The Real-time Aquatic Ecosystem Observation Network (RAEON) has received $15.9 million in funding for some high-tech monitoring of the Great Lakes. Researchers will use the funds on a number of items, including technology that will allow them to better monitor tagged fish, water temperatures and algal blooms.
The latest round of funding for RAEON comes from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI); Ontario’s Ministry of Research, Innovation and Science; and Canada’s Ministry of Economic Development and Growth.
The funding will allow researchers in Canada and the U.S. to use underwater tools with the purpose of collecting data on the lakes in real time. One such tool is the Slocum glider, a torpedo-like glider that will cruise the Great Lakes. The gliders are about six feet long and can collect data for more than a year at a time, surfacing to shoot data back to the lab. Funds will also be used for a 223-square-metre addition to University of Windsor’s Freshwater Restoration Ecology Centre in LaSalle.
[Photo by John Raoux/AP]
