Presenter: Linden Brinks (Great Lakes Observing System)

Description:
Holding 20% of the world’s available freshwater supply, encompassing eight U.S. states and the second largest province in Canada, the Great Lakes region is home to 60 million people and accounts for more than 50% of trade across the US/Canada border. With at most 15% of the Great Lakes mapped at high resolution, we lack an accurate picture of what the bottom of the Great Lakes looks like. This gap in information impacts commerce, maritime safety, recreators, utilities, science & modeling efforts, and critical supporting infrastructure.  Without this information, climate change predictions, safe shipping routes, sustainable fisheries, and minerals management, and healthy benthic habitats cannot be realized.   GLOS and partners are building a coalition of stakeholders, data providers, investors, and technologists to develop and execute a plan for high-resolution mapping of the Great Lakes. The benefits of this effort will provide a foundational dataset supporting the new blue economy, scientific research, maritime safety & security, and recreational use.   Lakebed 2030 supports the need for comprehensive, timely, and accurate data about the Great Lakes from the surface, all the way down.