurate and frequent measurements of toxins associated with cyanobacteria harmful algal blooms (HABs) is important for public health and also can impact local economies. Traditional toxin sampling is ship or shore based, and requires several people to be involved and good weather conditions. A new system developed by NOAA and partners offers a robotic alternative that could solve many of the problems associated with traditional sampling and might help develop more detailed warning systems and forecasts for lake communities.

Can robots provide data on toxic cyanobacteria in lakes? Read More >

Meet the women advancing NOAA’s exploration and stewardship of the ocean and Great Lakes

March 26, 2024

Meet four women who work in ocean and Great Lakes research and are supporting everything from discovering new species, shipwrecks, and an intriguing golden orb in the deep ocean, to tracking ice coverage and mitigating climate impacts like flooding to communities in the Great Lakes region.

Meet the women advancing NOAA’s exploration and stewardship of the ocean and Great Lakes Read More >

A sandy beach is dotted with chunks of ice. The waves are hitting the beach and there is no ice out on the water.

Great Lakes ice coverage reaches historic low

February 13, 2024

“We’ve crossed a threshold in which we are at a historic low for ice cover for the Great Lakes as a whole,” says GLERL’s Bryan Mrockza, a physical scientist. “We have never seen ice levels this low in Mid-February on the lakes since our records began in 1973.”

Great Lakes ice coverage reaches historic low Read More >

A wooden dock is surrounded by sharp shards of ice on a lake

Why low ice coverage on the Great Lakes matters

January 18, 2024

Many people have been concerned about the low ice coverage that has been observed and recorded in the last few years on the Great Lakes,

Why low ice coverage on the Great Lakes matters Read More >

Circular pieces of white ice float on the surface of a lake, nothing else is visible

Robots give NOAA a peek under the ice of the Great Lakes

November 15, 2023

For a long time now, scientists have wanted to know more about what happens under the ice of the Great Lakes each winter, but getting

Robots give NOAA a peek under the ice of the Great Lakes Read More >

GLERL Director Deborah Lee receives credential in sustainable infrastructure

October 17, 2023

NOAA recently announced that Deborah Lee, director of NOAA’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL), is being credentialed as an Envision Sustainability Professional by the

GLERL Director Deborah Lee receives credential in sustainable infrastructure Read More >

NOAA Research’s top 5 stories from 2021

December 15, 2021

Spectacular footage from inside a hurricane; a major ocean mapping milestone; new insights on the continued impacts of climate change, and much more — 2021

NOAA Research’s top 5 stories from 2021 Read More >

NOAA’s Experimental Lake Erie Hypoxia Forecast is even more useful than anticipated

September 20, 2021

Now in its fifth year, this forecast model has turned out to serve additional purposes that NOAA’s scientists hadn’t even considered – including maintaining sustainable fisheries and solving a smelly mystery!

NOAA’s Experimental Lake Erie Hypoxia Forecast is even more useful than anticipated Read More >

Graduate student Anuszka Mosurska assists with taking measurements for the shoreline community monitoring effort in Utqiaġvik. Credit: Dave Partee | Alaska Sea Grant.

5 ways NOAA scientists are answering big questions about climate change

April 20, 2021

From warmer ocean temperatures to longer and more intense droughts and heat waves, climate change is affecting our entire planet. Scientists at NOAA have long worked to track, understand and predict how climate change is progressing and impacting ecosystems, communities and economies.

5 ways NOAA scientists are answering big questions about climate change Read More >

Climate-driven shifts in deep Lake Michigan water temperatures signal the loss of winter

March 16, 2021

Climate change is causing significant impacts on the Great Lakes and the surrounding region. As the largest surface freshwater system in the world, the Great Lakes have an enormous impact, seen and unseen, on the more than 34 million people who live within their collective basin. Because of their unique response to environmental conditions, Earth’s large lakes are considered by scientists as key sentinels of climate change. A long-term study published in Nature Communications today from NOAA reveals a warming trend in deepwater temperatures that foreshadows profound ecological change on the horizon. While less visible than the loss in ice cover and increasing lake surface temperatures, this latest index of climate change adds to the growing evidence of climate change impacts in the region.

Climate-driven shifts in deep Lake Michigan water temperatures signal the loss of winter Read More >

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