Great Lakes: Beyond the Biology

SCIENCE -- December 9, 2011 at 9:23 AM EDT

Great Lakes: Beyond the Biology

Lake Superior is warming at an alarming rate, according to oceanographer Tom Johnson of the University of Minnesota Duluth.

"As I started doing work in Lake Superior, I came to realize there had been very little done in the way of scientific study of these lakes beyond the biology of the fish," said Johnson, a founder of the Large Lakes Observatory, which studies the biology, chemistry, physics and geology of large lakes around the world.

Scientists from the observatory gather data from sediments, microbes and nitrate buildup in the Great Lakes to study how the lakes respond long-term to climate change. Miles O'Brien reports for the National Science Foundation's* latest Science Nation.

For the record, the National Science Foundation is an underwriter of the NewsHour.

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