Investigators

J. Val Klump, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Michael Zorn, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay

Project Summary

In 2010, the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative began an enhanced tributary monitoring program to support ecosystem restoration and protection efforts in five tributaries, including the Lower Fox River and Green Bay.  This program was designed to:

1. Provide data required to support delisting efforts for Beneficial Use Impairments (BUIs) in these Areas of Concern (AOCs);
2. Facilitate measurement of restoration progress; andProvide stakeholders with unprecedented access to real time data to inform stewardship decisions and promote sustainable ecosystem restoration and protection efforts.

Leveraging funds and in-kind support from the NOAA Coastal Hypoxia Research Program, the Green Bay Metropolitan Sewerage District, and the Great Lakes Observing System, this project team will re-deploy a continuous, seasonally permanent open water monitoring buoy in Lower Green Bay for the ice free period of 2013. In addition to standard physical observations such as wind speed/direction, wave height/direction and water temperature, the buoy also measures soluble reactive phosphorus, nitrate, dissolved oxygen, conductivity, fluorescence, and turbidity.

This project will contribute to a thorough understanding of the dynamics which control water quality and beneficial use impairments in Green Bay. These data will provide the project team and partners with novel information on nutrient dynamics and the formation of harmful algal blooms in lower Green Bay. In addition, data collected will be integrated into long term forecast systems and models to predict future conditions and the effectiveness of proposed remediation strategies in the Lower Green Bay AOC.