'Seiche' phenomenon hits often, sometimes kills

The Muskegon Chronicle has an interesting article about a little know Great Lakes phenomena called a "Seiche". With effect similar to a tsunami, a seiche can cause high waves and dangerous rip tides. Although generally not well known, seiche's occur with some frequency:

Thousands of tourists crowded the scenic beach to enjoy a long holiday weekend, unaware of the approaching tidal wave that would sweep them into a deadly natural disaster. That was the scene one month ago, when a killer tsunami raced across the Indian Ocean and killed more than 225,000 people in South Asia.

It also was the scene on July 4, 1929, at Grand Haven State Park, when killer waves swept 10 people to their deaths on one of the deadliest holidays in West Michigan history. The culprit here was not a tsunami, but a seiche (pronounced "saysh"). Created by high winds or squall lines that exert intense downward pressure, seiches can make Lake Michigan slosh back and forth like water in a bathtub, sending powerful waves racing to the shorelines.

"A seiche is a smaller version of a tsunami, with a different cause. A seiche is caused by wind; tsunamis are caused by earthquakes," said David Schwab, a research oceanographer at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Great Lakes office in Ann Arbor. Schwab said most Great Lakes seiches only produce subtle changes in lake levels. But given the right weather conditions, a seiche can unleash huge storm surges that endanger human life and coastal structures.

Bob Beaton, a longtime Grand Haven resident and surfer, said the scariest thing about seiches is that they can strike when the lake is calm. "Some of the deadliest seiche incidents have happened on calm days," said Beaton, who has spent years researching seiches and is a member of the Great Lakes Beach and Pier Safety Task Force.

Seiches also create fierce rip currents below the surface when the lake level rises and then recedes rapidly. "The waves don't scare me, it's the current that drowns people," Beaton said.

A seiche that struck Chicago without warning on a June morning in 1954 increased the lake's water level by 4 feet in just 30 minutes. The rising water was followed by a massive wave, 25 miles wide and as high as 20 feet in some areas, that swept dozens of people off piers. Eight people drowned. Schwab said the killer wave bounced off the Michigan coast before pounding Chicago, pushing water in some areas 100 feet inland of some beaches.

Two years later, a seiche triggered a 10-foot swell in Ludington that sent anglers and beachgoers scrambling for safety. The first swell knocked several anglers off the pier and pushed water 150 feet past the normal water line. The water then receded beyond the water line before a second, larger wave crashed ashore.

Beaton, who has surfed the Great Lakes since 1962, said he sees several seiches each year. His most recent encounter with a seiche came while surfing north of the Muskegon breakwater last October. Beaton said listening to weather forecasts is the only way to know if conditions are right for a seiche. He said it's impossible for a lay person to anticipate a seiche by observing the lake or approaching storms. "It's like trying to predict an earthquake," he said.

Who knew? For more information about seiche's see this explanation at Wikipedia.

Zebra mussels likely suspects in Great Lakes algae ills

The Duluth News Tribune carries this article explaining zebra mussels and Great Lakes algae:

A rising tide of stringy, smelly algae on Great Lakes beaches in recent years likely results from zebra mussels creating clearer water while also adding nutrients to the lake bottom, researchers say. The algae, called Cladophora, may get even more blame that it deserves for the putrid smell, said Vicky Harris, a water quality and habitat restoration specialist for University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute. Zebra mussels often get tangled in the algae and washed up with it, and the decaying mussels are more pungent than the algae alone - although that smell is powerful enough to be highly offensive, she said.

A midsummer die-off of algae, possibly because of warming water, increases the amount of it that washes up and decays.

"Cladophora is a problem in all the Great Lakes except Lake Superior," Harris said. "We're not quite sure why this type of algae has made such a comeback from the former nuisance levels in the 1960s, but we know that the water is clearer and light is able to penetrate more deeply."

Harris said levels of nutrients such as phosphorus that led to algae growth in the past have dropped, but the water filtered by zebra mussels is so clear that sunlight can penetrate far deeper, allowing algae to grow at depths of 60 feet or more. Also, the mussels' waste provides bottom fertilizer for algae.

Finish Line Park purchase delayed

The Oscoda Press reports on progress made extending the AuSable Finish Line Park:

A new stumbling block has been encountered by the AuSable Township Board of Trustees in its effort to expand Finish Line Park. As a prerequisite to receiving the grant -- which funds 75 percent of a DNR approved purchase price -- the township had to contract for two professional appraisals. The first one came back at $31,000; the second at $181,000. The state officials responded by selecting a third appraiser to serve as an arbitrator.

This is a difficult parcel to evaluate, given its size and shape, he explained. There is also little in the way of comparable land sales to guide the appraisers. Finish Line Park is a small township-owned parcel, located at the corner of US-23 and Mill Street, the traditional finish line of the AuSable River International Canoe Marathon. It is a park which overlooks the river but currently does not extend to the water's edge. The Myles' property, commonly known as Brubaker's Dock, consists of about 0.18 acre of mostly river front.

