MICHIGAN TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY
PROJECT TITLE ENABLING THE FUTURE OF GREAT LAKES BIOLOGICAL RESOURCE ASSESSMENTPROJECT PERIOD 9 1 2022 8 31 2023THE OVERARCHING GOAL OF THE PROPOSED USGS MTU MTRI COLLABORATION IS TO RESEARCH NEW AND EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT TOOLS THAT IMPROVE THE SPATIAL COVERAGE, ACCURACY, PRECISION, AND USEFULNESS OF USGS S GREAT LAKES SCIENCE PROGRAM THREE SPECIFIC TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATIONS WILL BE INVESTIGATED TO ACHIEVE THIS GOAL UNDERWATER AND SURFACE AUTONOMY, UNDERWATER IMAGING, AND MACHINE LEARNING THESE INNOVATIONS COMBINED WILL GENERATE NEW KNOWLEDGE THAT IS USEFUL TO GREAT LAKES NATIONAL RESOURCE MANAGERS THESE INNOVATIONS WILL ENABLE USGS TO COLLECT AND PROCESS LAKE WIDE SURVEYS OF PREY FISH ABUNDANCES, ANSWERING DISCRETE RESEARCH QUESTIONS ABOUT THE FISH, LIMNOLOGY, AND ECOSYSTEMS MAP HABITATS AND DEVELOP MORE EFFICIENT TECHNOLOGICAL SOLUTIONS TO PERSISTENT SAMPLING PROBLEMS TO AID IN THE ACCOMPLISHMENT OF THIS GOAL, MICHIGAN TECH WILL WORK COLLABORATIVELY WITH USGS SCIENTISTS ON THE FOLLOWING ACTIVITIES ENGINEER, COORDINATE, AND DEPLOY ROBOTIC TECHNOLOGIES TO AUTONOMOUSLY COLLECT DATA ABOUT FISHERIES AND LAKE ECOSYSTEMS ASSIST WITH THE DELIVERY OF ANNUAL SURVEY RESULTS FOR BENTHIC FISHES FROM USGS S AUV IMAGERY DEVELOP AUTOMATED SOLUTIONS FOR INTERPRETATION AND PROCESSING OF BIOLOGICAL AND PHYSICAL FEATURES IN UNDERWATER IMAGERY, VIDEO, AND ACOUSTIC DATA ADVANCE TECHNIQUES FOR LARGE SCALE UNDERWATER MAPPING OF PHYSICAL HABITAT AND GEOMORPHOLOGY USING ACOUSTIC TECHNOLOGIES AUTOMATE THE INTERPRETATION OF SATELLITE AND AERIAL REMOTE SENSING DATA FOR PHYSICAL AND BIOLOGICAL FEATURES OF THE LAKE ENVIRONMENT DEVELOP COMPUTATIONAL TECHNOLOGIES, WORKFLOWS, AND SOFTWARE TO ACCELERATE DATA PROCESSING, ANALYSIS, AND DELIVERY TO PARTNERS ASSIST WITH PRODUCTION OF OPEN SOURCE TOOLS AND DATA THAT CAN BE EASILY ASSIMILATED BY THE PUBLIC AND USGS S PARTNERS THE DELIVERABLES AND OUTCOMES OF THIS PROJECT INCLUDE CUSTOM SOFTWARE FOR ROUND GOBY OBJECT IDENTIFICATION CUSTOM SOFTWARE FOR SUBMERGED AQUATIC VEGETATION PERCENT COVER ESTIMATION CUSTOM SOFTWARE FOR DREISSENID MUSSEL COVER AND COUNT PEER REVIEWED PUBLICATIONS ON RESEARCH RESULTS MULTIBEAM BATHYMETRY, BACKSCATTER, AND DERIVED PRODUCTS FOR GEOGRAPHIES OF INTEREST ANNOTATED IMAGE DATA SETS LABELLED FOR FISH, ALGAE, AND MUSSELS PUBLICLY RELEASED DATA SETS USED IN ANALYSES AND REPORTS ON RESEARCH OUTCOMES THE INTENDED BENEFICIARIES OF THIS WORK INCLUDE USGS STAKEHOLDERS, INCLUDING NATURAL RESOURCE AND LAND MANAGERS IN THE GREAT LAKES MICHIGAN TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY MTU AND MICHIGAN TECH RESEARCH INSTITUTE MTRI HAVE BEEN ASSISTING THE USGS IN THE PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITY OF ASSISTING NATURAL RESOURCE AND LAND MANAGERS BY PROVIDING THEM WITH SOUND BIOLOGICAL INFORMATION AND ASSISTANCE IN APPLYING THE INFORMATION TO THEIR NEEDS
$3,519,968U.S. Geological Survey
REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
