Great
Lakes Information Network (GLIN). The most comprehensive and
reliable source of online information about the
Great Lakes region currently available, GLIN is a switchboard to a wealth
of data and information on a wide range of topics. Led by the Great
Lakes Commission, GLIN is a collaborative project involving numerous
U.S. and Canadian Great Lakes agencies and organizations linking data, information
and people via the Internet.
Great Lakes Sea
Grant Network. Headquartered at the region's premier U.S. public
universities, this network of programs funded by NOAA
Sea Grant and participating Great Lakes states works in partnership
with government and the private sector to provide research, education and
outreach for the changing needs of Americans living in the Great Lakes region.
International
Association for Great Lakes Research.
IAGLR is a scientific
organization made up of researchers studying the Laurentian Great Lakes and
other large lakes of the world, as well as those with an interest in such
research. It publishes the quarterly Journal of Great Lakes Research,
holds an annual research conference,
and provides awards and scholarships. The IAGLR
Web site also includes reports on research
findings and links to maps and other information about each of the world's largest lakes.
International
Lake Environment Committee. Established in February 1986 under
the auspices of the United Nations Environment Programme, the ILEC has the
objective of promoting environmentally sound, sustainable management of lakes
and reservoirs around the world. Its
World Lakes Database features environmental and socio-economic data
on more than 500 lakes and reservoirs in 73 nations, including each of the
Laurentian Great Lakes, all listed in a handy
Index of World Lakes.
A
related resource is LakeNet,
a global network of people and organizations in 80 nations
working toward the conservation and sustainable management of lakes.
The LakeNet website has a searchable database of 475 online news articles
on lakes from 1997 to the present, including useful information on threats
to lakes as well as new and promising strategies to protect them. Another
searchable database includes more than 1,100 links to lake-specific sites.
Other features include an archive of "Amazing
Lakes" photos and lake profiles, texts of global
treaties affecting lakes, a lake biodiversity page and a description of LakeNet's
electronic forum.
Global
Environment Monitoring System/ Water. 
The
GEMS/Water Programme provides authoritative, scientifically sound information
on the state and trends of global inland water quality required as a basis
for the sustainable management of the world's freshwater to support global
environmental assessments and decision making processes. GEMS/Water is part
of the Division of Early Warning and Assessment (DEWA) of the United Nations
Environment Programme.
Great
Lakes-St. Lawrence Research Inventory.
The
U.S.-Canadian International Joint Commission's
Council
of Great Lakes Research Managers -- in an effort to promote interjurisdictional
and interdisciplinary planning and coordination of research related to the
implementation of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement -- initiated this
annually updated compilation of current research activities in the Great Lakes-St.
Lawrence River basin.
Great
Lakes Environmental Research 
Laboratory
(GLERL). A National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
laboratory, GLERL's mission is to conduct integrated, interdisciplinary environmental
research in support of resource management and environmental services in coastal
and estuarine water, with special emphasis on the Great Lakes.
A new Sea Grant Extension
Office was established there in 2001 to foster greater regionwide
transfer of GLERL information via the Great Lakes Sea Grant
Network.
A related resource is the
Great Lakes Bathemetry Web site. NOAA is actively engaged in a program
to rescue Great Lakes seismic reflection, bathymetric, and sediment-sample
data and place them in established marine geological and geophysical data
repositories at the NOAA National Geophysical Data Center in cooperation with
GLERL, NOAA's National Ocean Service, the Canadian Hydrographic Service, and
other agencies and academic laboratories.
Cooperative
Institute for Limnology & Ecosystems
Research (CILER).
One of 11 NOAA Joint Institutes (JI), CILER
is unique in that it is the only JI whose research focuses on the Great Lakes
and therefore involves all universities throughout the Great Lakes basin.
CILER researchers focus on five areas: climate and large-lake dynamics, coastal
and nearshore processes, large-lake ecosystem structure and function, remote
sensing of large-lake and coastal ocean dynamics, and marine environmental
engineering.
NOAA
CoastWatch Great Lakes Node.
Recently reconstructed,
this GLERL site is
being developed to provide access to nearly real-time and retrospective satellite
and in situ environmental data and products to meet the needs of
various users for environmental monitoring, decision making, research, educational
and recreational uses.
CoastWatch
Lake Surface Temperature Reporting System. Maintained by Michigan
Sea Grant and the Institute of Water Research at Michigan State University,
this site offers daily surface water temperature data for each of the Great
Lakes.
Current Weather and Marine Forecasts
for Lakes Superior and
Michigan, and Lakes Huron, Erie
and
Ontario. The National Weather Service provides access
to decoded marine weather observations as reported by buoys and Coastal Marine
Automated Network stations maintained by the National Data Buoy Center. In
general, the data for any particular station for the current hour become available
about fifteen minutes after the hour.
Great
Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway System. This Web site provides
all the information you need about marine transportation in the Great Lakes-St.
Lawrence Seaway System. Features include water levels and wind speeds; shipping
and navigation information; rules, regulations and official forms; and links
to every organization, port and government agency involved with the Great
Lakes and Seaway. You'll also find an interactive portion of the site with
cargo matching, a cost calculator and full e-business capacity.
National
Ice Center.
The NIC provides analyses and forecasts of Great Lakes ice conditions from
December through March, including 90-day seasonal outlooks and 30-day forecasts.
Created in 1995, the NIC provides ice analysis charts in Graphics Interface
Format (*.gif), which can be viewed with almost any Web browser, and Geographical
Information System (GIS) ARC/INFO coverages. The NIC also maintains
a record of National Weather Service charts for the Great Lakes dating back
to the early 1970s.