Township officials have long coveted the property and want to acquire it in order to preserve public access to the river, maintain the marathon finish line, and also for community aesthetics and resource preservation.

In the event AuSable is successful in acquiring the property, officials hope to secure an additional grant to make improvements, including bank stabilization. Some of the other plans include the design and installation of a small local heritage display focusing on canoeing, fishing and AuSable history; a wood stairway with a handrail down to the water; and a flag or flags displaying a welcome message and the canoe paddler emblem.

Ship-building business would be great for the Tawases

The Bay City Times carries this update to a story on efforts to bring tall ship building to Tawas.

It's a long shot, and the folks in the Tawases know that as well as anyone. But they are going to try to lure a tall ship-building company to their community anyway, and we wish them well. The city councils in both Tawas and East Tawas have passed resolutions in support of an effort to woo the Mackinac Tall Ship Co.

The company had planned to create a museum and ship factory in St. Ignace, and also offer charter ship outings. But its plans have fallen through. So Mike Modrzynski, the new director of the Tawas Chamber of Commerce and a former employee of the Mackinac Tall Ship Co., thinks that Tawas ought to offer itself as a site. He has invited the group of investors that now controls the company to meet with Tawas officials to discuss the possibility of locating the business on the Tawas Bay.

Modrzynski is the first to admit that Tawas faces long odds in this quest. But as he says, "If we don't try it, we'll never know."

Erosion lowers water levels on Lakes Michigan and Huron

This story from MLive.com is interesting especially in light of current lake levels. In essense, Lake Huron is 9 inches up from one year ago but may have been substantially higher if not for dredging and riverbed erosion in Lake St Clair:

Erosion at the bottom of Lake St. Clair has caused a significant dropoff in water levels on Lake Huron and Lake Michigan for more than a century, says a privately funded report released Monday. The dropoff, apparently caused by dredging and other human activities on the river, has caused the two lakes to decline 32 inches since around 1860, the report said. The volume of water they have lost during that time would fill Lake St. Clair 28 times.

Authorities were long aware that Lakes Huron and Michigan, which are geologically linked, had declined relative to the level of Lake Erie to the south, which receives their outflow, the report said. But a dropoff of 8 to 13 inches since a shipping channel was dug in the river in 1962 has gone undetected until now, said the report by W.F. Baird & Associates, a coastal engineering firm. It indicates that continuing erosion is punching an ever-larger hole at the foot of the river, allowing water to rush from Lake Huron faster than anyone knew.

The $200,000 study was commissioned by the research arm of the Georgian Bay Association, a group representing about 17,000 people who live on the islands and coasts of the sprawling bay on the eastern side of Lake Huron. Members wanted to find out whether low water levels in recent years were being caused by something other than the usual cyclical fluctuations, said its president, John Pepperell.

Lake Huron rises 9 inches from one year ago

WXIX Fox 19 in Cincinnati has a report on current lake levels which are all significantly above a year ago except for Lake Ontario:

Great Lakes water levels well above year-ago levels 

The water levels in the Great Lakes system have risen as much as 16 inches this winter from one year ago. Lake Michigan is up nine inches. The news brings hope for next summer to the region's boaters and beach visitors. According to US Army Corps of Engineers figures, Lake Saint Clair's water level is 16 inches above the winter 2004 level.

The level is up seven inches on Lake Superior, nine inches on Lake Huron and 15 inches on Lake Erie. The level is down two inches on Lake Ontario. High water also translates to cash for the shipping industry, where higher water means more cargo and bigger profits.

The big boats are back

The Port Huron Times Herald carries a story about the increase in lake freighter traffic last year:

The Lake Carriers' Association, representing 15 shipping companies on the Great Lakes, reported 102 million tons of cargo shipped by the end of November, a 19% increase from a year ago.

Two main factors rise to the surface to explain the good shipping year: higher water levels and a growing construction industry.

"2004 was a year of noticed improvement," said Glen Nekvasil, association spokesman. "But one does have to be very frank: 2003 was a very bad year. We had a number of vessels that didn't sail or sailed short seasons."

By the end of the shipping season this month, Nekvasil estimates the total cargo shipped to end up between 110 million and 112 million tons. By contrast, the same vessels in the highly successful 1997 season hauled 125,000 tons.

Emerald ash borer quarantine set

The Oscoda Press confirms that Iosco is now within the quarantine zone for the Emerald Ash Borer.

It's official. Iosco and Alcona Counties are now on the Emerald Ash Borer Quarantine List and its boundaries are much greater than previously projected.

