These asynchronous workshops focus on environmental topics related to the Great Lakes region. Subjects covered include: The solid earth system; The bedrock and formation of the Great Lakes; Life and Rocks: Current geological processes; Human impacts [vice-versa!]; and Ocean/lake deep exploration (sink holes, underwater archeology, NOAA's exploration book) studying the bottom, characteristics of the water at depth.

This animation is one of a series showing the first data from GOES-11. The data shown was taken at one-minute intervals.

FLOW is a comprehensive curriculum about the Great Lakes ecosystem with three core units: Food Web, Water and Fish. Geared toward upper elementary and middle school educators, standards-based lesson content features hands-on activities.

Evaporation from the Great Lakes develops into clouds moving East, dropping snow as they go.

The Great Lakes are socially, economically, and environmentally significant to the region, the nation, and the planet." This an essential principle for Great Lakes literacy. The Great Lakes Literacy Principles and Fundamental Concepts provide a framework for educators teaching about the Great Lakes, helping teachers and students think, teach and learn of the Great Lakes as a system, rather than a set of unrelated parts. Thinking systemically can provide for a greater understanding and can help provide solutions to the issues threatening the region.

Transitions between relatively cloud free scenes of the Great Lakes region, using true color land and clouds with false color-chlorophyll water images, all from SeaWiFS

SeaWiFS false color (chlorophyll-phytoplankton levels) ocean and true color land of the Great Lakes for 36 dates from September 15, 1997 to August 2, 1998

SeaWiFS true color still images of the Great Lakes for 36 dates from September 15, 1997 to August 2, 1998

Evaporation from the Great Lakes develops into clouds moving East, dropping snow as they go.

Transitions between relatively cloud free true color scenes of the Great Lakes region from SeaWiFS

Great Lakes and Lake Effect Snow. This animation is a dissolve between 2 different SeaWiFS images taken in 1999. One image is taken in the spring,April, and the second image is taken in the winter, December. The December 1999 image shows a traditional lake effect snow storm. This animation shows the difference between the seasons in the Great Lakes region.

Human land use of forested regions has intensified worldwide in recent decades, threatening long-term sustainability. Primary effects include conversion of land cover or reversion to an earlier stage of successional development. Both types of change can have cascading effects through ecosystems; however, the long-term effects where forests are allowed to regrow are poorly understood. We quantify the regional-scale consequences of a century of Euro-American land use in the northern U.S. Great Lakes region using a combination of historical Public Land Survey records and current forest inventory and land cover data. Our analysis shows a distinct and rapid trajectory of vegetation change toward historically unprecedented and simplified conditions. In addition to overall loss of forestland, current forests are marked by lower species diversity, functional diversity, and structural complexity compared to pre-Euro-American forests. Today’s forest is marked by dominance of broadleaf deciduous species--all 55 ecoregions that comprise the region exhibit a lower relative dominance of conifers in comparison to the pre-Euro-American period. Aspen (Populus grandidentata and P. tremuloides) and maple (Acer saccharum and A. rubrum) species comprise the primary deciduous species that have replaced conifers. These changes reflect the cumulative effects of local forest alterations over the region and they affect future ecosystem conditions as well as the ecosystem services they provide.

Electronic Supplementary Material
The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s10980-007-9095-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

This classroom activity allows students to use water surface temperature, bathymetric data and weather data to look at trends in the water temperature of the Great Lakes. The exercise asks students to make predictions, and then use the data to answer questions. The site contains everything that is needed for the exercise, including student handouts, maps, links to data sources, and background information and questions for discussion.

On March 9, 2003, four of the five Great Lakes were completely covered in ice. It is very rare for Lake Superior to be completely iced over.

Todays SeaWiFS image of Lake Michigan shows a lake effect where clear dry air moves eastward as it traverses the lake and forming dense clouds by the time it reaches the Michigan shore.

Todays SeaWiFS image of Lake Michigan shows a lake effect where clear dry air moves eastward as it traverses the lake and forming dense clouds by the time it reaches the Michigan shore.

Research News from Iowa State University's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Lisa Schulte, Iowa State University Landscape Ecologist, discusses her latest publication Homogenization of northern U.S. Great Lakes forests due to land use.

This is the fifth and final unit in the MSXR209 series on mathematical modeling. In this unit we revisit the model developed in the first unit of this series on pollution in the Great Lakes of North America. Here we evaluate and revise the original model by comparing its predictions against data from the lakes before finally reflecting on the techniques used.

This unit is the first in the MSXR209 series of five units that introduce the idea of modelling with mathematics. This unit centres on a mathematical model of how pollution levels in the Great Lakes of North America vary over a period of time. It demonstrates that, by keeping the model as simple as possible extremely complex systems can be understood and predicted.