Great Lakes Echo (http://greatlakesecho.org/tag/lake/)
When the water is too shallow for a boat and too dangerous for a person, it’s time to send in a robot researcher.
At least, that’s what Tom Consi hopes will be the mindset when he launches the remote operated vehicle he’s worked on for the past year.
Red, yellow and blue squares on online maps mark where research scientists Steven Ruberg and Guy Meadows deploy techno-savvy buoys to measure nearshore conditions in the Great Lakes.
Editor’s note: This is the third in a series of stories on how new technology is giving researchers a glimpse of the critical nearshore area of the Great Lakes. With researchers hunched over remote controls, operating the Stealth II looks more like playing a video game than doing science. The Environmental Protection Agency purchased the underwater vehicle in May 2009. Using a hand control, agency scientists can operate the Stealth II as it hovers at various depths of the Great Lakes’ nearshore. The Stealth II’s camera allows scientists to map the bottom of nearshore areas and better understand habitat types.
(IL) Treehugger An emergency operation to stop invasive Asian carp from reaching the Great Lakes used more than 2,000 gallons of rotenone to poison six miles of a canal near Chicago this week. Tens of thousands of fish were killed. Just one Asian carp, the target of the poisoning, was found. An estimated 100 tons of dead fish will be taken to a landfill. Studies have shown that Asian carp tend to sink to the bottom when they die.