Research Vessel Lake Explorer II Visits Escanaba Docks (Eco and Econ?)

The research vessel Lake Explorer II appears in Escanaba docks during its exploration  of the depths of the vast Great Lakes bottom (ok could have been there and didn't notice but the intro would not be as dramatic✍.)The ship has scientific purposes and could have multiple objectives in the region. There is an old blog that appears run by the crew member Julie Barker on behalf of the EPA that is outdated and not really part of this trip but it is still cool to look through from a research log standpoint. (See Life Aboard Lake Explorer II and Lake Explorer II History) You can actually track the ship online which is super cool (Track Lake Explorer II)

Study the Environment

The environment is where we live and when we destroy it we have problems bringing back the ecosystem to its natural course of development (we have already altered it). Understanding these organisms and our impact on them allows us to make better choices about policies as they relate to infrastructure, pollution, and other activities. As we live in and use our environment it will be helpful to improve it where we can through understanding and environmental focus. 

In addition, as we seek to bring back manufacturing to the U.S., the Great Lakes will be an important strategic part of the ecosystem and the economic systems. There has been increased investment by government to revamp some of our dilapidated shipping infrastructure to improve upon import/export capabilities (See Great Lakes Shipping and Escanaba Shipping Export Hub).

Scientific Equipment

The scientific equipment on these types of ships is important. I'm curious what they are using because I'm with a team searching for Queen City (which I'm going to call QCity so its not easily searchable for other people that want to steal our ship finding glory! jk🚢 😂 I also have a boat called STEMStella which I want to get a grant to do NOAA research on.) and we need better understanding the structure. Carrying (used to) the following scientific equipment (See Ship Specs and See NOAA/EPA) (Disclaimer I just briefly looked to see if they were the same there may be various in equipment.):

• CTD SBE 911plus Profiler, Carousel mounted (Underwater measurements contour and moving)
• ADCP Workhorse Mariner 600kHz, TELEDYNE RD Instruments (Measures costal currents).
• Laser Optical Plankton Counter, ODIM Brooke Ocean (Used for Refs and stuff.)
• TC Seabed Classification (Echo sounds mapper)