Poet gives new life to Great Lakes shipwrecks
By Dave Rosenthal • Mar 2, 2017
A new book by Michigan poet Cindy Hunter Morgan breathes life into shipwrecks that dot the floor of the Great Lakes.
"Harborless" is her re-imagining of tragic moments when the Philadelphia, Chicora and other ships were lost.
Ice cover dwindling across Great Lakes
By Dave Rosenthal • Feb 28, 2017
As February -- and winter -- come to a close, the Great Lakes are virtually ice-free.
Less than 5 percent of the lakes' surface is covered by ice, according to the latest data from the NOAA -- Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory. By comparison, 8 percent was covered at this time last year. And in 2015, 87 percent was covered.
Warm winter's downside: erosion, poor spawning and more
By Elizabeth Miller • Feb 21, 2017
Elizabeth Miller/ideastream
On WCPN's public affairs program The Sound of Ideas last week, panelists from the U.S. Coast Guard Great Lakes, the Cleveland Metroparks, and the University of Minnesota Duluth's Large Lakes Observatory discussed this year's low ice cover on the Great Lakes.
Listen to the segment here.
Ballast regs split environmentalists, shippers
By Veronica Volk • Feb 21, 2017
Every year, hundreds of commercial ships make their way through the St. Lawrence seaway, taking on and letting out water to maintain stability as they load and unload cargo. This ballast water is regulated to prevent the spread of invasive species, but there is some disagreement about who should be in charge of those regulations.
Ice-free Great Lakes bringing lake effect snows
By Dave Rosenthal • Jan 27, 2017
Dave Rosenthal
Areas along the Great Lakes are bracing for big lake effect snows this weekend -- and there probably will be more this winter.
The reason: Water temperatures on all five lakes are higher than normal, so little ice has formed.