New data buoy could be located at mouth of Little Traverse Bay

City’s Harbor Commission floats idea to area groups; would require funding partnership with U of M

By Charles O’Neill
Harbor Light Newspaper

A proposal to locate a weather and data monitoring buoy at the mouth of Little Traverse Bay drew considerable interest at a special working session of the Harbor Springs Harbor Commission last Wednesday, March 18.

Proposed by scientists at the University of Michigan Marine Hydrodynamics Laboratories, a division of the Department of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering, the buoy would be similar to one developed for, and which will be placed in, Grand Traverse Bay in April.

As described by University of Michigan professor Guy Meadows in an email to Harbor Commissioners, the buoy would become part of an established system of buoys on the Great Lakes, but would offer additional data, and more importantly to area boaters, data closer to home.

“The Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) has the charge to provide for the oceans and Great Lakes, what exists for the weather service, permanent stations upon which to base forecasts and warnings,” Meadows wrote. “The Great Lakes Node of IOOS is the Great Lakes Observing System (GLOS). Over the past few years, GLOS has concentrated the bulk of its efforts and funding on the St. Clair River, Lake St. Clair and the Detroit River. Although important, this region is not representative of the bulk of the Great Lakes. Last year the Marine Hydrodynamics Lab (MHL) of (the University of Michigan) received a $30,000 grant from GLOS to develop and deploy a second buoy for Grand Traverse Bay. We expect a similar grant this year for an additional coastal buoy.”

Meadows noted in a follow up email that funding was approved for a new buoy in 2009.

Due to intense funding competition among universities, federal dollars are limited forcing scientific projects to be concentrated in areas where there are already on-going projects, Meadows said.

“For us, that location is northern Lake Michigan,” he wrote. “…Northern Lake Michigan is greatly underserved by GLOS and represents the physical and economic characteristics of the northern Lakes.

“In northern Lake Michigan, people care about the quality of water, safe navigation and the economy depends, in large part, upon access to the water. An expansion of our coastal buoy network into Little Traverse Bay makes a good deal of sense to us.”

As background to the proposal, Harbor Commission members shared a summary sheet on the buoy project.

“The program originally started in Lake St. Clair as an information gathering tool to help UM scientists determine how weather and water movement affect the flow of untreated sewage discharges into the lake. The program moved to Grand Traverse Bay for further study in a body of water that was not isolated and had a relatively open connection with Lake Michigan,” the summary sheet noted.

“The ability to access real time weather information to recreational boaters is an additional bonus. Funding is no longer available to cover the total cost of expanding the number of buoys, only the buoy construction. UM is therefore seeking partnerships with interested local organizations to cover the annual operational costs.”

The buoy proposed for Little Traverse Bay would likely be located on a line halfway between 7 Mile Point on the north shore and 9 Mile Point on the south shore, in about 90-feet of water, commissioners were told.

The new buoy’s information would be part of the existing National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association’s (NOAA) internet web site, where buoy information can be accessed from around the world.

Commissioners noted one key improvement would be that this new buoy provides updates every 10 minutes versus every hour with existing NOAA buoys.

Information provided by these buoys includes standard meteorological data including wind speed, air temperature, wave height and more.

Information is accessible via computer over the internet, and NOAA even offers “Dial-A-Buoy” when you are away from a computer. Wind and wave measurements taken within the last hour at buoy and coastal weather stations operated by the National Data Buoy Center and other partners can be heard using a cell phone.

“I think it would be great to know what is going on at the mouth of the bay before setting off on a journey to Charlevoix, Northport or Beaver Island,” Harbor Springs Mayor Al Dika, a member of the Harbor Commission, said in a related email.

The closest existing NOAA buoy to Little Traverse Bay is located halfway between North Manitou and Washington Islands.

Among those attending the Harbor Commission meeting last week were representatives from the city of Petoskey, Bay Harbor, Little Traverse Yacht Club and the local marinas. Representatives from Charlevoix were also invited.

All expressed interest in getting the buoy located here. Details on exactly what that would require in terms of dollars and in-kind contributions (Irish Boat Shop and Walstrom Marine both suggested they could place the buoy using their own equipment) were less clear.

Harbor Commission chairman Jim Bartlett said he first wanted to gauge a level of interest among the organizations around the bay before pressing the University of Michigan for specific budget amounts.

Conservatively, Bartlett suggested there would need to be a commitment to raising $30,000 locally in the first year. That number may be lower, he said, if in-kind contributions can cover some of the additional costs.

“The University will construct the buoy, but does not have the funds to install and maintain the buoy and the related data and site connection,” Bartlett said. “They are looking for a consortium willing to fund some kind of partnership with the University.”

Bartlett said this would be a year-to-year agreement and either side could pull out if the funding was not there. He noted the buoy has a life expectancy of 20 years.

He also added that the University would assume liability for the buoy in case of any accidents.

“There is little risk, except financial,” Bartlett said.

“The first thing I do when going out is pick up the buoy on Washington Island,” said Walstrom Marine president David Lyle. “I would probably pick up this new buoy before heading out. I can see, in the interest of safety, this would be a wonderful thing to have, a great opportunity.”

“It would be a wonder benefit,” echoed Irish Boat Shop president Michael Esposito. “There is a huge distance between here and the existing buoy. The only real question is cost.”

There was discussion among the group about possibilities for equitably sharing the cost among interested organizations.

The meeting concluded with general agreement that the buoy project was worth pursuing and more specifics on financial costs would be sought.

For more information on the internet:

NOAA National Data Buoy Center: www.ndbc.nooa.gov

Integrated Ocean Observing System: http://ioos.noaa.gov

Great Lakes Observing System http://glos.us

Marine Hyrdodynamics Lab University of Michigan www.engin.umich.edu/dept/name/facilities/mhl

Dial-A-Buoy www.ndbc.noaa.gov/dial.shtml 888-701-8992

(You can find the specific buoy identifier number online which is required to access information for a specific buoy. Alternatively, you can enter the latitude and longitude figures on the telephone.)

This is part of the March 25, 2009 online edition of Harbor Light Newspaper.

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