Superior's loss is Erie's gain

I'd heard, here and there, a bit about some of the great lakes losing volume. Here's a short story about how some dredging has caused the loss of 2.5 BILLION gallons of water a day from Huron & Superior - SINCE 1970!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The following graphs really don't lead to any conclusions, but I looked 'em up, and thought you might find them interesting. Well, OK, maybe one conclusion: fix the water run-off!

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,293349,00.html

The water goes into Erie, then Lake Ontario, then off to the Atlantic ocean.

I don't quite understand the nuances of these graphs, but one would think that ABOVE the line is above normal, and BELOW the line is below normal. Looks like Lake Erie is quite flush (get it?) with water.


Huron:
http://glakesonline.nos.noaa.gov/glin.shtm...02+Lakeport,+MI

Long term graph from 1960 to present. Huron has a much shorter period of stability in the 70's.
http://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/cgi-bin-m...mp;plot_backup=


Superior:
http://glakesonline.nos.noaa.gov/glin.shtm...quette+C.G.,+MI

A long-term plot from 1960 to present. Interesting in that, like the long-term Lake Erie plot below, it has also been quite stable, and in fact rises slightly, from 1970 to 2000.
http://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/cgi-bin-m...mp;plot_backup=


Erie:
http://glakesonline.nos.noaa.gov/glin.shtm...063038+Erie,+PA

Here's a long-term plot from 1960 to present. Notice how the water level is amazingly constant for the 30 years between 1970 and 2000. I wonder what's been happening since 2000 to make it more erratic.
http://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/cgi-bin-m...mp;plot_backup=

Here's another, longer story on the Superior water drainage.
http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2007Aug15/0,4...Erosion,00.html

Fun Fact: The Great Lakes contain one-fifth of the world's fresh water supply.

Fun Fact #2: Lake Baikal, the largest Russian lake, also contains one-fifth of the world's fresh water supply.

Fun Fact #3:Manitoulin Island in Lake Huron is the world's largest lake-bound island.

I just read something the other day about Lake Superior losing a lot of water and nobody knowing exactly why. Sounds like they need to get in touch with the people that you linked to Doc.

I'm thinking the entire thing is a plot from those dastardly Canadians 😉

The great lakes actually lost 6.8 quadrillion gallons (25.8 trillion cubic meters) of volume in 1998. Yep thats right little known fact, Champlain was a great lake for a month.

Lake Champlain briefly became the nation's sixth Great Lake on March 6, 1998, when President Clinton signed Senate Bill 927. This bill, which reauthorized the National Sea Grant Program, contained a line declaring Lake Champlain to be a Great Lake. Not coincidentally, this status allows neighboring states to apply for additional federal research and education funds allocated to these national resources. Following a small uproar, the Great Lake status was rescinded on March 24 (although Vermont universities continue to receive funds to monitor and study the lake). <wikipedia>

Sarge wrote:
I just read something the other day about Lake Superior losing a lot of water and nobody knowing exactly why. Sounds like they need to get in touch with the people that you linked to Doc.

I'm thinking the entire thing is a plot from those dastardly Canadians 😉

The run-off DOES go through Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence river. . .makes you think. 😉

Lake Champlain briefly became the nation's sixth Great Lake on March 6, 1998, when President Clinton signed Senate Bill 927. This bill, which reauthorized the National Sea Grant Program, contained a line declaring Lake Champlain to be a Great Lake. Not coincidentally, this status allows neighboring states to apply for additional federal research and education funds allocated to these national resources. Following a small uproar, the Great Lake status was rescinded on March 24 (although Vermont universities continue to receive funds to monitor and study the lake). <wikipedia>

I tried to find a map of it that also showed lake Erie. The scale is such that, apparently, Champlain doesn't really show(AFAICT). Champlain is no puddle, which really shows the scale of the Great Lakes.

ETA: I found an interesting link here regarding Champlain and the Great Lakes.
http://www.dencities.com/champlain.html

For Paladin's and Lexx's reference: Lake Pymatuning, up by Don & Ev's campsite, is only 64.3 billion gallons, compared to the 6.8 quadrillion gallons of Lake Champlain.

Doc, you left out the coolest part of your final fact....

Manitoulin Island itself has 108 freshwater lakes, some of which have their own islands; in turn a few of these "islands within islands" have their own ponds.

Lake Manitou (about 104 km²) is the largest lake in a freshwater island in the world. The Island in Mindemoya Lake is the largest island in a lake on an island in a lake in the world

Look at the picture on wikipedia....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manitoulin_Island

I'm getting a headache just trying to fathom it......

Atomm wrote:
Doc, you left out the coolest part of your final fact....
Look at the picture on wikipedia....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manitoulin_Island

I'm getting a headache just trying to fathom it......

I can't spoon-feed you guys EVERYTHING! 😉

Wild stuff to think about. Think I'll buy one of those ponds and make a man-made island in the middle for a little house. . .then have a small pond on it for Koi 🙂

I'm not sure how their links work, or for how long, but this aught to be good for a few hours at least.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2007/0...great.lakes.cnn

A couple minutes on the great lakes and how they're losing water. I think they concentrate mainly on Huron here. Around 1:30 they talk about the "Drain Hole" that is allowing so much water to drain into the St Lawrence river.

I wonder if a Lock system would solve much of the drainage while still allowing shipping to pass?