Archive for January 2011
To enter a submission to Great Lakes Echo Photo Friday, send your photo, a caption and your name to greatlakesecho@gmail.com.
Scientists have identified a new weapon to ward off two troublesome Great Lakes invaders: A bacterium strain that destroys their guts. It could be an alternative to chlorine and other chemical treatments.
Ski areas are major energy users when keeping buildings warm, making snow and operating lifts.
To address these issues, some Michigan ski areas are making environmental choices inspired by a global trend in eco-tourism.
Parties are themed and weddings are too — and now university semesters?
That’s right, the University of Michigan themed this winter semester. No it’s not a “school” theme, that’s too obvious. The focus is water.
The water semester kicked off yesterday with an ice percussion concert.
Video courtesy of annarbor.com
(Similarly, check out this video of ice musicians playing in Italy).
Events, courses and lectures featured this winter highlight issues like water shortage, pollution and water-borne illnesses.
How much water are you using? Calculate your water footprint here.
Winter winds over New Year’s Eve brought a “whiff” of whale burps, much to the curiosity of beachcombers.
But the stench was surprisingly absent.
The two whale burps were found by Duluth, Minn. resident Glenn Maxham’s son on Lake Superior’s beach over the holiday, according to Minnesota Sea Grant. Whale burps, also known as surf balls, form when nearshore shallows weave together a messy, entwined mix of plastic strands, feathers, pine needles, seaweed, shell pieces and other odds and ends.
The two found at the start of the year formed prickly balls of …
A new invasive fly has Michigan researchers working to protect next season’s fruit crop.
Almost $20,000 of federal money went to Michigan State University for early detection and rapid response of the spotted wing drosophila.
Larry Lankton tracks the birth, boom and bust of the industry that once dominated the nation’s copper production. Gary Kaunonen focuses on the immigrants from Finland whoworked in the mines, and the strife between labor and management.
On Dec. 17, a NASA satellite sailed over southern Lake Michigan after winds whipped up a tendril-like sediment plume. The satellite captured an image of the plume that caught the eye of the people behind the NASA Earth Observatory, an online repository of satellite images, photographs and other illustrations of both natural phenomena and human impacts on the planet.
The plume results from winds blowing in from the north that set the water in southern Lake Michigan circulating in a counter-clockwise pattern called a gyre. The movement stirs up sediment from …
An invasive species of algae is threatening to disrupt the ecological balance in Michigan lakes and waterways.
It’s a form of seaweed called starry stonewort.
It can increase the potential for winterkill when lakes freeze over because the algae take up oxygen that fish need to survive.
