Study: Winds pose lake hazard

Gusts bring phosphorus into Lake Erie shallows

Powerful gusts linked to global warming are damaging water quality and creating a hazard for fish in Lake Erie and perhaps elsewhere in the Great Lakes, according to researchers.

Extremely high winds occasionally churn up deep water with low oxygen and high levels of phosphorus in Erie’s central basin and shove it into the shallower western section, creating a hazard for fish and insects on which they feed.

Such events have happened more frequently since 1980 and particularly in recent years, scientists with the University of Guelph said in a paper published last week in the journal Nature Scientific Reports.

“As temperatures increase overall, we will get higher winds and larger waves,“said Josef Ackerman, a professor of physical ecology and aquatic sciences with the Canadian university, who led the study.

The findings underscore the need to limit phosphorus overloading that fuels algae-like bacterial blooms in Lake Erie’s western basin, he said

— an elusive goal despite pledges by Michigan, Ohio and the Canadian province of Ontario to achieve a 40 percent reduction from 2008 levels by 2025.

“We can’t control the winds but maybe we could double down on our efforts to reduce inputs into the lakes to keep the ecosystems healthy,“Ackerman said. “If so, the winds won’t have as bad an impact.”

Marc Gaden, spokesman for the Great Lakes Fishery Commission who didn’t take part in the study, said it illustrates the complexity of Great Lakes ecosystems and the need for better models that can forecast how weather can disrupt them.