The Great Lakes Series @ The Library
"Great Lakes Water in Motion"
6:30-8 pm, Monday, March 12

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Follow water movement through the 5 Great Lakes with these engaging demonstrations:

1. In One Lake and Out Another  - Anne Collins, School of Forest Resources & Environmental Sciences, Michigan Technological University

Watch as water moves “downhill” from Lake Superior to the Atlantic Ocean.

2. Mix It Up!  – Dr. Marty Auer, Dept. of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Michigan Tech Univ.

Find out how the water in lakes moves with the seasons and changing water temperatures (see diagrams of summer thermoclines, and spring/fall mixing/turnover in Limnology by UW Extension). Use dyes to track the upward and downward movement of cold and warm water as its temperature changes with the seasons.

3. What Makes Waves? – Chris Alquist, Portage Lake Township Library

Find out what causes waves on the Great Lakes.

4. How Does Lake Superior Affect Our Weather – Joan Chadde, Western U.P. Center for Science, Mathematics & Environmental Education at Michigan Technological University

How do the Great Lakes keep us warmer in winter and cooler in summer? Does water or soil  gain or lose heat faster? Slower?

5. Lock Them Up – Dr. Brian Barkdoll, Dept. of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Michigan Technological University

Explore a model of how a lock system works to find out how locks help ships move from high elevations to lower elevations on their path to the Atlantic Ocean.  How many lock systems are there in the Great Lakes – St. Lawrence Seaway system?

6. Where Does Great Lakes Water Come From & Changing Lake Levels – Lisa Sodano, Western U.P. Center for Science, Math & Environmental Education at Michigan Technological Univ. & Superior AmeriCorps

Demonstration of the groundwater flow model. The U.S. Geological Survey estimates that groundwater contributes about 75 % of the water in Lake Superior. This amount varies for each Great Lake.

Fourth in a Monthly Series Exploring the Great Lakes

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The Great Lakes program series is coordinated by Joan Chadde of the Western Upper Peninsula Center  for Science, Mathematics and Environmental Education at Michigan Tech, and funded by the Great Lakes Maritime Research Institute and the Wege Foundation.

Everyone is invited to all the future Great Lakes program library events and presentations are free.

More About the Great Lakes Maritime Shipping Education Program and Great Lakes Maritime Shipping Games