Tracking Oxygen in Lake Erie’s Central Basin
Station Locations: Loggers covered about 7800 km2, ranging throughout most of Lake Erie’s central basin.
Imagine going about your day, walking the neighborhood with not a care in the world, when suddenly it becomes hard to breathe. Confused and a little scared, you turn around, wondering if maybe something is wrong with the local gas lines. You note with relief that breathing is getting easier again as you move away from that particular road. When city workers check out the area a few hours later, the air is clear and nothing out of the ordinary is found.
Sounds strange, right? For Lake Erie fish, a scenario like this isn’t as far-fetched as it may seem.
Hypoxia, an area of low-oxygen water, develops in the central basin of Lake Erie during the summer and early fall. It’s caused when bacteria at the lake bottom decompose dead algae and use up oxygen in the process faster than it can be replenished from the surface or from photosynthesis. When combined with stratification – the formation of a sharp border between an upper warm layer and a cold bottom layer of water – that region of the lake becomes hypoxic (low in oxygen) or even anoxic (no oxygen). This can lead to fish kills and other negative impacts on the ecosystem.