US EPA, Great Lakes National Program Office Collaborations- Lake Erie 2014

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

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

3. LaMP Management Committee identifies key Science and Monitoring Needs** for Lake CSMI -SC will identify where multiple CSMI -SC vets list to agencies are determine what NEW science can be initiated conducting ONGOING to address priority science that will benefit information needs, based on available from coordination resources and expertise CSMI-SC will facilitate coordination of priority ONGOING science Cooperative Science and Monitoring Initiative Process YEAR 1: Each LaMP, with BTS, GLFC and SOLEC and support from CGLRM, GLRRIN organizes Lake Based Forum to discuss Science of the lake NEW Science ONGOING Science YEAR 2: CSMI-SC vets list to determine how science priorities can be addressed: ONGOING work or NEW work required CSMI facilitates the development and implementation of NEW science activities Feedback: binational CSMI workplan presented to LaMP Management Committee and CGLRM and GLRRIN YEAR 3: Year of Field Activity Laboratory Analysis Phase YEAR4: Data Analysis and Report Writing Phase YEAR 5: Communicating Out YEAR 1: 1. BEC 2. Primary literature publications; 3. Conference presentations/posters; joint synthesis reports 4. Outreach – CGLRM/GLRRIN

7. 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 1: Quantifying the internal nutrient loads to the water column in the western basin.

8. 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.

9. 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)

13. 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

15. 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

18. 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

20. TRIAXUS 3D Towed Undulating Vehicle

21. 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

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

23. 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)?

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

25. Same results plotted with Western Lake Erie included

26. 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 2008. • SPARROW model, but stepped down to a daily estimate

27. Lake of the Year (LOY) Program Top to bottom lake snapshot • 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 Pushing the Science

29. 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 Great Lakes Fish Monitoring Program (GLFMP) Contaminant List

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

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