The Great Lakes Water Studies Institute based at Northwestern Michigan College in Traverse City will be coming late this spring to conduct deeper water surveys focused answering questions about the deeper waters in Elk Lake. A team of advanced level students planning careers in freshwater science or similar fields will be led by noted researcher Hans VanSumeren, the institute’s director, and John Lutchko, NMC’s Marine Technology Laboratory coordinator. They’ll be using the latest sonar technology. They’ll also have an ROV, a remote controlled robot capable of still and video photography at great depths. We hope to learn whether evidence of quagga mussels, a huge ecosystem disrupter, are present and whether theorized deep-water lake trout spawning habitat exists.
