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| Crew in action; Roy gets a hand from Julie and Nate installing a staff gauge on the West Pump spillway. Gauges will be placed in seven or eight locations around the site to help us more accurately quantify both nature- and human-induced water level fluctuations. |
Considering that more than 3" of rain fell in 48 hours late last week and winds have been N, E, NE, or NW for ten straight days (with a forecast for ten more days of those wind directions), water levels are on the brain. May to June typically ushers in the highest annual water levels on Lake Erie. While this is shaping up to be the case this year, this spring has been anything but typical.
High water over the next month or two is tied to high levels of precipitation here and "upstream," as ice and snow melt in the northern Great Lakes and spring rains fall both up north and locally. Seiche (pronouced saysh) events often compound the raising water, especially with an active storm cycle this time of year.
Seiches are typically caused when strong winds and rapid changes in atmospheric pressure push water from one end of a body of water to the other. When the wind stops, the water rebounds to the other side of the enclosed area. The water then continues to oscillate back and forth for hours or even days.
Lake Erie is known for seiche events. Because of the orientation of the lake, seiches are pronounced when strong winds blow from the southwest or northeast. According to NOAA, in 1844, a 22-foot seiche breached a 14-foot-high sea wall on the Western Basin and dammed ice to the extent that Niagara Falls temporarily stopped flowing. As recently as 2008, strong winds created waves 12 to 16 feet high in Lake Erie, leading to flooding near Buffalo, New York.
Because the wind these last couple weeks has been "stacking" water on the western end of Lake Erie (and into Sandusky Bay), and because the forecast suggests it may stay that way for another week or more, our water levels in the bay continue to rise. This elevation in water level is compounded when runoff from recent and very heavy rains have nowhere to go.
The result? Our water levels outside the marsh are as high as they have been in the 2+ years we've been managing the property. The persistence of north/east-dominated winds without a few day break of south/west has been atypical. Roy says he'd struggle to remember such a stretch in his few decades of living and working in marsh country. The good news is, the wind will eventually shift, and water levels outside the marsh will likely go down significantly (probably a foot or more). But in the meantime, we watch and wait.
P.S. Nate just finished up his first year at Hocking College and will be shadowing us this summer. His family has a long history in the area (their cabin resides on the NE corner of the East Marsh), and as a dedicated waterfowl enthusiast, Nate is eager to learn more about relevant biology and resource management. We are excited to have him with us!