'MAPPING THE GREAT LAKES': 180 scientists gather at the Hagerty Center

Sep. 22—TRAVERSE CITY — Scientists know more about the surface of Mars than the bottom of the Great Lakes.

According to NASA, more than 99 percent of the Martian surface has been mapped, primarily through sophisticated satellites like the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and the European Space Agency's "Mars Express" system.

In contrast, only 15 percent of the "lakebed" of the five Great Lakes has been mapped in detail, according to Tim Havens, director of the Great Lakes Research Center at Michigan Technological University in Houghton.

"The Great Lakes are a unique resource that deserve much greater attention," he said. "The more we know about them, the better we can make wise decisions about keeping them clean, healthy and consumable for everyone."

To pursue that mission, about 180 scientists, researchers and students gathered at the Hagerty Center in Traverse City last week for the "Lakebed 2030" conference. The event brought together some of the nation's leading experts on underwater mapping, as well as private industry representatives and government officials.

Their goal is to complete high-fidelity underwater mapping of the lakes within six years by harnessing the latest developments in technology.

A second goal is to develop a comprehensive catalog of lakebed information that can be shared across scientific disciplines and delivered to policymakers in both the United States and Canada.

Organized by the Michigan Tech's GLRC, this year's conference is co-hosted by Northwestern Michigan College, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, the Marine Technology Society and conference facilitator "gener8tor."

The Great Lakes Observing System, a nonprofit organization known as GLOS, also helps coordinate the various efforts by providing "end-to-end data services that support science, policy, management and industry" activities in both the U.S. and Canada.

Based in Ann Arbor, GLOS is one of 11 regions that make up the Integrated Ocean Observing System.

NMC's marine technology program offers students in-depth training in multiple areas of aquatic and underwater research, as well as project management and related technical skills. The four-year program is designed to bridge the space between academic studies and hands-on implementation.

Rear Admiral Benjamin Evans of NOAA, who was in town for the conference, called NMC's program a "superpower" in the world of practical education for evolving careers in the field.

According to NMC officials, the program currently has a 100-percent job placement rate.

Amira Fakir was one of about a dozen NMC students at this week's conference. She came to learn about new advances from leading experts, and to make connections for career growth.

"One of the things we're learning is that there's a unique type of purple bacteria at the bottom of Lake Superior that isn't found anywhere else in the world," she said. "It may have some medicinal uses in the future."

NMC undergraduate Antonio Vicente, 22, said he's also learning how underwater research can directly impact development projects, such as bridges and waterfront structures.

"We studied a project where the bridge-builder underestimated the amount of concrete that would be needed because they didn't have a good understanding of the lake bottom," he said. "That's one example why it's so vital to get detailed lakebed information."

The enormous size and economic impact of the Great Lakes is hard to overstate.

For example, nearly 40 million people depend on the Great Lakes for drinking water. About 21 percent of the planet's entire freshwater supply is contained in the five lakes, and the total coastline stretches for 10,574 miles — about the same as the distance from Detroit to Melbourne, Australia.

According to a recent GLOS study, the total economic output of communities that border the Great Lakes is about $6 trillion, which is more than the annual gross domestic product of Japan, Germany, Russia or the United Kingdom.

Fisheries generate about $7 billion a year in the Great Lakes region, GLOS officials said. On the downside, the estimated regional cost of coastal erosion and flood damage surpassed $500 million in 2019 alone.

The drive to collect accurate information about the massive lakebed system is long overdue, officials said.

"Maps you see of Great Lakes bathymetry (shape and depth of the lake floor) are created using data that is sometimes decades old," said a recent GLOS report. "Often, this outdated data is also low-density, meaning it contains very few measurements taken over large areas.

"High-density data is critical for effective management, research, and innovation, particularly under mounting climate change threats and as the blue economy grows."

Bathymetry is the underwater equivalent of topography. In the last 20 years, dramatic improvements in computing power, electronics, sensors and unmanned vehicle technology have made it possible to map underwater landscapes in vastly greater detail.

John Bean is the hydrographic program manager for Ocean Surveys Inc. of Old Saybrook, Connecticut. In addition to navigational surveys, his firm works with private engineering firms, the Army Corps of Engineers and other government agencies to provide high-quality data on seabed and lakebed terrain.

This week's conference was his first trip to Traverse City, an area Bean called "delightful."

"This field is really growing, thanks to technological advances," he said. "It used to be much harder to do this work. Of course, we're still growing and developing new technologies every year."

Autonomous underwater vehicles are the future for this field, said Chris Roper of Roper Resources in Victoria, British Columbia, who attended the conference.

"Remotely operated vehicles that have to be tethered to a ship are now considered 'old school,'" Roper said. "Today, you get more bang for the buck when you take (human) operators out of the picture and re-task them to other duties."

In addition to gathering bathymetric data, AUVs are now used to collect data on climate fluctuations, ocean currents, ecological systems, navigational hazards, shipwrecks and underwater structures, including bridges and pipelines. Various militaries also use them for surveillance purposes.

They come in many shapes and sizes, weighing from a few hundred to several thousand pounds.

Some new AUV systems now come with underwater charging stations so the vessel can stay submerged for long periods of time.

"North America is in the game, but I think we're still behind a lot of the Scandinavian countries when it comes to applying the latest tech," Roper said. "The Baltic Sea area has a very complicated seabed and there's a great deal of activity going on there."

Advanced sonar and lidar technology is now capable of feeding massive amounts of high-definition data into onboard research computers, conference leaders explained. Specialized software then converts that data into colorful three-dimensional images that capture the lakebed in exquisite detail.

Companies that specialize in underwater systems also sent representatives to this week's conference, including Teledyne, Hypac, R2 Sonic and Fugro, a multi-national geotechnical, survey and geoscience services firm based in the Netherlands.

Environmental protection and remediation is another key part of the mission for marine scientists, said Havens.

For example, his team has studied 2,200-acre Buffalo Reef just east of the Keweenaw Peninsula in the Upper Peninsula.

That reef was impacted by the dumping and runoff of mining tailings from the copper industry.

"We found huge piles of (tailings) encroaching on the reef," he said. "Those tailings often contain toxins. As a result of that dumping, and erosion into the water, the lake trout population fell dramatically.

"Now we're researching how to fix the situation, if possible."

Data from that study could also be used to minimize damage from new nickel mining operations proposed for the western U.P., he added.