Though the past winter was the hottest on record, it was chilly enough on the East Coast to send seasonal sheets of ice creeping across the Great Lakes. Now that that ice has cleared with spring, Lake Michigan is clear enough that shipwrecks lying on the lake bottom can be seen from the air.
The U.S. Coast Guard Air Station in Traverse City noted the crystal clear water conditions and the lost ships during a routine patrol. Last week, they posted a handful of pictures to their Facebook page. The images come from the area near Sleeping Bear Point known as the Manitou Passage Underwater Preserve, which is "one of the richest areas in Michigan for shipwreck diving," according to the preserve's website. The lumber industry put the area on a shipping route. The North and South Manitou Islands, just north of the point, provided a somewhat sheltered area for ships hiding from storms.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Rivenaleem on Tuesday May 09 2017, @09:54AM (3 children)
The pictures in the article show wrecks that are in 6-12 and 5-15 feet of water. Just how bad are things normally that you can't see through ~10 feet of water?
(Score: 1) by Pax on Tuesday May 09 2017, @10:13AM (2 children)
I was kinda thinking the same bud....
(Score: 5, Informative) by VLM on Tuesday May 09 2017, @11:45AM (1 child)
The zebra mussels devour the algae from fertilizer runoff so quickly now that the water is crystal clear... until the zebra mussel population crashes and then it'll turn the whole lake into toxic soup.
Its important to note that this story makes the rounds every spring for a couple years, its basically clickbait, and none of the implied assumptions are true. Something in 5 feet of water can always be seen... Every spring after the ice melts people slide their boats back in the water and the noobs and those with poor memories act surprised. Its good filler material. Note the smithsonian story is from last year but this has "been around" for some years.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Tuesday May 09 2017, @12:49PM
The zebra mussels clean the lake and begin dying off: the lake starts recovering and so do the mussels. It's all death and life after that.
It goes from cloudy to clear to cloudy to clear in cycles.
Sharp little feckers.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---