Not Lost, Just Drifting: To track the surface currents of Lake Superior, NOAA's Great Lakes Environmental Research Labratory (GLERL) released into the wild this August six drifter buoys armed with GPS that sends their positions every hour. Three were released near Stannard Rock, about 44 miles north of Marquette, and three were placed southwest of there. This week the researchers tweeted out an animation of the scribbly pattern the buoys have traveled in the three months following their placement. Additional buoys are intended to be placed next summer in the western, central and eastern waters of the Lake. "We don’t really have a lot of information on the circulation of Lake Superior," says Eric Anderson, a researcher with the hydrodynamic modeling project. Knowing how the water circulates helps forecasters better predict marine weather and increases understanding of how water temperatures and levels fluctuate and sediments move. Such information would also be useful in rescues of boats that are lost or overturned and in case of any spills of chemicals or oil. "We are always on the hunt for ways to validate these models, tune them, calibrate them," Eric says. After placement, three of the buoys stayed near each other for about a month before separating. The energetic October 10 storm likely affected their movements, too, though their position low near the surface is intended to reduce any shifting caused only by wind. The 4-foot-tall buoys, made essentially of wood 2x4s with four sails that float near the water surface (and held by Eric in photo before a release on Lake Erie), likely will be recovered sometime soon, Eric says, because they cannot survive ice cover. One already washed ashore near the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum at Whitefish Point. The buoys do not pose a threat to maritime traffic, though a freighter might accidentally destroy one without damage to itself. The how and when of recovery depends on what ships might be available to help recover them, since GLERL does not have a vessel in the area. So if any fisherfolk near Marathon, Ontario, happen to net a needy buoy … you'd be helping NOAA.
And Then There Were Four: The Nipigon River Bridge, opened three years ago, has now officially reopened with all four lanes available to traffic, reports Gord Ellis for CBC Thunder Bay. The first cable-stayed bridge in Ontario failed just weeks after its installation in 2016, which temporarily disrupted cross-country traffic in Canada. About a month and a half after part of the bridge snapped and caused the surface to lift up about 60 centimetres (nearly 2 feet), two lanes were opened. Last Friday, all four lanes finally reopened. There is also a pedestrian pathway on the bridge.
Stay Safe on the Ice in Your AT-AT: The Hayward Lakes Visitors & Convention Bureau tweeted an eye-catching, giggle-inducing safety reminder this week. Thanks to tamer versions of this guide, we know the required ice thicknesses are right on people, snowmobiles, small cars and medium trucks. Use your discretion, though, when heading out with your Storm Trooper friends in your AT-AT (all-terrain armored transport) or if you invite Godzilla to ice fish.
Stamping out Stamp Sands: The EPA has approved $946,000 to dredge the black stamp sands, a byproduct of copper mining from the early 1900s, that threaten the 2,200-acre Buffalo Reef, according to an Associated Press story in the Detroit Free Press. The Michigan DNR calls the natural cobble area about 20 miles north of Houghton a vitally important spawning area for lake trout and whitefish. Milling operations at the Mohawk and Wolverine mines near Gay ended in 1932, but shifting lake currents and winds cut away the waste stamp sands, which have drifted south to Buffalo Reef and Grand Traverse Harbor. Today, according to the DNR, 1,426 acres of shoreline and lake bottom are covered by stamp sands. Without any action, reports the DNR, "Modeling predicts that by 2025, 60 percent of Buffalo Reef no longer will be viable for lake trout and lake whitefish spawning, creating a huge threat to these fisheries and the outdoor recreation and commercial fishing industries they support."
