At flood stage

We sampled the last two Fridays without mishap (9/19/08 & 9/26/08). Thompson Lake water depth is about 2.5 m, up about 0.6 m from the summer. On the 26th, a cyanobacteria bloom was evident with a more dense bloom at the south end. The news for us has been on Lake Chautauqua. On the 19th, as we sped by motor boat to the south end, I noticed a lot of drift wood in water. Sometimes when the water rises, it floats wood from the banks and you have to keep an eye open to avoid bigger pieces. But we also noticed the water was darker. Upon reaching the south end, we saw the river was coming "in" through Quiver Lake, which is a connected lake to the Illinois River. At this spot, pelicans were gathering, I'm guessing because it was good fishing. I took a bottom core and it is hard to see in this posting, but about 1-2" new sediment had come into our sampling site. I also post a picture of our sampling rig - our old Cheyenne and double-axel trailer . . . hey, they aren't pretty but they get the job done. We had parked the rig on dry pavement and upon returning in our boat (the students have name it the "Prairie Shark"), we saw thing had gotten pretty wet. The lake had risen in depth at about 7" in 2 hours! We thought things might have stabilized by Friday (9/26) but we measured river current of 0.40 m/sec at the south end and 0.26 m/sec in the middle of the lake. Although it is thought that, someday, Thompson will be opened to the IL River like Chautauqua, the connection will be under greater management. Still, our comparative study continues to yield interesting, and hopefully valuable, results. You can see the water level for the Illinois River at Havana, IL in the graph shown here or at this site.

Rain, rain, rain

Sampling on September 12, 2008 can be summed up in a word - wet! The rain came down fairly steadily throughout the day. However, my sampling partner, Doyn Kellerhals (UIS graduate candidate) and I were dressed for it. Probably like most field crews, rain itself does not pose a big problem and a warm rain is not that bad to work in - - - - of course that's all about to change in a few weeks. We don't sample in lightening. High winds can pose a problem on these shallow lake systems as the waves kick up fast and produce unstable conditions for both moving and holding position to sample. All in all, it turned out to be a good day sampling on Friday with the serious Ike rains hitting the area Saturday and Sunday.

Echos of Gustav

I checked the weather radar at 4:30 a.m. Rain was on its way, but it looked like we had a window for the day's sampling of Thompson and Chautauqua Lakes. For most of the summer, I was able to meet one of the students doing field work at the Emiquon Field Station (EFS). We are still using UIS as our home base for equipment and water sample processing until more resources show up at EFS. On this day, I met Doyn Kellerhals at UIS, loaded equipment, ice for samples and gas for the boats and we took off. Doyn is a biology M.S. student that has worked for several years in my lab. While I try to find a new field person, Doyn volunteered to step in.

We hit a heavy rain about 1 hour into our drive - around Kilbourne, IL. However, when we hit Havana, IL, we found not rain had fallen. This would change. We swiftly loaded the boat and got on Thompson Lake. The wind was picking up and the main storm front was moving to our south directed by a north wind. I did not see any new bird arrivals but did note the swallows were not out in numbers, preferring calmer days for feeding. As I sampled, it was apparent that this was the first day the air was cooler than the water. As we watched the skies for lightning, we saw many changes in the clouds - changing from almost "open" areas to heavy blue-black, and occasionally waves. The wind would bring heavy rain, drenching us, then would change and circle as we completed our work on Thompson and finished on Chautauqua as the eddy's of Hurricane Gustav rolled over the Illinois River floodplain.

Sampling on Thompson Lake

The sun was already up but the day was calm as I stood outside the boatshed, waiting for the field vehicle to back so I could hook the boat for sampling. On the water, the 15 horse Johnson outboard purred along on glass-smooth water. Turning north towards our first sampling point, the boat tremored slightly as light breeze rippled the water. It was another beautiful late summer day on Thompson Lake. The "algae" bloom of last week had subsided slightly, yet I puzzled over the cause of the tea-colored water - it had been nearly crystal clear only months ago. At mid-lake, the "algae bloom" (actually cyanobacteria) was still evident. Over the water soared hundreds of swallows, swooping effortlessly to harvest the ariel plankton. All summer I had enjoyed the skill and company of my graduate student, Jackie Negro. This was to be her last time, at least as an employee, for us to work together. Jackie had become proficient at field sampling. There are many rhythms that must be adjusted to, like hooking the boat, loading equipment, filling out data sheets, reading instruments precisely - Jackie did this masterfully, growing in skill throughout the field season. It was a wonderful day for our last tour.

Busy Summer, for the Algae Too

It has been a busy summer at Emiquon. We kicked off the season with the opening of our new Emiquon Field Station. We currently have several researchers that use the facility weekly, but have also hosted a summer field biology class, a workshop on wetland plants, a star party, and several other groups.
We are looking forward to a busy but interesting fall. I hope you will be able to visit us. I've decided for this "blog" session that I would log in our weekly sampling trips. Every week, my students and I sample Thompson Lake at Emiquon and USFWS's Chautauqua, across the Illinois River from Emiquon. This is a comparative study that measures water quality and microorganisms. We sample weekly because of the dynamic changes that occur in floodplain systems (in general) and restoration systems in particular.
Probably nothing else captures the sense of place and the rythym of the seasons on the river than being physically on site. This week, I sampled with Jacke Negro - a graduating UIS M.S. student. We have busy weeks and really busy weeks and this was the latter. While I gathered top and bottom water, algae, and sediment samples, Jackie records water quality information, such as temperature, pH and water clarity. This week, the air was still and the lakes were calm, giving the appearnace of huge mirror. We noted the increased numbers of commorants and egrets. There is also the 2nd of two "algae" blooms going on.
I welcome visitors on these sampling trips, espeically if you are interested in science and or conservation. We don't do much fooling around but you would get to see how some parts of resarch are being done at the sites as well as getting exposed to some great country.

Welcome to the Emiquon Field Station Blog

Watch this blog spot for ongoing, informal communications from Dr. Michael Lemke, the director of UIS's Emiquon Field Station.