Summer thermal structure and anticyclonic circulation of Lake Erie

Beletsky, Dmitry; Hawley, Nathan; Rao, Yerubandi R.; Vanderploeg, Henry A.; Beletsky, Raisa; Schwab, David J.; Ruberg, Steven A.

doi:10.1029/2012gl051002

Cited by 48 publications

(53 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…Similar anticyclonic currents form in Lake Erie in summer months (Beletsky et al, 2012) and the high concentrations of plastic in Lake Erie's eastern basin have been attributed to this feature (Eriksen et al, 2013;Driedger et al, 2015). Yet, our plastic transport model did not predict a permanent plastic "garbage patch" in Lake Erie (Figures 9, 10A).…”

Section: Lake Erie Plastic Transport Modelmentioning

confidence: 86%

“…This was especially pronounced along both the northern and southern coasts in June, the month the majority of our field survey took place. Later in the season, the large-scale anticyclonic circulation that typically develops in mid and late summer (Beletsky et al, 2012) influenced the movement of plastics. Due to that circulation feature, particles released along the southern coast east of Cleveland were often transported westward (Figure 9).…”

Section: Lake Erie Plastic Transport Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Distribution and Modeled Transport of Plastic Pollution in the Great Lakes, the World's Largest Freshwater Resource

Cable

Beletsky

et al. 2017

Front. Environ. Sci.

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129

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Most plastic pollution originates on land. As such, freshwater bodies serve as conduits for the transport of plastic litter to the ocean. Understanding the concentrations and fluxes of plastic litter in freshwater ecosystems is critical to our understanding of the global plastic litter budget and underpins the success of future management strategies. We conducted a replicated field survey of surface plastic concentrations in four lakes in the North American Great Lakes system, the largest contiguous freshwater system on the planet. We then modeled plastic transport to resolve spatial and temporal variability of plastic distribution in one of the Great Lakes, Lake Erie. Triplicate surface samples were collected at 38 stations in mid-summer of 2014. Plastic particles >106 µm in size were quantified. Concentrations were highest near populated urban areas and their water infrastructure. In the highest concentration trawl, nearly 2 million fragments km −2 were found in the Detroit River-dwarfing previous reports of Great Lakes plastic abundances by over 4-fold. Yet, the accuracy of single trawl counts was challenged: within-station plastic abundances varied 0-to 3-fold between replicate trawls. In the smallest size class (106-1,000 µm), false positive rates of 12-24% were determined analytically for plastic vs. non-plastic, while false negative rates averaged ∼18%. Though predicted to form in summer by the existing Lake Erie circulation model, our transport model did not predict a permanent surface "Lake Erie Garbage Patch" in its central basin-a trend supported by field survey data. Rather, general eastward transport with recirculation in the major basins was predicted. Further, modeled plastic residence times were drastically influenced by plastic buoyancy. Neutrally buoyant plastics-those with the same density as the ambient water-were flushed several times slower than plastics floating at the water's surface and exceeded the hydraulic residence time of the lake. It is likely that the ecosystem impacts of plastic litter persist in the Great Lakes longer than assumed based on lake flushing rates. This study furthers our understanding of plastic pollution in the Great Lakes, a model freshwater system to study the movement of plastic from anthropogenic sources to environmental sinks.

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Section: Lake Erie Plastic Transport Modelmentioning

confidence: 86%

Section: Lake Erie Plastic Transport Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Distribution and Modeled Transport of Plastic Pollution in the Great Lakes, the World's Largest Freshwater Resource

Cable

Beletsky

et al. 2017

Front. Environ. Sci.

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129

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“…Physical modeling efforts have revealed that lowamplitude, high-frequency inertial waves (Poincaré waves with a dominant period of 17.3 h) are a prominent feature of the variability in Lake Erie's thermocline (Bouffard et al 2012). In addition, large-scale anticyclonic circulation patterns generate a bowl-shaped thermocline in Lake Erie's central basin, which results in varying degrees of upward forcing of the thermocline near the edges of the basin (Beletsky et al 2012). Thus, instability of the thermocline and fluctuations in the thickness of the hypolimnion can function to increase heterogeneity in the hypoxic zone, especially in regions where the thermocline contacts the sediment.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Dynamic hypoxic zones in Lake Erie compress fish habitat, altering vulnerability to fishing gears

Kraus

Knight

Farmer

et al. 2015

Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci.