PROJECT PERIOD: 8 1 24-7 31 25PROJECT TITLE: ICE COVER AND TURBULENCE IN THE GREAT LAKESPLAIN LANGUAGE DESCRIPTION: CLIMATE CHANGE PRESENTS A CHALLENGE FOR NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENTAGENCIES AS WARMING TEMPERATURES MAY REDUCE THE QUALITY OF FISH HABITATS. IN NORTHERNREGIONS, THE SURFACE OF FRESHWATER LAKES COMMONLY FREEZES DURING THE WINTER WHICH MAY PROVIDEIMPORTANT BENEFITS FOR COLDWATER FISH HABITATS. LAKE ICE MAY PROTECT AQUATIC LIFE BENEATH THE SURFACEFROM BEING BATTERED BY WIND DRIVEN CURRENTS AND SURFACE WAVES. IN THE LAURENTIAN GREAT LAKES,FISHERY MANAGERS ARE INTERESTED LAKE WHITEFISH AND CISCO, WHICH ONCE SUPPORTED LARGE FISHERIES, BUTTHEIR POPULATIONS HAVE DECLINED THROUGH TIME. THERE IS EVIDENCE THAT SUGGESTS ICE COVER MAY BEAN IMPORTANT FACTOR IN YEAR-TO-YEAR REPRODUCTIVE SUCCESS IN THE GREAT LAKES. FURTHER, THERE HASBEEN DISCUSSION OF STOCKING CISCO TO LAKE ERIE TO REESTABLISH A POPULATION. BETTER UNDERSTANDING OFHABITAT QUALITY IS NEEDED TO UNDERSTAND CURRENT CONDITIONS, POSSIBLE EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE, ANDTO EXPLAIN LARGE DIFFERENCES IN THE SUCCESS OF COLDWATER FISH REPRODUCTION ACROSS YEARS. THE GOALOF THIS PROJECT IS TO UNDERSTAND THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ICE COVER AND MOVEMENT OF WATER IN LAKEERIE, PARTICULARLY ON FISH SPAWNING REEFS. THE RESEARCH TEAM WILL DEPLOY SCIENTIFIC EQUIPMENT INLAKE ERIE TO MEASURE WATER SPEED, TURBULENCE, WAVE HEIGHT, ICE COVER, AND THE MOVEMENT OF ICE.THE RESULTS OF THIS WORK CAN BE USED IN MODELS TO EXPLAIN DIFFERENCES WATER MOVEMENT IN LAKE ERIERELATED TO VARYING WEATHER CONDITIONS AND POTENTIAL FUTURE CLIMATE SCENARIOS. THE RESULTS OF THISPROJECT WILL IMPROVE CLIMATE RESILIENCE AND ADAPTATION BY IMPROVING OUR UNDERSTANDING OF CONDITIONSDURING THE WINTER WHEN ICE IS AND IS NOT PRESENT. THIS INFORMATION CAN BE APPLIED TO HABITATRESTORATION OR ENHANCEMENT EFFORTS TO CONSTRUCT SPAWNING HABITATS IN AREAS WITH LOW RISK OF HIGHWAVES AND CURRENTS.ACTIVITIES TO BE PERFORMED: THE CENTRAL OBJECTIVE OF THIS STUDY IS TO OBSERVE THE EFFECT OF ICE COVERON MEAN CURRENTS, WAVE-INDUCED CURRENTS, AND BOTTOM STRESS AT ONE OR TWO SPAWNING REEFS DURING AWIDE VARIETY OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS. EACH WINTER, WE WILL DEPLOY TWO TURBULENCE MOORINGSON THE REEF AND AN ENVIRONMENTAL MOORING IN SLIGHTLY DEEPER WATER OFFSHORE OF THE REEF. THEMOORINGS WILL BE RELOCATED FOR THE SECOND FIELD YEAR TO PROVIDE DATA AT A REEF WITH A DIFFERENT DEPTH,SHAPE, AND HYDRODYNAMIC ENVIRONMENT (WAVE FETCH, ETC.). AS THE SEASONS EVOLVE, THE MOORINGS WILLSAMPLE TURBULENCE DURING A RANGE OF ICE, ICEFREE, WINDY, AND CALM CONDITIONS.DELIVERABLES AND EXPECTED OUTCOMES: RESULTS WILL BE PUBLISHED IN JOURNALS, SUCH AS LIMNOLOGYAND OCEANOGRAPHY, THE JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH, AND THE JOURNAL OF GREAT LAKES RESEARCH.ALL DATA WILL BE PERMANENTLY ARCHIVED IN A PUBLIC DATABASE WITH APPROPRIATE DOCUMENTATION ANDMETADATA. SOFTWARE USED TO PROCESS DATA, RUN NUMERICAL MODELS, AND PLOT FIGURES WILL ALSO BEARCHIVED. DATA ACCESSIBILITY WILL FOLLOW USGS POLICY AND BE AVAILABLE VIA SCIENCEBASE.GOV. WEALSO PLAN TO PUBLISH A WEBPAGE WITH A CLIMATOLOGICAL INDEX OF NEAR BOTTOM CURRENTS AND BOTTOMSTRESS DURING WINTER IN THE GREAT LAKES.INTENDED BENEFICIARIES: THIS PROJECT WILL BENEFIT COLDWATER FISH RESTORATION IN THE GREAT LAKES.WE PLAN TO WORK DIRECTLY WITH THE LAKE ERIE COMMITTEE HABITAT TASK GROUP.
$108,388U.S. Geological Survey