Push to map Great Lakes bottom gains momentum amid promises effort will help fishing and shipping | CBC News
The Associated Press Posted: Oct 02, 2024 10:58 AM EDT | Last Updated: October 2
7-9 minutes

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Only 15 per cent of the lakes' bottom has been mapped, according to the Great Lakes Observing System. The organization has been pushing since 2018 to secure funding to map the entire lakebed in high-resolution.
Only 15% of lakes' bottom has been mapped, per Great Lakes Observing System

A sunken vessel in Lake Huron
The Africa, a wooden cargo steamer built in 1875, vanished on Lake Huron during an early October snowstorm in 1895. The vessel hadn't been seen in 128 years. (Zach Melnick)

What lies beneath the Great Lakes' waves is largely unknown, but there's a new push to learn more about thousands of shipwrecks, underwater infrastructure and the impacts of climate change on the bottom of the world's largest freshwater system.

Only 15 per cent of the lakes' bottom has been mapped, according to the Great Lakes Observing System (GLOS). The organization has been pushing since 2018 to secure funding to map the entire lakebed in high-resolution.

Advocates argue the effort would paint a detailed picture of shipwrecks, infrastructure such as pipelines and topography that would inform storm surge models as the climate warms.

Jennifer Boehme grew up scouting beaches around her home in St. Petersburg, Fla., for whatever she could find. Rocks, sand dollars, coquina mollusks — anything the ocean gave up.

Now, 40 years later, Boehme wants to launch another treasure hunt. She's the executive director of GLOS.

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The map, she says, also will help ships avoid submerged hazards, identify fisheries and inform erosion, storm surge and flooding models as climate change intensifies.

One of the things that keeps me going is the idea of the discovery aspect of it, Boehme said.

There's a lot we don't know about the lakes. We know more about the surface of the moon.

Jennifer Boehme is the executive director for the Great Lakes Observing System.
Jennifer Boehme is the executive director for the Great Lakes Observing System.