Twin Ports Freshwater Folk: Great Lakes Winter Science and Sensor Networks

Twin Ports Freshwater Folk invites you to their November 5 presentation, "Monitoring the Great Lakes in Winter and Beyond: From Field Observations to Real-Time Sensor Networks” by Jeff Pu, postdoctoral researcher at the University of Minnesota’s Large Lakes Observatory.

In-person attendees are invited to the Duluth MPCA conference room for networking, sandwiches, and plenty of fresh water at 11:30 a.m. The online and in-person presentation will begin at noon. Sadly, the Zoom option is sandwich-free.

This event is free and open to the public. Registration is required for in-person and virtual attendance.

Location
Duluth MPCA, conference room
525 Lake Ave. S., Suite 400
Duluth, MN 55802

Parking
Attendees should inform the gate attendant at the MPCA lot that they are attending a meeting at the MPCA.

Registration

Event schedule

  • 11:30 a.m. Lunch and networking (in-person only)
  • 12:00 p.m. Attendee announcements
  • 12:05 p.m. Seminar
  • 12:45 p.m. Moderated question and answer session
  • Adjourning by 1 p.m. at the latest.


Speaker Bio
Jeff Pu is a postdoctoral fellow dedicated to studying and mitigating water resource issues. He recently joined the University of Minnesota Duluth's Large Lakes Observatory. His past work has focused on integrating and deploying various innovative water resource sensors to understand the environmental problems, like harmful algal blooms and water level changes around Lake Erie.

His research on various water quality and remote sensing topics has been funded through the Cleveland Water Alliance, LimnoTech, the Ohio Department of Higher Education, NOAA, and USGS. He hopes to share his findings with diverse stakeholders and contribute to ongoing efforts to protect the Great Lakes’ water resources.

Pu obtained his Ph.D. in water resource engineering from the State University of New York. He received both an M.S. and a B.S. in environmental engineering from Drexel University.

Presentation Abstract
This talk focuses on two separate research projects Jeff contributed to during his previous postdoctoral fellowship at the Cleveland Water Alliance (CWA). The first half of his talk will focus on Great Lakes winter limnology, and the second half will focus on the technological innovations of the Smart Lake Erie Watershed Initiative.

Jeff Pu's involvement with winter limnology began with the Great Lakes Winter Grab, a collective effort by 19 research groups that sampled 49 locations across the Great Lakes. Pu contributed to the effort to publish the project's dataset, which includes observations on ice and snow properties, water column physical parameters, diverse biogeochemical observations, plankton communities, and bacterial and primary production rate measurements.

During his time at CWA, Pu also contributed to the efforts to build “The World's Largest Digitally Connected Freshwater Body” in Lake Erie. He co-managed efforts between CWA and various partners in deploying and maintaining a vast sensor network. This network includes more than 30 in-situ buoys and land-based sensors monitoring a wide variety of water quality, water level, and weather parameters using various monitoring technologies. Pu will briefly present his work on the two projects, as well as his future research directions at LLO.

About TPFF
Twin Ports Freshwater Folk (TPFF) is an informal gathering of individuals from the Twin Ports who are involved in freshwater research, policy, or regulatory issues. Meetings take place on the first Wednesday of every month and include networking, informal discussion, and a seminar.

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Contact
Alex Frie, research and fellowship coordinator, Minnesota Sea Grant, University of Minnesota and University of Minnesota Duluth. [email protected]. 

Image credit: Jeff Pu.

Related Outreach Projects

Minnesota Sea Grant
Twin Ports Freshwater Folk