Tag: lter

Accepting Applications for 2015 Trout Lake Station “Artist in Residence”

BOULDER JUNCTION, WI — The Center for Limnology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison is now accepting applications for our summer 2015 “artist-in-residence” fellowship at Trout Lake Station. The artist in residence program is designed for visual artists, writers and musicians who have specific interests in exploring the relationship between people, lakes and landscapes, as well …

Trout Lake Station “Artist-in-Residence” Program Inspires Art/Science Connection

This summer, Trout Lake Station hosted it’s 2nd annual artist-in-residence – painter, Helen Klebesadel. The program hopes to create collaborative art and science projects focusing on the long-term ecology of lakes. Below is Helen’s recap of her time “up north.” I have just returned from a splendid ten days of non-stop plein air painting (and …

Clear-Water Phase: Are We Missing Lake Mendota’s Window?

Over the last two weeks, Lake Monona, Lake Waubesa, and Lake Kegonsa have all entered into their annual rite of spring’s clear-water phase. Lake Mendota, however, remains a murky mystery. Why are the downstream Yahara lakes so clear, when the lake at the top of the chain isn’t? Perhaps more important, are we going to …

Citizen Scientists Provide Clarity for Big Questions

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: A massive new study of water clarity trends in Midwestern lakes is sure to make some waves in scientific circles. The study involved nearly a quarter of a million observations in 3,251 lakes spread across eight states, and data dating back seven decades. But it’s where that data came from that’s truly …

Thickest Lake Ice in Decades May Last Into Spring

Ted Bier, our senior research specialist for the Long-Term Ecological Research program, was recently photographed on Lake Monona holding this massive chunk of ice in front of the Madison skyline. That picture led to the following story on The Capital Times website: How thick is the ice on Madison’s lakes? Researcher Ted Bier almost didn’t …

A Word About This Winter: Trends and Variability

Sure it’s been a long winter, but we were surprised when all that lake ice recently got political here in Wisconsin. In January, State representative Mark Pocan told the legislature that, “Ice fishermen are already noticing fewer days they can be out on our ice covered lakes.” Perhaps because the statement was so counter to current …

Slideshow: LTER Winter Sampling on “Unusually” Thick Ice

Remember the polar vortex? It was just a vague memory before we stumbled across the following post from our archives. Perhaps we had blocked out memories of the winter of subzero temps cold enough to close down schools strictly on a windchill basis. But one thing is certain – it was a good year for …

Study IDs 10-year Water Level Cycle in Great Lakes, Says Current Lows Buck Trend

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Contact Carl Watras, 715-356-9494, cjwatras@facstaff.wisc.edu BOULDER JUNCTION, WI – For at least the last seventy years, lakes and aquifers in northern Wisconsin have followed the same pattern – after higher than average peaks, water levels spend about ten years on a downward trend before abruptly spiking up again, only to repeat the …

Live from the Lakes! CFL Featured on the WDNR Blog

Folks over at the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources have an excellent blog called “Live from the Lakes” featuring a series called “Lake of the Month” and, this month, that lake will be no stranger to anyone who follows our work. Sparkling Lake, up in Vilas County, received a nice write-up, featuring research spearheaded by …

Where Do All the Data Go?

by Corinna Gries For hundreds of years people have collected data on lakes. Ice on and ice off dates are probably the oldest data, but water temperature, water clarity, animal and plant species and abundance have also been recorded for a long time. Scientists usually collect data to answer a specific question for which they …