Published: January 08, 2009 07:00 pm      

Seminar focuses on aquatic technology

SUTTONS BAY -- Aquatic monitoring technology in the Grand Traverse Bay region will be featured in a seminar presented by the Inland Seas Education Association.

Hans Van Sumeren, director of the Great Lakes Water Studies Institute at Northwestern Michigan College, will discuss technologies that monitor the health of Grand Traverse Bay and help researchers better understand conditions in Lake Michigan.

One example is the underwater Remote Operated Vehicle used during the last two years by the National Park Service to determine the bottom conditions in Lake Michigan that seemed to harbor the botulism toxin responsible for thousands of bird deaths two summers ago. Another example is the University of Michigan's Marine Hydrodynamics Laboratory's Grand Traverse Bay Observing System introduced in 2005, part of a regional collaboration aimed at compiling real-time oceanographic and meteorological data.

The free seminar will begin at 7 p.m. on Jan. 14 at the Inland Seas Education Center in Suttons Bay. Call (231) 271-3077 for more information, or visit www.schoolship.org.