Photo taken by Dave Hansen, Minnesota Extension Service
The Lake Superior Basin Project
What was this project about?
Lake Superior is one of our nation's greatest resources. The lake is a unique
waterbody in many ways given its large size, geographic location and long water
residence time. The Great Lakes States of Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin and the
Province of Ontario have developed a cooperative plan to collectively protect
and restore the integrity of the Lake Superior Ecosystem. As a result, numerous
efforts are ongoing in an effort to obtain these objectives. One such effort was
coordinated through a cooperative effort between the University of Michigan Air
Quality Laboratory, the Trustees of the Lake Superior Basin Trust, the Michigan
Department of Natural Resources and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
For its part, the University of Michigan Air Quality lab performed a basin-wide,
total ecosystem study to obtain a better understanding of the cycling of mercury
in the Lake Superior region. The approach included not only considerations of
the emissions, transport and deposition of mercury and other toxic pollutants,
but also the cycling of these pollutants in the various ecosystems which are found
in the Lake Superior Basin. These "process" related studies include consideration
of: dry- and wet-depostion processes, air-surface exchange processes, fog water
and dew chemistry processes, as well as throughfall and litterfall processes.
Details regarding these efforts will appear on these pages in the coming weeks.
A final report is available that details the finsings from this study and can
be obtained by sending an email to Professor Jerry Keeler at jkeeler@umich.edu.
Back to the UMAQL Homepage.