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At least 109 records · Page 6Linked to original sources
USGS1994

Shoreline and coastal wetland variability along the west shore of Green Bay, Marinette and Oconto counties, Wisconsin

Coastal wetland ecosystems along the Great Lakes shorelines are extremely valuable natural resources. They provide numerous environmental and recreational benefits, and they serve as critical habitats for fish and wildlife populations. In general terms, wetlands can be defined as lands transitional between terrestrial and aquatic systems; they are characterized by periodic submergence or a water table at or near the surface and a predominance of hydric soils and hydrophytes. Changes in shoreline positions over time result in concomitant changes in the amount of adjacent coastal wetlands, frequently resulting in a permanent loss of these valuable resources. In the Great Lakes region, the main natural cause of shoreline changes are lake-level fluctuations that result from two interactive factors. One factor is the glacio-isostatic rebound of the lake basins, which has been occurring since the end of the late Wisconsin glaciation to the present. This crustal rebounding has slowly uplifted previous lake outlets, warped and tilted lake basins, and changed lake levels and shoreline positions. On the basis of historic lake-level gauge records, measured modern differential vertical uplift rates range from 0.26 ft/century in the southern part of the Great Lakes drainage basin to 1.74 ft/century in the northern part of the basin (Larsen, 1989). The second factor contributing to lake-level fluctuations is climate variability, which controls the amount of regional precipitation and evaporation, storm frequency, runoff, and resulting lake levels. Climate variability can occur over a wide spectrum of time scales; it can range from seasonal variations, to long-term trends of a few years or decades in duration, to trends lasting hundred of thousands of years. Climatic variations, in conjunction with glacio-isostatic rebound, have resulted in substantial temporal variability of the Great Lakes shorelines and associated wetland tracts during post-glacial times.

Wisconsin↗
USGS1994

Temporal variability of shoreline positions and coastal wetlands along lower Green Bay, Oconto and Brown counties, Wisconsin

The positions of shorelines and the areal extent of adjacent coastal wetland tracts in the Great Lakes region have exhibited substantial temporal variability during both prehistoric and historical times. Shoreline migration has resulted in environmental problems such as flooding and the coastal erosion of lakefront property, as well as the destruction of coastal wetland resources. In the Great Lakes region, the main natural cause for changes in shoreline position and adjacent wetland area is lake-level fluctuations, which results from two interactive factors. One factor is the glacio-isostatic rebound of the lake basins that has occurred from the end of the late Wisconsin glaciation to the present. This crustal rebounding has resulted in the slow uplifting of previous lake outlets and warping of lake basins, contributing to changing lake levels and shoreline migration. Historic lake-level gauge records indicate modern differential vertical uplift rates that range from 0.26 ft/century in the southern part of the Great Lakes drainage basin to 1.74 ft/century in the northern part of the basin (Larsen, 1989). The second factor contributing to lake-level fluctuations is climate variability, which causes variations in the amount of regional precipitation and evaporation, storm frequency, runoff, and resulting lake levels. Climate variability can occur over a wide spectrum of time scales, from seasonal variations, to longer-term trends of a few years or decades in duration, to trends lasting hundreds of thousands of years. A combination of both climatic variations and glacio-isostatic rebound has resulting in substantial temporal variability of the Great Lakes shorelines and associated coastal wetland tracts during post-glacial times.

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USGS2003

Data and methods of a 1999-2000 street sweeping study on an urban freeway in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation is required to control the quality of runoff from roadways under their control as part of the National Pollution Discharge Elimination System. One way to control roadway runoff is to use street sweeping to remove pollutants before they are entrained in runoff. This may be a good option because land is often unavailable or prohibitively expensive and structural best-management practices can also be expensive. This study collected stormwater runoff samples and dirt samples from the roadway surface from a section of Interstate Highway 894 near Milwaukee, Wisconsin during periods when a street sweeping program was and was not in effect. These data may be useful in evaluating street sweeping as a stormwater best management practice but this study did not perform this evaluation. Data collection methods, concentrations of sediment and other constituents in storm- water runoff, and street dirt masses are presented in this report. Replicate and comparison sample results indicate that when evaluating the effectiveness of best-management practices on highway runoff, suspended sediment results should be used rather than suspended solids, presumably because the particle sizes in highway runoff is large compared to those found in other types of stormwater runoff.

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