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Lake Superior: The largest body of fresh water, also the fastest changing

The UMD Blue Heron gives students a first-hand learning experience out on the Great Lakes.

The University of Minnesota Duluth is conducting research on climate, biology, and helping students to understand how the Great Lakes work, specifically Lake Superior. 

The Blue Heron, UMD's floating learning lab, has made some important discoveries, including the fact that Lake Superior is getting warm fast.

“It’s definitely getting warmer,” Jason Agnich says. He’s seen it firsthand as the warming water is creating algae blooms in Lake Superior, a sight previously rare or non-existent.

Agnich is a marine technician on the Blue Heron. The vessel also travels to Lake Michigan, a great lake facing its own issues. 

“Lake Michigan is now extremely clear because of invasive species," he says. "Lake Michigan is now clearer than Lake Superior."

Students say a day on the Blue Heron beats a normal day in a classroom. Their professor is Dr. Jessica Savage.

“We’re studying the zoo plankton in Lake Superior," Savage says. "We’re studying them at two different depths: 20 meters and 30 meters."

Savage describes the experience as an amazing opportunity for students to do hands-on learning on the lake. 

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The plankton gathered by students on the Blue Heron will be taken back to a lab, but they’re able to get a peek at the squirming critters right away on ship. In addition to lots of gadgets, microscopes are ready to go. 

They’ve dug up mud from the bottom of the lake 100 feet down, and found a few things from the past.

Dr. Savage points out old pieces of coal found in the mud.

“This would have been coal burning on the ships," she says. "Sometimes we’ve found taconite, rolling off the ships.”

Every little clue in the mud and water can tell us more about how much this big lake is changing. All of the life they unearth helps students understand things like toxic algae blooms in a warming Lake Superior. 

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