Great Lakes researchers have installed a monitoring buoy for the first time ever in East Grand Traverse Bay, one of three buoys placed this fall as part of a Northwestern Michigan College-Michigan Technological University partnership.

Purchased with a $48,804 grant NMC received from the Great Lakes Observing System, the buoys are placed near East Bay Park in East Bay, near Greilickville in West Bay, and near North Manitou Island in Lake Michigan. “We have never had any measurements in East Grand Traverse Bay previously, and having three strategically placed allows comparative understanding of the three separate but connected water bodies,” says Hans Van Sumeren, director of NMC’s Great Lakes Water Studies Institute. “These buoys and data will support a broader understanding of Great Lakes processes and will provide users with near real-time information.”

Data available online include wind speed and direction, wave height and direction, and water temperature. Buoys will be removed in November and outfitted with webcams over the winter, which will offer users video feed of the lake surface updated every 30 minutes.