Buoys will be Added or Replaced to Provide Useful Data
When all the ice is gone, three buoys will be added to the waters of Grand Traverse Bay to enhance a network of buoys around the Great Lakes. One will replace an older buoy in West Bay while another is placed off the tip of the Old Mission Peninsula. A thirmistor buoy will be a new addition to the bay. Another buoy is being proposed for the mouth of the Little Traverse Bay.
The first buoy, to be replaced this year, in the Grand Traverse Observation System was put in the bay 5 years ago by the University of Michigan's Marine Hydrodynamics Laboratory. The University of Michigan teamed up with the Water Studies institute at Northwest Michigan College to maintain and gather information from the buoys. A grant from the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians will fund the new thermistor buoy.
Data including wind velocity, wind gusts, wave height, wave period, and water surface temperature is collected by the buoys, which are solar powered. The thermistor buoy will record temperature profiles. A thermistor is a type of resistor used to measure temperature changes, relying on the change in its resistance with changing temperature. The information is sent to the internet where it is updated every 10 minutes.
The information can be useful for boaters in the Grand Traverse Bay, who would otherwise have to rely on data from a buoy near Beaver Island. Weather and water conditions in Lake Michigan can be much different than the conditions in the Bay.
The new buoys' data also has applications in research, education, law enforcement, and safety. Hans Van Sumeren, Director of the Great Lakes Water Studies Institute says the data can be used to track trends in currents and water temperature, provide a hands-on learning tool for students, or aid in the search for missing boaters.
Van Sumeren says temperature profiles from the new thermistor buoy may help researchers determine how water temperature could contribute to bird deaths from avian botulism.
The buoys will be placed in the water within the next few weeks when the Bay is free of ice. Once the buoys are operational, data can be viewed online through NMC's Water Studies Institute Website or through the University of Michigan's website:
http://www.nmc.edu/wsi/
http://www.engin.umich.edu/dept/name/facilities/mhl/
