The University of Toledo

Ecolab: Temporal Resolution of the Maumee River Plume

In the spring of 2006, researchers from the Lake Erie Center and NOAA’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory will be testing the feasibility of using an automated in situ nutrient analyzer to produce a continuous, high-resolution characterization of the Maumee River plume.  The sampling frequency and real-time data reporting abilities of these recently-developed devices far outpace traditional ship and laboratory-based nutrient monitoring procedures.  This capability is needed in order to understand river influences, to predict algal blooms in this highly variable region of the lake, and for improved physical and nutrient coupled modeling of Lake Erie as a whole.  Deployment in Maumee Bay of a device equipped to monitor phosphate and nitrate will provide the following benefits, all of which are enhanced by the ability to retrieve data in real-time:

1. Identification of either Maumee River or Detroit River influence in Maumee Bay at any point in time.
2. Characterization of rapid water chemistry changes associated with seiches, storms events and watershed precipitation.
   
3. Identification of potential conditions for blooms of Aulacoseira, Microcystis, and Aphanizomenon.
   
4. Complement spatial characterizations of western Lake Erie regions created by ongoing monitoring programs.

Spring 2006: Deployment of automated in situ nutrient analyzer in Maumee Bay. This provides continuous (12 measurements/day) data on phosphate and nitrate concentrations

EcoLAB