Jenna Sherwin
Pronouns: She/Her/Hers
UROP Fellowship: Engineering
Research Mentor(s): Andrew Gronewold, PhD
School for Environment and Sustainability
Presentation Date: Tuesday, July 28, 2020 | Session 2 | Presenter: 6
Authors: Jenna Sherwin
Abstract
The Great Lakes hold almost 20% of the world’s fresh, unfrozen surface water, making them a critical resource for tens of millions of people living in the Great Lakes region by serving as a potable water source, supporting recreation, and facilitating commercial and industrial activities. Water levels on the Great Lakes heavily impact the region’s ecosystem and economy and so understanding and predicting trends in water levels is vitally important. However, unlike other lake systems, the Great Lakes collectively have the largest surface area of fresh, unfrozen surface water in the world, and so are impacted by overlake precipitation and overlake evaporation significantly more than other bodies of surface water. A warming climate makes predicting changes in these drivers, and changes in water levels, both more important and more difficult than ever.
While it is normal for water levels to change year to year, record lows across the lakes in 2012-2013, flooding on Lake Ontario in 2017 and record highs across all the lakes in the past three years, indicate an alarming pattern. Previous models that accounted for climate change predicted water levels would decrease due to less precipitation and increased air temperatures; recent events have proven the situation to be more complex. This project sought to help better understand if and how water levels and water balance components are changing, how their variability is changing over long and short timescales, and how those changes are interrelated, by analyzing historical data of water levels and different water balance components. Data was pulled from multiple sources to produce models, charts, and analyses that highlight trends in Great Lakes water levels over time.
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Presentation Script
Research Disciplines
Engineering
