Jeff Koch, a staff member with the Superior Watershed Partnership in Marquette, deploys a buoy in Lake Superior near Marquette. That buoy and others deployed near Munising and Grand Marais will collect valuable scientific information. (Photo courtesy of the SWP)

MARQUETTE — A local agency has deployed three climate monitoring and maritime safety buoys for the season from the south shore of Lake Superior.

Staff from the Superior Watershed Partnership in Marquette deployed the buoys recently with boat support provided by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.

According to the SWP, the location of these buoys are near the shorelines of Marquette, Munising and Grand Marias. The Marquette buoy is one half-mile northeast of Black Rocks off Presque Isle; the Munising buoy is five miles north of Miners Castle at the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore; and the Grand Marais buoy is one and a half miles north of the harbor.

In 2021, the SWP received $47,786.80 in grant funding through the Great Lakes Observing System to purchase these new, innovative buoys. The SWP continues to deploy, maintain, and retrieve them yearly.

Each of the three monitoring buoys collect important navigation and climate planning data including wave height, wind speed, water temperature and more. The live data provided by these buoys is critical for commercial and recreational boaters as well as the National Weather Service, Environment Canada and NOAA.

In addition, the SWP uses buoy data for long term climate adaptation planning with coastal communities in the Upper Peninsula.

Data is transmitted to the web every 30 minutes and is accessible via the GLOS Seagull website: https://seagull.glos.org/ or through the SWP’s website: https://superiorwatersheds.org/superior-buoys.

Bud Sargent can be reached at 906-228-2500, extension 544. His email address is bsargent@miningjournal.net.