Less ambient light in Lake Michigan this year

[WaterWolf]

Has anyone else noticed there seems to be a lot less ambient light in Lake Michigan this year. Check out these photos of the Northerner out of Port Washington. This wreck is 125 ffw to the deck and 136 to to the bottom.

This is from this year in August:



This is from last year Sept:



Both of these sets of pics were taken on a sunny day with the same camera, strobe, and settings. This year, I could barely get focused to take any pics unless I shot where my buddy was shining his light.

Why is it so much darker down there this year? It wasn't just this one day either. I was on this wreck a few times throughout the season and it always seemed to be darker than last year. It seems the water column on the way down had more particles. Is this still from all the rain and could it be filtering out the light that much? The vis on the shallower wrecks also seemed worse this year despite all the zebra mussels. Any ideas on what's going on down there?  ???

Thanks,
Fred

[Chris H]

What was the visibility like on the way to the wreck?  I have been out on days where the top 30ft are very cloudy, thus blocking the light from reaching farther down the water column.

[oldtimer]

Your right Fred, it's been a *hitty year for viz.  Every year is different however and it will probably get better next year.  It's all my fault really as I upgraded my video system.  That of course is enough to bring on bad viz! Ha.

The prez

[Tamara Thomsen]

I noticed this too.  The DNR is saying that we are now seeing increasing Cladophora levels in the lake which may be effecting viz.  This bacteria is on the increase as the zebras and quaggas clean the lake and light is allowed to penetrate deeper- in other words it’s a vicious cycle.  Most notably it is the stringy floating bacteria that floats through the water column and hangs up all over the wrecks.  It also washes up on the beaches and smells so bad.

Personally, I noticed the darkness show up markedly after the rains and flooding- which was bad for a big project that we had.  I didn't see as much of the Cladophera as I did the year before- but this is probably because the muddy water has been keeping the light levels down.

[Tamara Thomsen]

I've been corrected- it's an algea.

[WaterWolf]

Thanks for the info. So is this good for the sea life in the lake and what do you think causes it?

[dwitt2n]

..Tamara....would you know how widespread this is...?...is it prevalent / more noticeable in the larger bodies of water or all fresh water regardless ..?..thx.....

[Tamara Thomsen]

Look, I'm not an expert on this stuff...obviously.  I attended a UW Sea Grant meeting a year ago for scientists working on Lake Michigan, and I heard that someone received a grant to study it.
Here are a couple of websites with more information:

DNR's webpage: 
and
UW Sea Grant's webpage: 

[Dewit2it]

With all the flooding this year, I'm not suprized!  With all the nutrients/fertilizers washed in, algae would have to explode.

It's the same as what is happening with Redgranite.  Year after year, more biomass enters the water, thus providing more nutrients, and therefore more algae to lower visability.

It would be fun to see what would happen if the silt/weeds would be cleaned up with a suction dredge.  Maybe the 70'+ viz would return.

[Vtach]

It was not that long ago that diving in Lake Michigan was pretty much braille diving with single digit vis.  After the Zebra mussel invasion we have seen a drastic change in visibility which has been great for divers and not so great for many other reasons.  But I would guess that just like any other organism, when you have a drastic population boom you see a reduction in food supply and then a die off until food supply repopulates.  In my opinion, we are going to continue to see a "yo-yo" effect in regard to visibility as zebra populations also fluctuate depending on their food supply.  High vis = warmer water = more algae = more zebras = less algae = lower vis = cooler water = less algae = zebra pops reduce....and so on.

I'm sure that it is not this simple and there are more contributing factors to the situation but I would bet the general "yo-yo" idea is appropriate. 
I am definitely less of an "expert" than Tami is but I did stay at a Holiday Inn express last night. ;D