A quarantine regulates the emerald ash borer in any living stage of development; also ash trees; ash limbs and branches; ash logs; untreated ash lumber with bark attached; uncomposted ash chips and uncomposted ash bark chips larger than one inch in diameter in two dimensions; along with any article, product or means of conveyance determined by the director of the Michigan Department of Agriculture (MDA) to present the risk of spread of the emerald ash borer. It also regulates cut firewood of any deciduous species (trees which lose its leaves at the end of the season) originating from regulated areas.
People may not move regulated articles outside of quarantine areas except with the permission of the MDA.

Regulated articles originating from outside a quarantine zone may be moved through regulated areas only under certain conditions.

Another aspect of the quarantine is that ash nursery stock may not be moved within, out of, or into any portion of the Lower Peninsula.

Emerald ash borer spreads

In a continuation of the news first reported on December 16, 2004 the Iosco News has a followup today regarding the spread of the Emerald Ash Borer into Iosco county:

Oscoda Township resident Harry Scullon received confirmation Tuesday morning that the grub (larvae) discovered last month on one of his ash trees was indeed an emerald ash borer.

He said that the latest findings are expected to more than double the number of ash trees which must be removed from lands located between Lake Huron and Cedar Lake in Iosco and Alcona County. MDA representatives told Scullon they now estimate 100,000 trees must be destroyed, creating havoc with their budget.

Each time MDA confirms an emerald ash borer has infested a tree, the agency policy calls for removal of all ash trees within a 200-yard radius. When an exit hole is found, the radius is increased to one-half mile.

The confirmed infestation and exit holes in Scullon's trees will move the cutting operation and future quarantine well into the Lakewood Shores Subdivision, he predicts.

Lake Michigan showing signs of ecological breakdown

A rather long article in todays Duluth News Tribune highlights the problems with both Lake Michigan and Lake Huron.

On the surface, Lake Michigan remains one of the world's biggest and wildest bodies of freshwater and one of its most popular fishing destinations. But under water, it is largely a man-made production. Lake Michigan has been engineered into a system focused on producing a maximum amount of sport fish, most of which are not native to its waters. Its salmon are saltwater predators that begin life in Midwest hatcheries and are typically unable to reproduce on their own. They are born to be caught. About 13 million exotic salmon and trout are planted yearly, creating what retired Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources fishery chief Lee Kernen calls a "sportsman's paradise."

But today, it is a paradise imperiled. This year the salmon were biting on just about anything, and commercial fisherman Dennis Hickey says he knows why: They are starving. Salmon stomachs are normally packed with alewives - another saltwater species not native to the lake. Not this year. This year, Hickey says, the lake's biggest fish are swimming on empty. Preliminary numbers from an alewife survey this fall back up what Hickey has been seeing on his cutting board. The lake's population has dropped from 25 percent to 50 percent in just the past year.

The situation has created a potential showdown between those who favor cutting the fish-stocking program and anglers who have little tolerance for anything that might put a dent in their fun.

Salmon were first planted in Lake Michigan in the late 1960s with the dual goal of creating an exciting fishing experience for vacationers, and eating the ocean-going alewives that had infested the lake via the Welland Canal - the section of locks on the St. Lawrence Seaway that bypasses Niagara Falls and has established a man-made link between the upper four Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean. The alewife invasion nearly destroyed every other fish species in Lake Michigan - including the beloved perch, whitefish and chubs - by either gobbling up their young or hogging the food upon which the adults depended. In one of the world's boldest fishery experiments, biologists turned to Pacific salmon in a desperate attempt to control the alewives. The results were almost instant. Alewife numbers plummeted, salmon fishing exploded in popularity, and the lake's native species began to recover.

This year, a group of fishery experts responsible for making stocking recommendations on Lake Huron considered advocating a one-year halt to salmon stocking because of a crash in alewife numbers. Adding to that is fact that an unknown number of Lake Huron's salmon are starting to reproduce on their own in some of northern Michigan's most pristine streams. The committee backed off on those recommendations after protests from the sport fishing community.

Read the whole article as it goes into much more detail about Lake Trout, Herring and other natural lake fish. It concludes with several points that at sometime in the near future both salmon and alewives will have to be eliminated from the lakes.

Lake Superior drops a bit

December has been an incredibly slow news month for our area of the great outdoors. Just so you don't think I've not been looking, I did manage to scrounge up this little item from the Duluth News Tribune:

The level of Lake Superior dropped a bit more than usual in December, 4 inches rather than 3 inches, and sits about 2 inches below its long-term average for this time of year.

The International Lake Superior Board of Control reports that the lake sits about 7 inches above the level of one year ago. Precipitation to the region around the lake in December was about normal, the board notes.

Lake Huron and Michigan stayed about the same in December compared to a usual 2-inch drop and now sit 10 inches below the long-term average but 7 inches higher than a year ago.