…Clarkson University biologist Michael Twiss and other Great Lakes scientists have discovered there is a lot going on under the ice.

“When I was working up in Canada, I won a grant to use the coast guard vessel to study for a week,” Twiss said.  “I wanted to use it as late in the season as possible, which was November. We found a lot of interesting stuff. “

Among the things he discovered is a high concentration of algae in Lake Erie during the winter. That’s unlike spring when there are almost no algae present.

And it is an important discovery because algae growth has been linked to the creation of Lake Erie dead zones devoid of oxygen…

…“When the algae dies, it sinks to the bottom of the lake and contributes to the dead zone,” said Jeffrey Reutter, director of the Ohio Sea Grant. “Historically, there is not work done on lakes in winter, simply because information is more difficult to collect. This is new and invaluable information when looking at the dead zone.”…

Read more via Great Lakes Echo