Making a Sustainable Early Warning System for Lake Erie

Session: Building an Early Warning System for the Great Lakes

Rebecca Pearson, Great Lakes Observing System, [email protected]
Tim Kearns, Great Lakes Observing System, [email protected]
Kelli Paige, Great Lakes Observing System, [email protected]

Abstract

The Great Lakes Observing System is leading a three-year effort under the U.S. IOOS Ocean Technology Transition (OTT) Project to operate a sustainable HABs Early Warning System (EWS) for Lake Erie. The goal is to stabilize and enhance: 1) in-lake monitoring capabilities, 2) the data management services in handling these monitoring data and 3) the delivery of crucial information that meet the needs of region. The OTT HABs EWS is envisioned to be dynamic and flexible to serve the various audiences who need to understand the water quality conditions, including water intake managers, federal, state and local leaders, beach managers, and recreational users. To illustrate the potential of an EWS, GLOS is developing an application prototype to demonstrate the end-to-end workflow of data to information. This prototype will target water intake managers as the end-user and provide them actionable intelligence through an automated system that alerts them when water quality levels exceed some preordained safety threshold.  This presentation will address potential applications to other water related management issues and considerations for expanding this and other early warning systems.