WEATHER INFO AT FINGERTIPS
Lake buoys providing latest data
Who knew texting buoys would be so popular?
The Great Lakes Observing System, a non-profit buoy data-sharing group, found out this week just how popular their text-a-buoy system for getting water and weather information was for boaters, anglers and just the curious. More than 3,000 people texted a buoy Tuesday after one American article and social media shared the possibility. Usually the system gets about 400 texts a day.
“We literally had to get another phone number because we had such a big, overwhelming response,” Great Lakes Observing System communications manager Kristin Schrader said Wednesday. “I can’t even say how touched we are. We think it’s really important for everybody to have this information.”
On top of potentially saving lives of boaters who are better informed about lake conditions, the buoy data is used by researchers, drinking-water system managers, beach managers including identifying riptides in Lake Michigan, and sport and commercial fishers. The texting opportunity has been around for years but was considered old-fashioned compared to the group’s mobile-friendly website with more information, she said.
It’s not like the non-profit that is funded through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and has three employees can use a cute, cuddly animal to swell interest in the bobbing information collectors across the Great Lakes.
“This shows me that buoys are charismatic after all,” Schrader said with a laugh from Ann Arbor, Mich.
A list of all the buoys in the system in the Great Lakes is at glbuoys.glos.us. Text 734-201-0750 with the number of the buoy to get a text back on the latest water and weather conditions.
For example, text 45147 to the above number to get information back on the system’s one buoy in Lake St. Clair and 45132 if you’re heading east towards Port Burwell on Lake Erie.
There are 16 buoys in Lake Erie. You can only text the ones identified by a number, but all of the buoys do have more information online at the Great Lakes Buoy Portal (glbuoys.glos.us). There’s information on wind speed and direction, water and air temperatures, wave height and graphs that show the wind speed over the last few days.
Some buoys even have a camera so you can watch the lake from a swaying buoy if you won’t get seasick
We literally had to get another phone number because we had such a big, overwhelming response. I can’t even say how touched we are.
from home.
The buoys are owned by various government and private organizations, and Schrader said the system wants to add more Canadian ones. The buoys cost about $50,000 each and an added $15,000 to $20,000 to operate a year, she said. They have to be removed each winter because of ice, but that data interruption could be solved by underwater buoys cabled to the bottom of the lakes, she said. Each buoy has different instruments.
Some ping when fish swim by, and some gather data on water quality to monitor algal blooms. Anyone can go to www.glos.us to look up detailed information and learn about research on the Great Lakes or find a page just for boaters.
“It’s really neat. It’s sort of data democracy.”