A Touching Tribute : Michigan Tech goalie Devin Kero posted a video tribute last week to his cousin Thatcher Markham, an incredible 12-year-old who died during the June flash flooding this year that destroyed roads and buildings in Houghton/Hancock. Thatcher was trapped in his basement bedroom when the wall collapsed from the flood waters. In his video, Devin talks to his Aunt Joanne and Uncle Rodney, Thatcher's parents, about their son and his love of the outdoors and his passion for hockey, a family inheritance. Hundreds of people showed up to help the family dig out after Thatcher was airlifted to a hospital in Ann Arbor, where his dad stayed with him. "The support was amazing," Rodney said. Thatcher's organs were donated, helping more than half a dozen others from ages 4 to 71. "I knew right away that's what I wanted to do," Joanne said. Devin's tribute introduced the special night when the Michigan Tech Huskies wore Thatcher's name on their jerseys.
Itchin' for a Light Fight?: The crew from ABC's "Great Christmas Light Fight" was in Duluth filming at Bentleyville Tour of Lights on the waterfront this week, according to stories in the Duluth News Tribune and the local ABC affiliate, WDIO, which filmed at the site and identified the crew as simply for a "national television show." The visit is the second one to Duluth for the reality program, which featured the walk-through display in Marcia Hales' Park Point yard in 2015 (see more about Marcia in another story in this newsletter). You don't have to wait until next year to enjoy the great Bentleyville atmosphere. The annual lighting extravaganza is up and on for visits, 5-9 p.m. Sunday-Thursday and 5-10 p.m. Friday-Saturday through Dec. 26. There is no charge for entry.
Tacky Outside, Elegant Inside: Touting its outdoor display as a "tacky twist" on seasonal displays, Glensheen in Duluth has set up a world of Christmas critters and characters on its lawns while adhering to the traditional interior elegance with 25 decorated trees inside the historic mansion. There is a $5 charge to tour the grounds after 5 p.m. and there is a higher fee for interior tours, including a seaonsal Candlelight Christmas Tour, which go on all day. During the day this weekend, though, you can visit the outdoor Duluth Winter Village at no cost to stroll among the little "cabin" booths of local food, craft and service vendors with great local ideas for gifts.
Harder Than Herding Cats: This is the year that is the end. Since 1998, Marcia Hales, sometimes with help, but sometimes alone, has climbed the tall ladders to string lights in her trees, rounded up the lucky magical penguins to place along a path under lit arches and ignited the cheery outside firepit to welcome guest to her Spirit in the Lights walk-through display of holiday happiness. This year, though, Marcia says, will need to be her last. Starting Dec. 14 and running through Jan. 6, the lights will be on in Marcia's yard all the way to the beautiful sandy Lake Superior beach from 5-9 p.m. Thursday-Sunday and 5-10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Santa will drop by on the weekends leading up to Christmas. Over the decades, Marcia's displays and warming house have become the stuff of Christmas legend, with people falling in love, finding solace and friends (plus at least one birth potentially connected to a penguin "wish"). Writer Chuck Frederick told the story of Marcia and her 300,000 lights in a book we published, Spirit of the Lights. In honor of Marcia and of her special display, we plan to link to excerpts from the book every week until her lights go out.
Here is our first excerpt, which ends in a link to the full Follow the Cats portion of Marcia's story:
“Hello. Welcome,” Marcia called to her first visitors of the evening. Three slow-moving, elderly women, each wearing a stocking cap, mittens and an overstuffed coat that hung down near their knees, climbed out of their car. Puffs of fur stuck up from the tops of their boots. They were ready for the elements.
“Shirley will show you around,” Marcia joked, gesturing toward her bearded collie. Shirley wore little red booties on her feet and a red sweater pulled over her head and around her midsection to protect her, too, from the frigid Duluth winter. She loved the many visitors, and the visitors loved to pet and nuzzle her.
“Or you can follow the cats,” Marcia continued, grinning, noticing that Mom and Howard also had come outside. It was the same tongue-in-cheek advice she offered to so many lights lovers, especially the first-timers. She didn't know they'd actually take her advice. (Read on at www.LakeSuperior.com.)
Photo & graphic credits: GLERL; Gord Ellis/CBC; Hayward Lakes CVB; Michigan DNR; Devin Kero/Michigan Tech; Bentleyville; Glensheen; Lake Superior Magazine.