| November 6, 2009 |
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Ocean Policy Task Force
by Jennifer Read, GLOS Executive Director On June 12, 2009, President Obama sent a memorandum to the heads of executive departments and federal agencies establishing an Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force, led by the White House Council on Environmental Quality. The Task Force is charged with developing a recommendation for a national policy that ensures protection, maintenance, and restoration of oceans, our coasts and the Great Lakes. It will also recommend a framework for improved stewardship and effective coastal and marine spatial planning. In July, GLOS submitted summary recommendations to the Task Force that emphasized the need for any new Ocean, Coast and Great Lakes policy to be flexible enough to allow the nation's unique coastal regions to build on or adapt existing regional institutions to meet identified outcomes. This is particularly important for us in the Great Lakes, given the number of existing international treaties and agreements, and existing coordinative commissions, committees and councils already addressing the issues of concern to the Task Force. In September, the Task Force issued an interim report to the President. GLOS provided a letter commenting on the contents. In it GLOS reiterated the need for any new national policy to recognize existing institutional capacity and complexity in each region. As we pointed out in our letter, "an effective National Ocean Policy will use and build upon existing programs in each region and allow the regions to organize to take advantage of their own unique strengths and institutions." GLOS suggested the Task Force look to existing models, such as the Great Lakes Interagency Task Force and the Integrated Ocean Observing System, as examples of programs that integrate federal agency activities at the regionwide scale, and meet regional needs using national standards that roll up into a national program. For more information contact Jennifer Read, 734-332-6101 or jread@glos.us
GLOS is adding new faces, moving to new spaces
The Great Lakes Observing System is happy to announce the addition of a new board member, David Ullrich, and two new staff members, Steve Arquitt and Kelli Paige.
Mr. Ullrich is the executive director for the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative. Before heading the Initiative, Ullrich was deputy regional administrator for the Great Lakes region of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from 1992 until 2003. During his 30 years with EPA, he had been acting regional administrator, director of the Waste Management Division, acting regional counsel, and chief of Air Enforcement.
Steve Arquitt brings a background in dynamic systems modeling and decision-support systems to his new role as Great Lakes Modeling and Assessment Specialist. He is completing a Ph.D. in Systems Modeling at the Centre for Marine Studies at the University of Queensland, Australia, and has undertaken modeling studies related to water quality and sustainable management of coastal resources. He also has an MS in Natural Resource Management with a system dynamics concentration. Prior to his work in Australia, Steve was involved with international aid projects focused on natural resource and agricultural sectors. Steve can be contacted at sarquitt@glos.us or 734-332-6125.
Kelli Paige, GLOS outreach specialist, is originally from Chicago. There she received her BA in Public Policy from DePaul University and worked as a Watershed Project Coordinator with Friends of the Chicago River. She went on to get her MS in Resource Ecology and Management from the University of Michigan and most recently worked with The Nature Conservancy as an outreach coordinator in Toledo, Ohio. Kelli can be contacted at kpaige@glos.us or 734-332-6113.
The recent additions bring the total number of GLOS staff to four - including Elyse Larsen, business manager and Dr. Jennifer Read, executive director. To accommodate the growing staff, GLOS has moved its offices to 229 Nickels Arcade in downtown Ann Arbor, Mich. The team is looking forward to future growth and collaboration in the next year.
UMD launches underwater glider in Lake Superior
On Sept. 26, 2009, Jay Austin, professor at the University of Minnesota - Duluth, successfully recovered his Autonomous Underwater Glider (AUG) after a nine-day data collecting mission. During its mission, it "flew" approximately 250km in the western arm of Lake Superior, making an equivalent of nearly 1000 conductivity, temperature and depth (CDT) casts.
The AUG's first mission was to move back and forth along the waters near Two Harbors collecting data, making 16 crossings of the shelf over about 4 days. After that, the glider swam over to the Wisconsin shore and back, producing a 30-km long section (see chart for raw, not-yet post-processed data). According to Austin, the cross-lake sections took about 24 hours to complete. He recalled the glider typically ran at about 35cm/s, slower than advertised, but thinks there are some things he can do to improve this.
UMD Glider Two Harbors Port Wing Mission Segment A, September 2009
The AUG is designed to collect real-time data at least once every three hours or when the AUG has completed a mission, whichever comes first. "While running it can be a bit un-nerving, this thing is really cool and provides a sort of data impossible to collect from ships or moored platforms," Austin said. "Hopefully this is just the first of many gliders in the Great Lakes!"
GLOS assisted with financing the daily operating costs which were on the order of $100-$150 per day (excluding boat time to get it out and back). Currently, the data the AUG is collecting is limited to temperature. Eventually Austin would like to collect data on a wide range of parameters, from oxygen levels to chlorophyll content.
For more information contact Jay Austin, 218-726-8773 or jaustin@d.umn.edu.
Update on St. Clair River Dye Study
In August, GLOS partnered with NOAA's Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL) and Applied Science Inc. (ASI) to carry out three dye release experiments in the St. Clair River. The goal of the experiments was to provide data for calibration of the Huron-Erie Connecting Waterways Forecasting System (HECWFS), a hydrodynamic model developed by Dr. David Schwab (GLERL) and Dr. Eric Anderson (Cooperative Institute for Limnology and Ecosystem Research - U. of Michigan). Surface dye releases were carried out for western, central and eastern locations north of Stag Island in the St. Clair River. It took 10 hours for the dye to reach Algonac. Observations during the point-releases were gathered by sampling the water at ten transects along the river, and preliminary results indicate quick vertical mixing of the dye with limited lateral dispersion.
HECWFS model simulations of the dye releases have been performed, as well as trace particle simulations, to compare the results to the experimental data. Initial comparisons show a strong agreement with the observed dye pathway for each release. However, scenario testing with the model indicates that there may be significant variation in the shape and travel time of the dye plume depending on the initial release conditions, such as the volume and duration of the release. Currently, adjustments to the model diffusion are being made to calibrate the predictions of dye concentration with the observed values. The calibrated model will provide improved real-time forecasts of currents and water levels in the corridor and will advance search and rescue efforts, aid in water quality assessment, and reduce public health risks.
For more information contact Eric Anderson, 734-741-2293 or eric.j.anderson@noaa.gov.
Funding/business opportunities
Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) solicitation 8.1.5SG, SUBTOPIC, Development of Renewable Alternative Energy Sources, states "The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration under the Small Business Innovation Research program is interested in proposals for the research and development of Renewable Ocean and Coastal Energy Technology, which will include the following technology areas of focus: a) Offshore/coastal wind, b) Wave, c) Tidal/current, d) Geothermal, and e) Biofuels developed from microalgae or macroalgae. Projects may involve research in technology development, and/or testing and improvement of existing technologies." Deadline is January 14, 2010. See www.oar.noaa.gov/orta/ or email jonathan.eigen@noaa.gov. |
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This quarterly newsletter is prepared by GLOS as a service to its members, partners and the broader Great Lakes community. Please refer to www.glos.us for more information on GLOS products, activities and milestones.
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