US EPA, Great Lakes National Program Office Collaborations- Lake Erie 2014 Cooperative Science and Monitoring Initiative Intensive Sampling Year

CSMI Rotational Cycle Lake Superior Lake Huron Lake Ontario Lake Erie* Lake Michigan Cooperative Science and Monitoring Cycle

LaMP Management Committee identifies key Science and Monitoring Needs** for Lake CSMI-SC will facilitate coordination of priority ONGOING science CSMI-SC vets list to determine how science priorities can be addressed: ONGOING work or NEW work required Feedback: binational CSMI workplan presented to LaMP Management Committee and CGLRM and GLRRIN ONGOING Science NEW Science CSMI -SC vets list to determine what NEW science can be initiated to address priority information needs, based on available resources and expertise Laboratory Analysis Phase Data Analysis and Report Writing Phase Each LaMP, with BTS, GLFC and SOLEC and support from CGLRM, GLRRIN organizes Lake Based Forum to discuss Science of the lake Communicating Out CSMI -SC will identify where multiple agencies are conducting ONGOING science that will benefit from coordination CSMI facilitates the development and implementation of NEW science activities Year of Field Activity YEAR 2: YEAR 3: YEAR 4: YEAR 5: YEAR 1: Cooperative Science and Monitoring Initiative Process 1. BEC 2. Primary literature publications; 3. Conference presentations/posters; joint synthesis reports 4. Outreach – CGLRM/GLRRIN

Subproject 1: Quantifying the internal nutrient loads to the water column in the western basin. Assessing Nutrient / Eutrophication Dynamics in Western Lake Erie Ohio Lake Erie Commission Gail P. Hesse, Executive Director Sample/experimental sites for internal load measurements

Subproject 2: Evaluating the important factors of river hydrology and/or seasonality of loads to harmful algal bloom formation and dynamics in the western basin of Lake Erie, including the effects of storm and other meteorological/climatological forcing events This project will couple a Bayesian Hierarchical SPARROW (BH-SPARROW) fit for the Great Lakes region and SWAT models calibrated for the Maumee and Sandusky River basins to quantify both N and P loadings.

Subproject 3: Developing a nutrient mass budget for the western basin of Lake Erie which includes sub-watersheds AND overall modeling synthesis This is a fine-scale linked hydrodynamic –sediment transport –advanced eutrophication model suite for the lower Maumee River and the entire Western Basin of the lake. The model, called the Western Lake Erie Ecosystem Model (WLEEM)

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Dissolved oxygen data loggers At all ten Lake Erie Central Basin stations Depths of ½ and 3 meters from bottom Will be in place all season, June through September Provide information on rate of oxygen loss, changes over season

US Geological Survey Ring Lake Erie’s central basin to look at extent of hypoxic zone. Transects (not shown) to look at extent and potential effect of hypoxic zone on fish Lower food web and fisheries work requiring several ships/boats

Long-Term Water Quality Monitoring, Offshore – consistent sampling and analyses. Lakes Michigan, Huron and Erie started in 1983 Ontario began in 1986 Lake Superior began in 1992

TRIAXUS 3D Towed Undulating Vehicle

Specifications Triaxus is a towed instrument platform that houses several sensors: SeaBird CTD & D.O. probe Active Fluorometer Laser Optical Plankton Counter (LOPC) Nitrate Analyzer Side-Scan Sonar Fluoroprobe Transmissometer Towed behind the R/V Lake Guardian

Benthos survey – Buffalo State University and U.S. Geological Survey 140+ stations Mussel population estimates Entire benthic community

US Geological Survey – David Krabbenhoft Mercury monitoring/research to take place in September Where is the mercury coming from How is it becoming methylated (made more toxic)?

Total Mercury by Lake Layer in the Great Lakes (note: these do not include Western Lake Erie)

Same results plotted with Western Lake Erie included

US Geological Survey – Dale Robertson Developing techniques to estimate the load of nutrients entering Lake Erie from the main rivers. Extending work of Dr. Dave Dolan, whose last estimates are from SPARROW model, but stepped down to a daily estimate

Lake of the Year (LOY) Program Pushing the Science Perform a detailed bioaccumulation study Water (dissolved and particulate) Phytoplankton Zooplankton Mussels Benthic macro invertebrates Forage fish Lake trout Started with Lake Superior in the summer of 2011 Top to bottom lake snapshot

Great Lakes Fish Monitoring Program (GLFMP) Contaminant List PCB congeners PCB co-planers Hexachlorobenzene Octachlorostyrene Lindane Alpha BHC Dieldrin Heptachlor epoxide-b Cis-chlordane Trans- chlordane Oxychlordane Cis-nonachlor Trans- nonachlor pp,-DDT pp,-DDE pp,-DDD Endrin Mirex (Lake Ontario Only) Toxaphene& homologs PBDEs Hg PCDD/Fs

PFOA, PFOS* Fluorotelomer alcohols Polychlorinated naphthalenes Dacthal Musks Alkyphenols Non-PBDE BFRs Polybrominated Biphenyls Pharmaceuticals Siloxanes Trace metals including thallium Comprehensive and Quantitative Screening for Emerged and Emerging Contaminants of Concern Pushing the Science * Also measured in routine samples

Sediment Survey Sediment cores taken throughout lake. Cores sectioned, dated and analyzed for contaminants. Determines history and current inventory of contaminants in the lake.