Skip to main content

Utility

  • Admissions
  • Exploring Grad School
  • Current Students
  • Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
  • Faculty + Staff
  • Alumni
Give
COVID-19 UPDATES
Report Sexual Misconduct
Home

Main navigation

Search is currently disabled
  • Academics
    • Master of Science
    • Master of Landscape Architecture
    • Doctoral (PhD)
    • Dual-Degree Programs
    • Graduate Certificate Programs
    • Undergraduate Program
    • Courses
  • Research + Impact
    • Sustainability Themes
    • PhD Profiles
    • Student Research
    • The Centers, Institutes + Initiatives
    • Faculty Profiles
    • Labs
  • Admissions
    • Exploring Graduate School
    • Why Michigan?
    • How to Apply
    • Funding
    • Online Games
    • Visit Campus
    • International Students
    • For Admitted Students
    • Admissions FAQs
    • Rackham Graduate School Resources
  • Student Services
    • SEAS Student Center
    • Career Services
    • Financial Aid
    • Academic Advising
    • Student Organizations
    • Student Development
    • Forms, Handbooks + Policies
    • Quick Links
  • News
    • Community Highlights
    • In the Media
    • Stewards Magazine
  • Events
    • Co-Sponsorship Form
    • Submit Event
    • Admissions Webinars
    • Gallery
  • About
    • Who We Are
    • Leadership
    • Demographics
    • Faculty Profiles
    • Administrative Departments + Staff
    • Facilities + Locations
    • Diversity, Equity + Inclusion
    • Art & Environment Gallery
    • Land Acknowledgement
    • History

Utility

  • Admissions
  • Exploring Grad School
  • Current Students
  • Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
  • Faculty + Staff
  • Alumni
Give
COVID-19 UPDATES
Report Sexual Misconduct
search icon Search

News

Image
Conservation Ecology
  • Academics
  • Research + Impact
  • Admissions
  • Student Services
  • News
    • Community Highlights
    • In the Media
    • Stewards Magazine
  • Events
  • About

Main navigation

  • Academics
  • Research + Impact
  • Admissions
  • Student Services
  • News
    • Community Highlights
    • In the Media
    • Stewards Magazine
  • Events
  • About
back to all news

Great Lakes water levels are surging and could hit record highs this year

Image
 
May 1, 2019

Water levels are surging in the Great Lakes and likely will set records this summer, forecasters said Monday — a remarkable turnaround from earlier this decade that's bringing welcome relief to shippers and marina owners, but causing flooding and heavy erosion in some areas.

A six-month bulletin from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers predicted Lake Superior and Lake Erie soon will reach unprecedented high points, as a heavy winter snowpack across the region's northern section melts and mingles with water gushing into the lakes from rivers swollen with spring rainfall.

Lake Superior, which holds more water than the other four combined and sends them a continuous flow through its southern outlet, is about 15 inches above its long-term average level for this time of year, and nine inches higher than a year ago. Lake Erie is 26 inches over its long-term average.

Michigan, Huron and Ontario aren't expected to set records but are well above average, Kompoltowicz said.

Great Lakes levels are known to fluctuate over time. But experts said the prolonged drop-off of the past decade and the more recent rise likely result at least in part from a warming climate.

"These events are quite consistent with what scientists have been expecting with long-term climate change patterns," said Drew Gronewold of the University of Michigan's School for Environment and Sustainability. "The challenge is that it's very hard to forecast when those extremes are going to occur and when the transition between them might occur."

seas logo
University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability
Dana Building
440 Church Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
(734) 764-6453
Email us
facebook
twitter
instagram
linkedin
youtube
flickr
planet blue global impact logo

Footer

  • Contact us
  • Intranet
  • Contact Web Team

© 2023 The Regents of the University of Michigan | Privacy Policy | Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Produced by Michigan Creative