
Lake Michigan Is So Clear Right Now Its Shipwrecks Are Visible from the Air - curtis
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/sunken-ships-lake-michigan-are-visible-ghostly-blue-180955108/
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shyne151
The US Coast Guard Station out of Traverse City initially took/posted these
photos to their Facebook page... then MLive picked it up and now Smithsonian
Magazine.

Here is their Facebook page if anyone is interested, they post some pretty
interesting stuff:
[https://www.facebook.com/AIRSTATVC](https://www.facebook.com/AIRSTATVC)

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danans
I went kayaking in Little Traverse Bay (an inlet of Lake Michigan) a few years
back, and it is usually always that clear. It was pretty amazing to be
swimming and boating in water as clear as the Caribbean in Michigan. Someone
told me it is so clear because of all the springs that empty into the Bay.

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craigyk
I don't know how true this is, but my mom used to live on Lake Michigan when
she was ~7 and used to tell me how gross the lakes were before the Clean Water
Act, and how amazing the turn-around. If so, it's a nice example for the jaded
that government can do some things right.

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maxerickson
Lake Michigan was fine in the 1980s (when I grew up swimming in it). Even
during weather that would really churn things up the water was still fine.

Another comment mentions Zebra mussels, which have made the lakes quite a bit
clearer in recent years (but not necessarily to good effect).

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mhurron
With the size of the Great Lakes, it wouldn't be that surprising that some
bays or inlets would be clean while others were disgusting.

I don't know about Lake Michigan, but I wouldn't really have advocated
swimming in the parts of Lake Ontario I was around in the '80s.

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smhenderson
I was living in Toronto in the 1990's and I wouldn't swim in Lake Ontario if
you paid me.

And anyway this is a seasonal effect brought on by a larger than usual ice
content this past winter. If I read the article correctly this won't last long
and run off from surrounding farms and industry will have the lake algae
ridden and opaque before too long...

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semi-extrinsic
I wouldn't be so quick to blaim run off without evidence that this is the main
cause. Diving in the ocean in northern Europe you experience the same thing:
you have a choice between 4 degrees C and clear water or 15 degrees C and
murky green. Runoff isn't a significant cause of plankton blooming in the
North Atlantic. Temperature is.

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JoeAltmaier
Still, it requires nitrogen to get an algae bloom, right? Has to come from
somewhere.

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mattgrice
Phosphorus is the limiting nutrient, not nitrogen. But yes, it's nearly all
from ag and wastewater.

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semi-extrinsic
In the ocean, iron plays the role of phosphorus.

And it looks like the evidence for run off causing algal blooms in the Great
Lakes is pretty convincing.

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ghshephard
The descriptions of the shipwrecks pictured on that site all seem to be in
water shallower than 15 feet. To make their point about how clear the water
is, it might have been useful to show some shipwrecks that are deeper than a
swimming pool.

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kijin
It really boggles my mind that a 130-foot ship can "sink" in only 6-12 feet of
water. (I know that 130' is the length, not the depth, but...) A tall guy
could stand on the keel of that wreck and still keep his head above the
surface on a calm day.

On the other hand, shallow water might be even more dangerous because every
wave smashes your ship against the bottom.

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therobot24
This is incredible!

I've done some diving in Lake Huron just north of Port Huron, MI (just past
where the 'thumb' connects to Canada for those unfamiliar with the area) and
was pretty amazed with the number of wrecks + the clarity at depth (granted we
didn't go much deeper than 90ft if I recall correctly). If anyone does any
diving I would highly recommend them coming to great lakes (including the
Canadian side as well - Tobermory was awesome).

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guiomie
The fresh water of the great lakes is great to preserve wrecks.

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qbrass
And the weather is great for causing them.

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coin
-1 for disabling zoom. I'd love to see it closeup on my iPad, but the web authors have decided that this isn't permitted. Why do websites go out of their way to remove useful functionality?

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j_lev
Meanwhile I'm geeking out over the number of things Ghostery blocked on the
site. 38 - that'd have to be a record.

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InclinedPlane
That site has the most insufferable mobile css and ads.

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jsat
As someone who grew up near Lake Michigan, it is truly bizarre to see the lake
this clear. These pictures look like they came out of the Gulf of Mexico!

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antidaily
Many smaller, connected lakes are clear too due to invasive zebra mussels.

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timboslice
Booo zebra mussels... Cutting my feet and killing off fish.

Fun fact, single colonies of zebra mussels may contain over 70,000 mussels per
square meter!

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mlsmith
I'd be worried if I owned the house in the last photo. It appears the land is
eroding and the house is REALLY close to the edge.

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arexi
Anyone who has dumped a body in there will be pretty worried right now.

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ryanackley
Maybe they can finally find the wreckage of Northwest Orient Airlines Flight
2501

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northwest_Orient_Airlines_Fligh...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northwest_Orient_Airlines_Flight_2501)

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Skunkleton
Wouldn't that make it Pond Michigan?

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tobinfricke
I hope SkyBox / Planet Labs / etc are getting some great aerial imagery!

