FOR RELEASE: May 24, 2007

 

For More Information:  Gene Clark, Coastal Engineering Specialist, UW Sea Grant Institute, (715) 394-8472

Climate Change Warming Lake Superior and Other Wisconsin Waters

Renowned limnologist John J. Magnuson will visit Superior to discuss how loss of lake ice is a miner’s canary of how rapidly global warming is occurring.

He will address “Climate Change and the Waters of Wisconsin” at 7 p.m. Thursday, June 7, in the Kathryn Ohman Theatre, Room 114, McCaskill Hall, on the UW-Superior campus. Free parking is available after 4:30 p.m. in Lot 11, located behind the Rothwell Student Center.

Magnuson, Professor Emeritus at UW-Madison, spent a decade building a database of ice records from all over the world, and it is now one of the largest and longest records of observable climate data ever assembled. Here in Wisconsin, these records show that over the last 30 years the duration of ice cover on Dane County’s Lake Mendota decreased 8.6 days per decade.

According to Magnuson, shorter periods of ice cover can increase evaporation, which would contribute to lower water levels on the Great Lakes and elsewhere. He says that the “typical” Wisconsin winter is disappearing, along with the recreational activities and businesses that depend on it.

Magnuson also notes that warmer waters will affect fish that only live within specific temperature ranges. Streams and shallow lakes are likely to have reductions of coldwater and cool water habitat. And while the Great Lakes will continue to provide cold, oxygenated habitats for trout and salmon, he said many new species will invade to occupy the warmer inshore waters.

Magnuson’s lecture is part of the 2007 seminar series “Climate Change in the Great Lakes Region: Starting a Public Discussion,” sponsored by the UW Sea Grant Institute and UW-Extension and funded by the Wisconsin Coastal Management Program and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. See www.seagrant.wisc.edu/climatechange for details and updates.

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Conceived in 1966, Sea Grant is a national network of 30 university-based programs of research, outreach, and education for enhancing the practical use and conservation of coastal, ocean and Great Lakes resources to create a sustainable economy and environment. The National Sea Grant Network is a partnership of participating coastal states, private industry, and the National Sea Grant College Program, National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce.

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