NOAA map of Great Lakes Currents

Great Lakes Currentshttp://www.glerl.noaa.gov/res/glcfs/currents/glcfs-currents-surf.html

click on the link for an up to date interactive map of Great Lakes currents on all five Great Lakes.

Pictured is the shoreline of Lake Michigan at Grand Haven, Michigan

Between Sweetwater and Sand

I have lived on the shoreline of Lake Michigan for many years and watched many changes in the Great Lakes.  The five Great Lakes are the greatest freshwater system in the world.  I have watched the lakes rise and fall, a natural phenomenon, and I have watched many changes season by season and year by year.

Between Sweetwater and Sand  is a book of poems inspired by nature and especially the Great Lakes.

Barbara's Amazon page 

Podcast about Books and the Great Lakes

My interview with Kevin Collier will be available March 26-27, 2016 and then after those dates:
Barbara Spring's podcast  or go to http://bookmarkedradio.blogspot.com/

I talk about the Great Lakes and how I wrote my book,  The Dynamic Great Lakes.  I talk about my poetry books, Between Sweetwater and Sand, Sophia's Lost and Found, and The Wilderness Within.

Bookmarkedradio is a podcast about books.  Tune in.

98 Year Old Oil Pipelines Under St. Clair rivers a Threat

98 year old oil pipelines under St. Clair River    Click the link to learn more

The map shows stressed areas in the Great Lakes system.  Notice heart shaped Lake St. Clair. It is already under great stress.

Great Lakes Rise and Fall

The Great Lakes are an important part of the world's freshwater system.  It is normal for the Great Lakes to rise and fall depending on rain, snow, ice cover and evaporation.

Some people did not realize this when they built too close to the shoreline of one of these lakes.  Their building tumbled into the water when the lake water rose.

The watersheds surrounding the five Great Lakes are small for the size of the lakes therefore it is important to keep their waters within their watersheds. Here is a link explaining why water should not be diverted:  http://flowforwater.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/FINAL-FLOW-Press-Release-Waukesha-Diversion-3-1-2016.pdf  Press-Release-Waukesha-Diversion-3-1-2016.pdf

Pileated Woodpecker near Lake Michigan

The pileated woodpecker does not mind cold snowy weather and so we see them year around near the Great Lakes.  They have a loud raucus call that reminds me of the cartoon character Woody Woodpecker.  Here he is getting at grubs deep inside of a tree.  The holes these woodpeckers make can be huge.

Pancake Ice on the Great Lakes

Pancake ice forms from sheets of ice that break off and then are like a broken plate glass window. When these pieces of ice continually knock together by the rolling action of waves, they become rounded and curled up at the edges like gigantic pancakes.  Sometimes the pancake ice looks like bumper cars crashing into each other like a wild carnival ride. 

 Excerpted from The Dynamic Great Lakes.

Read more about ice formations on the Great Lakes in my book, The Dynamic Great Lakes.  This book is available at Amazon.com, bn.com, Schuler Books, The Bookman and many other fine bookstores.

my Amazon page