Award: OCE-1948646

The University of Minnesota Duluth purchased two remote access samplers (RAS), two particle and phytoplankton samplers (PPS), and scientific mooring gear for the NSF project 1948646 ?Collaborative Research: Cyanobacteria, Nitrogen Cycling, and Export Production in the Laurentian Great Lakes?. The RAS and PPS moored instrumentation allows scientists to collect samples on a weekly or biweekly schedule without having to occupy the research site except to deploy and recover the gear. This equipment was deployed off of the University of Minnesota Duluth?s research vessel, RV Blue Heron, and is being used by our collaborators at the University of Pittsburgh, Wright State University, and the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, to understand current and historical cyanobacterial primary productivity (the primary organism causing harmful algal blooms) and evaluate the present and future impact of bloom formation on Lake Superior and Lake Erie. We have had two successful deployments on the Great Lakes, with the equipment (RAS and PPS) performing well in two diverse environments, the deep waters of Lake Superior and the shallow waters of Lake Erie. Once the current project is completed, the RAS samplers, PPS samplers, and mooring gear will be available to all users of RV Blue Heron, allowing researchers to obtain samples weekly or biweekly throughout a year. RV Blue Heron is a part of UNOLS (University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System) and the U.S. Academic Research Fleet, and the RAS and PPS samplers will be available to all NSF funded researchers using vessels in the Academic Research Fleet. Last Modified: 05/05/2023 Submitted by: Richard D Ricketts