I couldn’t have timed my commute worse this morning. The wind picked up just as I was stepping on the bus. Halfway to work, the lightning and thunder started up. And, just in time for …
Ecological Processes
Guest Post: Madison’s Lakes are Thawed for Spring
It’s no joke- the April Fool’s Day view in Madison was one of open water, retreating ice and a few brave American coots and other waterfowl already taking advantage. That’s right, our “ice-on” season is …
If It Ever Stops Raining, Can We Go To The Beach? Exploring Precipitation, Beach Closures and the Summer of 2018.
by Adam Rexroade For Madison residents, the summer of 2018 was a summer of heavy rain, ongoing flooding and inaccessible lakes. Pictures of kayakers floating down flooded streets and sandbags holding back floodwaters littered newspapers all summer …
In The News: Federal shutdown threatens environmental research, resource management up and down Mississippi River
As the government shutdown drags on with no end in sight, we’d planned to write about how it’s impacting the freshwater sciences as researchers are sidelined at the National Science Foundation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife …
Can Water Look Cold?
Right now, Lake Mendota is mostly frozen over – its only open water way out in the middle of the lake where winds are keeping the surface too riled up to freeze. But, yesterday morning …
From the Arctic to Aruba: Migratory Waterfowl Take Refuge in Wisconsin Waters
As fall turns to winter and layers of skim ice form in the bays and shallows of Madison’s lakes, another seasonal phenomenon is taking place on the open water. Currently, the far eastern bay of …
“David Buoy” Wraps Up 11th Year Monitoring Lake Mendota
Yesterday we caught a slight break in our string of cold, windy days and researchers here from the UW- Madison Center for Limnology and Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences were able to head out …
Guest Post: Building a Better Water Quality Measurement Platform
by Meghan Chua With a background in engineering and environmental science, alumnus Paul Schramm had the perfect mix of skills to work on a water quality measurement project that brought new possibilities into the field …
Big River Keeps on Rollin’ – Study Finds Little Nitrate Retention in the Upper Mississippi
A new study says that, despite dozens of locks and dams and backwater habitats that slow it’s flow, the Upper Mississippi River isn’t good at retaining the nitrates that run into its waters from intensively …
What Causes the Algae Blooms in Madison’s Lakes?
After last week’s massive cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) bloom in Lake Mendota and smaller (but no less unpleasant) blooms reported in Lake Monona and Waubesa, we received all sorts of questions on what causes these blooms, …