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Seasonal degradation of aquatic habitats from hypoxia occurs in numerous freshwater and coastal marine systems and can result in direct mortality or displacement of fish. Yet, fishery landings from these systems are frequently unresponsive to changes in the severity and extent of hypoxia, and population-scale effects have been difficult to measure except in extreme hypoxic conditions with hypoxia-sensitive species. We investigated fine-scale temporal and spatial variability in dissolved oxygen in Lake Erie as it related to fish distribution and catch efficiencies of both active (bottom trawls) and passive (trap nets) fishing gears. Temperature and dissolved oxygen loggers placed near the edge of the hypolimnion exhibited much higher than expected variability. Hypoxic episodes of variable durations were frequently punctuated by periods of normoxia, consistent with high-frequency internal waves. High-resolution interpolations of water quality and hydroacoustic surveys suggest that fish habitat is compressed during hypoxic episodes, resulting in higher fish densities near the edges of hypoxia. At fixed locations with passive commercial fishing gear, catches with the highest values occurred when bottom waters were hypoxic for intermediate proportions of time. Proximity to hypoxia explained significant variation in bottom trawl catches, with higher catch rates near the edge of hypoxia. These results emphasize how hypoxia may elevate catch rates in various types of fishing gears, leading to a lack of association between indices of hypoxia and fishery landings. Increased catch rates of fish at the edges of hypoxia have important implications for stock assessment models that assume catchability is spatially homogeneous.

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“…Under these conditions, surface seiches, which are unaffected by rotation are preferentially excited. Further analysis is required to examine the impact of Poincar e waves on other hydrodynamic processes such as residual and mean-annual circulation patterns (e.g., Schwab and Bennett 1987;Beletsky et al 1999Beletsky et al , 2012Stocker and Imberger 2003).…”

Section: Horizontal Modal Structurementioning

confidence: 99%

Near‐inertial waves in Lake Erie

Valipour

Bouffard

Boegman

et al. 2015

Limnology & Oceanography

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Near-inertial (Poincar e) waves with a period T p 17 h are the dominant wind-induced internal wave motions in central Lake Erie and consequently have a substantial influence on lake circulation, mixing and biogeochemistry. However, due to the complex three-basin bathymetry in Lake Erie, the vertical and horizontal modal structure of these waves remain poorly understood. In this study, we analyze field data to show wind events energize frequent vertical mode-one Poincar e waves. The horizontal modal structure was also investigated, in a sensitivity analysis, using a calibrated three-dimensional hydrodynamic transport model forced with observed and idealized spatially uniform wind events. Strong horizontal mode-one Poincar e wave cells form in both the Central and Eastern Basins when wind events have a duration of 0.25 T p to 0.5 T p , are impulsive and periodic at T p , or have anticyclonic rotation with a duration of T p . Momentum transfer from longer wind events (> 0.5 T p ) will oppose the Coriolis-force rotated currents and damp Poincar e wave generation. In agreement with theory, the most efficient wind events are observed and computationally modeled to have a duration of 0.25 T p ; causing an excitation peak at 0.4 T p and converting 0.8% of the wind energy input to Poincar e waves. The efficiency of wind work in generating Poincar e wave kinetic energy is given by (1-cos (2pf t)) t 21 , where f is the inertial frequency and t is the wind duration. Therefore, the efficiency peaks during each nT p period, where n is a non-negative integer, and decreases significantly for longer wind events.Persistent near-inertial oscillations occur during the stratified summer season in the Laurentian Great Lakes. These oscillations are a consequence of basin-scale internal Poincar e waves (Csanady

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Summer thermal structure and anticyclonic circulation of Lake Erie

Cited by 48 publications

References 45 publications

Distribution and Modeled Transport of Plastic Pollution in the Great Lakes, the World's Largest Freshwater Resource

Distribution and Modeled Transport of Plastic Pollution in the Great Lakes, the World's Largest Freshwater Resource

Dynamic hypoxic zones in Lake Erie compress fish habitat, altering vulnerability to fishing gears

Near‐inertial waves in Lake Erie

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