If Not By Sea, Then By Air
Water sampling on Lake Erie in the summer is pretty simple: check for decent weather, find a boat, cruise to the sampling locations, take samples, bring them home.
In winter, things get a bit more complicated: winter storms on Lake Erie can be frequent, so even if the lake isn’t frozen, chances for sampling trips are likely limited. A frozen lake means needing to recruit an ice breaker to get to sampling locations, and sometimes, even those winter-ready ships aren’t quite able to travel as freely as a research project may require.