Apostle Islands

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Sand Island

 
Station Data available here
 

In collaboration with the US National Park Service, two sites are monitored near Sand Island in the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore.  The “East” site lies in 10 meters of water over sandy substrate off of the south eastern corner of the island, while the “West” site rests on rocky substrate off of the western side of the island at the same depth. Each site consists of a benthic monitoring stations with a light logger, time-lapse camera, current profiler, temperature string and water quality sonde measuring temperature, conductivity, pH, chlorophyll, turbidity, and colored dissolved organic matter.  In addition, water samples are collected regularly for the analysis of dissolved and particulate phosphorus.

 

One of the objectives of this monitoring program is to better understand how nutrients and organic carbon that enter Lake Superior from tributary rivers along its southwestern shores influence plankton production and food web structure in the lake.  This work is being done in collaboration with the National Parks Service, with support from the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.