{"id":9148,"date":"2024-04-18T12:20:13","date_gmt":"2024-04-18T17:20:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/freshwater\/?page_id=9148"},"modified":"2026-03-25T16:57:38","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T21:57:38","slug":"great-lakes-observing-system","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/freshwater\/research\/great-lakes-observing-system\/","title":{"rendered":"Great Lakes Observing System"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Divers<\/figure>
\"Buoy<\/figure>
\"UWM<\/figure><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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About GLOS<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The\u00a0School of Freshwater Sciences\u00a0currently operates 3\u00a0seasonal environmental monitoring buoys in Lake Michigan as part of the\u00a0Great Lakes Observing System<\/a>\u00a0(GLOS).\u00a0 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. \u00a0Green Bay monitoring is conducted in collaboration with the\u00a0Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance<\/a>\u00a0(FWWA) and affiliated partners. SFS also conducts environmental research and monitoring in collaboration with the US National Park Service at\u00a0Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore,<\/a>\u00a0where an additional buoy is deployed seasonally, and the\u00a0Apostle Islands National Lakeshore<\/a>. Additional environmental monitoring of Lake Michigan is conducted in collaboration with the\u00a0Lake Express<\/a>\u00a0high-speed ferry as well as the\u00a0North Shore Water Commission<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n