Principal Investigators: Steven Ruberg (NOAA/GLERL), and Edward Rutherford (CILER)

Successful ecosystem forecasting and validation depend on the availability of data describing the present state of the Great Lakes at a variety of time and space scales. Observing baseline ecological and environmental parameters is the key to developing the understanding and process information needed to develop prediction models for such stressors as climate change, population growth along the coastal zone, and exploitation of natural resources on the ecosystem. An observation network that provides the time and space scales necessary to track ecosystem process and provides the data in a timely manner is required to establish both the initial conditions and verification of forecast models. New and more sensitive sensors will be needed along with improved data management systems to fully meet the needs of the forecasting community.

The goal of this proposal is to advance NOAA’s real-time data acquisition capability and to make the relevant data accessible to forecasters, managers, researchers, and the public through a web-based real-time information interface, an interactive relational database, and an archived environmental database.