By Brandon Chew
It was atmospheric pressure waves that produced 6-foot water waves in Lake Michigan on April 13, 2018, damaging docks and cottages and submerging breakwalls in Ludington.
The event is the first documented meteotsunami in the Great Lakes and provides an opportunity for scientists to better understand and forecast these events, according to a study recently published in the print version of the journal Natural Hazards.
Meteotsunami is short for a meteorological tsunami. While most tsunamis are caused by seismic activity, meteotsunamis are caused by rapid changes in air pressure, usually as the result of severe thunderstorms.
“Meteotsunamis happen in every Great Lake and they can happen (roughly) 100 times per year,” said Eric Anderson, the study’s lead author and a scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory.
SHARES
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientist Mike McCormick, co-author of a study on Lake Michigan’s deep water temperatures, stands on an instrument buoy in southern Lake Michigan. Image: NOAA GLERL
By Brandon Chew
The Great Lakes region should expect shorter winters, according to a long-term deep water temperature study of Lake Michigan by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory.
The agency has a cable with multiple temperature sensors attached to a buoy in Lake Michigan. It stretches nearly 500 feet to the bottom of the lake. The device, known as a thermistor string, has been recording subsurface water temperatures since 1990.