Divers deploying a buoy
Buoy getting ready to be deployed
UWM Ferry getting ready to deploy the Atwater Buoy

About GLOS

The School of Freshwater Sciences (SFS) currently operates 3 seasonal environmental monitoring buoys in Lake Michigan as part of the Great Lakes Observing System (GLOS).  Historically, two monitoring buoys have been deployed off of Atwater Beach in Milwaukee, WI. As of 2019, only 1 buoy at the 20-meter depth site will continue to be deployed. The larger 10-meter buoy is considered to be retired. Another monitoring buoy is located in south-central Green Bay, WI.  Green Bay monitoring is conducted in collaboration with the Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance (FWWA) and affiliated partners. SFS also conducts environmental research and monitoring in collaboration with the US National Park Service at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, where an additional buoy is deployed seasonally, and the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. Additional environmental monitoring of Lake Michigan is conducted in collaboration with the Lake Express high-speed ferry as well as the North Shore Water Commission.

These monitoring programs produce a variety of data including over-lake weather measurements, wave height, current speed and direction, and water quality measurements such as temperature, conductivity, oxygen concentration, carbon dioxide concentration, pH, and chlorophyll concentration. Each buoy is also equipped with either a surface or benthic camera, which transmits images at 10 minute intervals to our Dashboard page.

The overall objective of this GLOS effort is to increase Lake Michigan observing capacity, which will lead to improved wave forecasting, over-lake weather forecasting, and circulation modeling.  The monitoring systems also provide data for the validation and improvement of air quality (ozone) forecast models, monitoring of long-term changes in nearshore water quality, and water quality decision support tools for managers at the municipal, state and federal levels.

News

  • Freshwater Grad Writes About Lake Sentinels: Buoys
    Daniel Wroblewski (BFA Film '21, MS Freshwater Sciences '25) recently completed an internship with NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries. As a Communications and Social Media Intern, he utilized his video editing skills to create videos with varying topics related to the sanctuaries. Additionally, he wrote a feature story about the sentinels of the lake …
  • Bootsma warns of impacted cuts to vital research programs in 2026 federal budget
    Associate Dean and Professor Harvey Bootsma spoke to Spectrum News 1 about programs at risk with the proposed 2026 federal budget, which includes the Great Lakes Observing System. GLOS is funded by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which would have a 25% reduction — nearly $1.5 billion. Read Article and Watch Interview
  • Local Documentary Filmmaker Captures Green Bay Buoy Launch
    Local documentary features the University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee's School of Freshwater Science's Green Bay buoy launch.
Jessie Grow