The scientists and staff of UMD's Large Lakes Observatory (LLO) invite the community to board and tour the Blue Heron research vessel on Friday, July 20, in the Twin Ports Harbor near the Great Lakes Aquarium, 353 Harbor Drive.
The LLO Science on Deck event is free and will take place from 12 noon-4 pm. The public will have the opportunity to hear a presentation at 3:15 p.m., and they will also get to meet a number of graduate students working on fresh water research.
The Lecture on Deck, "Changing Lake Food Webs," will be presented by Dr. Ted Ozersky, assistant professor of Biology at UMD and Researcher at Large Lakes Observatory at 3:15 pm. Researchers at LLO are conducting studies to better understand and predict the effects of invasive mussels on nutrient dynamics in both inland Minnesota lakes and in the Laurentian Great Lakes.
The Blue Heron is part of the University National Oceanographic Laboratory System (UNOLS), and is chartered by research scientists to explore any of the Great Lakes. These tours are offered on a monthly basis during the sailing season (about five times a year). LLO started hosting the LLO Science on Deck program in the spring of 2013.
Located on the Duluth campus of the University of Minnesota Duluth, LLO is the only institute in the country dedicated to the study of large lakes throughout the world. They focus on the global implications of investigations in the areas of aquatic chemistry, circular dynamics, geochemistry, acoustic remote sensing, plankton dynamics, sedimentology and paleoclimatology.