Scientists are racing to understand the nuances of Lake Erie's harmful blooms. Climate change is creating ideal conditions for them to flourish
Ed Verhamme, a senior engineer with LimnoTech and president of subsidiary Freeboard Technology, is actively involved in the Smart Lake Erie Watershed Initiative through his work with the Cleveland Water Alliance. This partnership focuses on deploying and managing smart buoys across the lake, which are essential for monitoring harmful algal blooms and gathering critical data such as chlorophyll levels, oxygen, turbidity, wind speed, wave height, and temperature. This information is invaluable not only to researchers at the University of Toledo and the City of Toledo for water safety and research purposes but also to boaters for planning safer routes.
Our work is crucial in advancing the efforts to monitor and respond to environmental changes in Lake Erie's ecosystem.