Observations of great lakes winter ecology have been difficult to obtain relative to the summer openwater period when most field work occurs

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) received a $163,318 Cooperative Agreement from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) under the Cooperative Institute (Inter-Agency Funded Activities) program (CFDA 11.405), awarded November 1, 2025, with completion by October 31, 2026. Under this agreement, WHOI will deploy a long-range autonomous underwater vehicle (LRAUV) to conduct winter ecosystem monitoring in Lake Erie during the 2025–2026 season, including operations under ice cover. The project delivers repeated survey transects measuring physical, chemical, and biological indicators—including phytoplankton, zooplankton, fish, and benthic communities—to extend Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement monitoring beyond the traditional summer open-water period when vessel-based field work is feasible.

This project continues development and pre-deployment planning activities conducted in 2024–2025, leveraging advancements in autonomous vehicle technology to address the longstanding operational challenge of obtaining winter observations in the Great Lakes. By utilizing WHOI's Tethys-class LRAUV rather than conventional research vessels, the project mitigates human safety risks associated with winter water access while establishing baseline ecosystem data during a seasonally undersampled period critical to understanding full-year Great Lakes ecology and supporting adaptive management under NOAA's cooperative research framework.

Great lakes research vessels are not designed for winter operations and the risks using other methods to access open water in winter come with a high level of human risk. Our goal is extension of monitoring and assessment of key ecosystem indicators (i.e.phytoplankton, zooplankton, fish, benthos) under the great lakes water quality agreement to the winter season. Advancements in autonomous underwater vehicle technology may now make winter ecosystem observations achievable even under ICE-cover. This project will deploy a whoi-owned/operated tethys-class long range AUV (mbari- lrauv) to perform repeated survey transects of physical, chemical, and biological activity in lake erie during the winter months of 2025/26. The expectation is that some surveys will be conducted under ICE. This is a continuing project that follows from development efforts and pre-deployment planning conducted in 2024/25.