Onboard the Lake Guardian Research Vessel

The Research Vessel (R/V) Lake Guardian is the only self-contained, non-polluting research ship on the Great Lakes. The continuing work that is being done on this vessel is helping up solve environmental problems not only in the Great Lakes but in fresh waters throughout the world.

As part of its long-term trends program, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Great Lakes National Program Office, conducts biannual monitoring surveys of the Great Lakes from the R/V Lake Guardian. During each survey, samples are taken at from 8 to 20 pre-established locations (stations) in each lake. Great Lakes national Program Office (GLNPO) conducts other Great Lakes oriented monitoring as well.

To encourage research and cooperation between federal, state and university scientists, the Great Lakes National Program Office offers the R/V Lake Guardian as a vessel of opportunity during the monitoring surveys. If you have an interest in utilizing the Lake Guardian to facilitate your research, please contact Mr. George Ison (312) 312-353-1669 ison.george@epa.gov, for more information on the capabilities and requirements for use of the ship. Upon acquiring permission for use of the ship, a survey plan (27Kb pdf) must be completed.

Several pieces of sampling and monitoring equipment are located around the ship. Some of them have rather colorful names and purposes:

	SEABIRD This high-tech device looks like a wire cage about 3 feet high and 1 foot on each side with a collection of unidentifiable cylinders, boxes, tubes and wires contained within. It is often observed to be connected to a computer, and it invariably attracts the attention of any scientist within sight of the computer screen when it is deployed. With high accuracy, it monitors the lake water four (4) times a second for basic limnological parameters such as depth, temperature, conductivity (sort of a measure of saltiness), pH photosynthetic light penetration, water transparency, and chlorophyll.
	ROSETTE This is another wire cage device, about 3 feet high and 3 feet in diameter with a dozen vertical plastic cylinders attached. The rosette is permanently attached to its own cable and winch, and even has its own sampling platform on the starboard (right side looking forward) side of the ship. It is used to capture a sample of water from any desired depth, and bring it to the surface without mixing with any other water. This is an extremely useful device and it allows us to obtain samples to analyze for a large of number of parameters that the SEABIRD is unable to measure directly (such as total phosphorus, chlorides, atrazine, etc.)
	AIR SAMPLING EQUIPMENT. In the bow (front) of the ship are some aluminum booms and ladders to which may be attached devices variously described as houses or funnels, with or without hoses and motors. These are samplers for filtering particles or gasses from the air. This may remain pointed into the wind for several hours while the samplers grab the air "upwind" of the exhaust stacks. Analyses of the samples than helps determine the amount of contaminants that enter the lake from the atmosphere.
	BOX CORER. "JAWS" might be a more descriptive term for the squat, vicious-looking contraction on the rear dock. It is designed to slice a cube of sediment cleanly from the bottom of the lake without disturbing the surface layer. Once the corer is back on board, scientists can open the lid and take smaller sub-samples, ensuring that the important top layer is intact.
	PLANKTON NET. These cones of white cloth, 3 to 10 feet long and 1 to 3 feet in diameter. They are used to capture phytoplankton (algae) or zooplankton (small animals, mostly shrimp-like creatures) that eat the algae. The size of the organisms captured is dependent on the coarseness or fineness of the fabric weave. Plankton are the "bottom of the food chain" and support all the fish at the top.
	PHYTO VIBES. This an R/V Lake Guardian exclusive! Located on the art (rear) deck on the starboard side (remember, right side looking forward), it looks like a heavy steel frame for a couple of phytoplankton nets. Because phytoplankton are microscopic in size, even though they are the "grass," or base of the aquatic food chain, we must strain thousands of gallons of water to collect enough of the algae to measure the concentration of many of the contaminants that find their way to the large fish. The cells tend to clog the nets, making them inefficient strainers, so we invented a "phytoplankton vibrator" that constantly shakes the algae from the sides and urges them down toward the collection bucket at the bottom.
	MYSIS AND DIPOREIA SLED. This thing look sort of like Santa's sleigh with a big mesh bag attached. Two of the larger crustaceans in Lake Michigan (that is, roughly ½" to 1½") are very abundant in some areas, and are very popular food for some of the fish. The Diporeia look like "little commas," and they live at the surface of the bottom. Mysis are "ghost shrimp," and they spend their days on the bottom also. At night the Mysis often migrate up in the water column to feed on the zooplankton without getting caught by the fish. We slowly drag the sled behind the ship to capture these important components of the open water food chain.
	ORGANICS EXTRACTION EQUIPMENT. In some of the smaller "container labs" are weird-looking contraptions of glass, or stainless steel, or flexible tubing, or columns packed with white stuff. Some the equipment filters the particles from the lake water, and some removes the organic contaminants that are dissolved in the water. Although the concentration of organic pollutants in some Lake Michigan fish are high enough to cause serious health risks if eaten frequently, the concentration of the same pollutants in the water itself is so small that the contaminants from 50 to 250 gallons of water must be concentrated to get a sample large enough the measure with certainty.
	CHEMISTRY LABORATORY EQUIPMENT. We do some of the chemical analyses on samples of lake water on board, and we send samples of the lake water back to a shore-based lab for some other analyses. Depending on the current project, you may find auto-analyzers, computers, reagent flasks or other specialized analytical equipment. Mercury is particularly tough to measure properly in Great Lakes waters, because of the very low concentrations and the very real problem of sample contamination, so we have created a "Clean Room" with special air filters, constant positive air pressure, and restricted admittance.