A
related Web site is the NOAA
Great Lakes Ice Atlas, an invaluable resource for those seeking
information on Great Lakes ice cover climatology. Hosted by NOAA's Great Lakes
Environmental Research Laboratory, it provides a benchmark of ice cover and
ice cover variation of the Great Lakes during the last quarter of the 20th
century and early years of the 21st Century.
Great
Lakes Environmental Atlas and Resource Book.
The online version of this popular atlas is a storehouse of Great
Lakes facts, colorful maps and graphical information regarding the natural
and human history of the region, its binational management, and current issues.
Visualizing
the Great Lakes: Images of Region. Cooperatively produced by Minnesota
Sea Grant and the U.S. EPA Great Lakes National Program
Office, this is a site for sore eyes, offering dozens of photos on a Great
Lakes scenery, natural resources, commerce, parks and other attractions.
A related resource is "Images
of the Great Lakes Region as Seen from Space," a Wisconsin
Sea Grant Web page now featuring
NASA shuttle photos of the region's landscape, cities, bays and connecting
waterways.
Earthwatch
Radio.
An award-winning
two-minute radio program on science and the environment produced by the Sea
Grant Institute and Gaylord Nelson
Institute for Environmental Studies at the University
of Wisconsin-Madison. Continuously broadcast since 1972 by more than 100
radio stations throughout the Great Lakes region and beyond, now you can hear
it via the Internet, too.
Sea
Grant's Non-Indigenous Species Website
(SGNIS). A peer-reviewed national information center that contains
a comprehensive, searchable collection of research publications and education
materials about zebra mussels and other aquatic nuisance species. SGNIS is
coordinated by the Wisconsin and Illinois-Indiana
Sea Grant programs.
A related, similar
resource is the National
Aquatic Nuisance Species Clearinghouse maintained by New
York Sea Grant.
AquaNIC:
Sea Grant's Gateway to
Aquaculture Information.
Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant provides a
gateway to Sea Grant research on aquaculture as well as links to hundreds
of other aquaculture resources, the North Central and other Regional Aquaculture
Centers, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Great
Lakes-Wisconsin Aquatic Technology & Environmental Research Institute.
The UW Great Lakes WATER Institute's mission is to provide the State of Wisconsin
a focal point for research, education and outreach aimed at a thorough understanding
of the Great Lakes and other aquatic and environmental resources of local,
state, national and international importance. Home port for the 71-foot R/V Neeskay,
the 10-acre facility houses the UW
Aquaculture Institute, UW-Milwaukee Center
for Great Lakes Studies and NIEHS Marine
and Freshwater Biomedical Sciences Center, as well as an Advisory
Services field office of the UW Sea Grant Institute and the Wisconsin
Department of Natural Resources.
Great Lakes Fishery Commission (GLFC). 
Established
in 1955, this U.S.-Canadian commission advises the two federal governments
on fisheries issues of common concern and on sea lamprey control in the Great
Lakes. GLFC programs are conducted through contracts with the U.S. Fish &
Wildlife Service and Canada's Department of Fisheries & Oceans. The commission
also advises the two governments on problems associated with nonindigenous
species, such as the zebra mussel, round goby and Eurasian river ruffe.
Great
Lakes National Program Office
(GLNPO). Part of the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency, GLNPO was created in 1978 to oversee the United States' fulfillment
of its obligations under the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement with Canada.
National
Water Research Institute. 
The
NWRI is Canada's preeminent freshwater research facility, the largest in the
country with centres on the shores of the Great Lakes in Burlington, Ontario
and in the heart of the Canadian Prairies in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. From
these vantage points, NWRI extends its influence across Canada and beyond,
leading world-class research on freshwater issues.
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
Great Lakes-
Big Rivers Region.
Encompassing the states of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota,
Missouri, Ohio, and Wisconsin, this FWS region manages 1.2 million acres of
refuge land and water on 46 national wildlife refuges and 9 wetland management
districts, including more than 240,000 acres in waterfowl production areas.
Site features include a variety of wildlife and habitat information, a kid's
corner and FWS news.
Great
Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission. 
Comprised of 11 sovereign tribal governments located throughout Minnesota,
Wisconsin and Michigan, the GLIFWC's purpose is to protect and enhance treaty-guaranteed
rights to hunt, fish and gather on inland territories ceded under the Chippewa
treaties of 1836, 1837, 1842 and 1854; to protect and enhance treaty guaranteed
fishing on the Great Lakes; and to provide cooperative management of these
resources.
Chippewa
Ottawa Resource Authority (CORA). Effective January 2001, the
inter-tribal regulatory body Chippewa Ottawa Treaty Fishery Management Authority
(COTFMA) officially changed over to the Chippewa Ottawa Resource Authority
(CORA), gathering all 1836 treaty fishing tribes under its wing and taking
on a larger scope in regulation and management of the treaty fishery.
Lake
Michigan Forum.
The Lake Michigan
Forum was established as part of the Lake Michigan Lakewide Management Plan
(LaMP) as the central vehicle for stakeholder participation in developing
and implementing the LaMP.
International Association of Great
Lakes and St. Lawrence Mayors. The mayors' association is a nonprofit
organization designed to address issues related to the world's largest freshwater
resource. The vision of the association is to form a binational coalition
that will actively work with federal, state and provincial governments to
advance the protection and restoration of the Great Lakes ecosystem through
development and implementation of the comprehensive Great Lakes protection
and restoration plan, and to become active participants in Great Lakes-St.
Lawrence issues relating to governance, economics and science.
Great
Lakes
Internet Resources
