Inch by Inch, Great Lakes Shrink, and Cargo Carriers Face Losses

[teech]

From his office at the port here, Jonathan Daniels stared at a watermark etched on the rocks that hug one of the commercial piers — a thick dark line several inches above the surface of Lake Ontario — and wondered how much lower the water would dip.
“What we need is some rain,” said Mr. Daniels, director of the Port of Oswego Authority, one of a dozen public port agencies on the United States side of the Great Lakes. “The more we lose water, the less cargo the ships that travel in the Great Lakes can carry, and each time that happens, shipping companies lose money,” he said. “Ultimately, it’s people like you and I who are going to pay the price.”
Water levels in the Great Lakes are falling; Lake Ontario, for example, is about seven inches below where it was a year ago. And for every inch of water that the lakes lose, the ships that ferry bulk materials across them must lighten their loads by 270 tons — or 540,000 pounds — or risk running aground, according to the Lake Carriers’ Association, a trade group for United States-flag cargo companies.
As a result, more ships are needed, adding millions of dollars to shipping companies’ operating costs, experts in maritime commerce estimate.
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[Mod2]

Back in the 80s, Lake Michigan was so high that they were discussing ways to drain off water

[teech]

I remember that when I lived back in Chicago--now look what is happening

but of course peopple still do not believe that this has anything to do with people

[rightiswrong]

From: [Only registered and activated users can see links]


Although part of a single system, each of the Great Lakes is different. In volume, Lake Superior is the largest. It is also the deepest and coldest of the five. Superior could contain all the other Great Lakes and three more Lake Eries. Because of its size, Superior has a retention time ([Only registered and activated users can see links]) of 191 years.
Superior's water levels have been decreasing since the early 1990's and in September 2007, Lake Superior's water level set a new record low, dipping lower than the previous record set in 1926.[15] ([Only registered and activated users can see links]_note-10)
According to a study by professors at the University of Minnesota Duluth, Lake Superior has been warming faster than its surrounding climate.[7] ([Only registered and activated users can see links]_note-marshall2007) Summer surface temperatures in the lake have increased about 2.5°C since 1979, compared with about a 1.5°C increase in the surrounding average air temperature. The increase in the lake’s surface temperature is not only due to climate change but also due to the decreasing ice cover. Less winter ice cover allows more solar radiation to penetrate the lake and warm the water. If trends continue Lake Superior, which freezes over completely once every 20 years, could routinely be ice-free by 2040.[16] ([Only registered and activated users can see links]_note-11) These warmer temperatures can actually lead to more snow in the lake effect ([Only registered and activated users can see links]) snow belts along the shores of the lake, especially in the Upper Peninsula ([Only registered and activated users can see links]) of Michigan ([Only registered and activated users can see links]).