NOAA Tool Offers Custom Views Of Great Lakes Water Level Data

Dec 3: The new NOAA Great Lakes Water Level Dashboard, to be presented this week at the American Geophysical Union annual fall meeting, offers interactive displays of any combination of historical, current and projected water levels for all of the North American Great Lakes. Environmental researchers, educators and students, and Great Lakes region residents are among those who can use this online tool to quickly access desired slices of water level data.

    The dashboard is designed to show the ups and downs of the world's largest freshwater system. It draws from both experimental and operational data sets and forecasts from a variety of regional sources. Among its other benefits, the dashboard allows users to gain a perspective on the relative magnitude of seasonal, year-to-year and decade-to-decade water level changes.

    Marie Colton, Ph.D., NOAA's Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL) director said, "The Great Lakes water levels fluctuate more year-to-year than the water levels of other major coasts in the United States. The dashboard is expected to help resource managers communicate to the public about how water management strategies will change in an uncertain climate future. GLERL and the NOAA Cooperative Institute for Limnology and Ecosystems Research at the University of Michigan, both located in Ann Arbor, MI, developed the new tool with funding through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI), administered by the U.S. EPA.

The Great Lakes dashboard can help users gain insight into the relationship between recent water level dynamics and long-term forecasts, as well as the relationship between climate trends and climate variability in the Great Lakes region. The severe drop in water levels (particularly for lakes Erie, Michigan and Huron) in the late 1990s, the current low levels on lakes Michigan and Huron, long-term declines in ice cover, and recent shifts in the seasonal water budget and water level dynamics of some of the lakes, are just a few examples.

Through its interactive framework, the dashboard allows users to investigate historical trends, and to use them as a reference point for evaluating forecasts of future water level conditions. Researchers plan to expand the dashboard by adding in other agency water level forecasts (including the operational forecasts developed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Environment Canada) and water budget data such as precipitation, evaporation, and runoff. The NOAA Great Lakes Operational Forecasting System provides the official daily and hourly water level fluctuations for those who need shorter time-scale data. GLERL also offers its own Great Lakes Coastal Forecasting System which displays air temperature, cloud cover, wind and wave data.

    Access a release from NOAA with links to related information (click here). Access the water level dashboard (click here).

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Great Lakes Climate Adaptation Toolkit

Nov 30: Freshwater Future and EcoAdapt, have partnered to develop the Great Lakes Climate Change Adaptation Toolkit, with funding support from the Kresge Foundation. The toolkit includes:  A primer on climate change and adaptation;  Four case studies on how community groups are incorporating climate change into their work; Communications guidance; Fact sheets on specific Great Lakes climate impacts;  Approaches to addressing climate change with community leaders; and  A guide to assist with vulnerability assessments.

    Freshwater Future Executive Director Jill Ryan said, "The Great Lakes region is already seeing a number of impacts from climate change, including warmer air and water temperatures, less ice cover, changes in snowfall and rainfall, and extreme storm events like we experienced in many areas of the region this past summer. The toolkit provides a resource to help community groups develop a climate informed perspective on their own work and some approaches to help them bring that knowledge to issues their towns and cities may be addressing." Lara Hansen, Executive Director of EcoAdapt said, "Climate change is everybody's problem. By putting tools into the hands of groups working on a wide range of issues, we can engage many more people in preparing our communities to meet the challenges of climate change."

    The toolkit is one component of Freshwater Future's Great Lakes Community Climate Program, which includes workshops to train community groups how to consider climate change impacts in their work and a grants program to assist with implementation of on-the-ground projects.

    Access a posted announcement from Freshwater Future (click here). Access the Freshwater Future website (click here). Access the toolkit (click here).

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Funding For AOC Habitat Restoration Partnership Projects

Nov 30: NOAA's Restoration Center has released a Federal funding opportunity (FFO) for habitat restoration in Great Lakes Areas of Concern (AOCs). The closing date is January 15, 2013. Through the solicitation, NOAA seeks to openly compete funding available for multi-year Great Lakes Regional Habitat Restoration Partnerships. Partnerships will result in implementation of a wide-range of individual habitat restoration projects focused in U.S. AOCs with funds provided by the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative as anticipated in the President's FY2013 Budget.

    NOAA anticipates up to $10 million may be available to establish habitat restoration Partnerships in 2013, with annual funding anticipated to maintain them for up to three years. Typical Partnership awards are expected to range from $500,000 to $5,000,000 per year. Funding will support both engineering and design projects and on the ground implementation projects. NOAA notes that, "This is NOT a request for individual habitat restoration project proposals. A separate project-based funding opportunity will be released in January 2013."

 

    Access a posted announcement with links to the FFO, AOC information and contacts (click here).

 

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