The Environmental Monitoring Station is now providing meteorological and scientific data to the public.
If you are a lake user who wants to know if the water is warm enough to swim, if it’s windy enough for sailing, if the garden needs watering based on recent rainfall, a fisherman who wants to know the depth of the thermocline, this is the website for you: uppersaranacmonitoring.com. Even if you are not on the lake and you want to see what’s happening, time-series photos are taken every half hour.
Funded through a grant from the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation and administered by the Upper Saranac Foundation (USF) and Paul Smith’s College’s Adirondack Watershed Institute (AWI), the platform provides near real-time data on key weather and water quality. Moored in 90 feet of water in the lake’s South Basin, the Upper Saranac Environmental Monitoring Platform takes one of the oldest monitoring programs in the Adirondacks to a whole new level.
The station collects high-frequency data on the physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of the lake as well as the meteorological drivers, thereby enhancing the USF’s understanding of the lake ecosystem in support of lake management. Surface water data is collected every hour and a full profile from the surface to the bottom is collected every four hours.
The Environmental Monitoring Station also contributes valuable data to scientists around the world who participate in the Global Lake Ecosystem Observation Network. Only Lake Champlain and Lake George are similarly equipped regionally. Long term goals of the project are to preserve, enhance, and protect our water quality and support a sustainable cold water fishery.
Upper Saranac Lake is one of the most intensively studied lakes in the Adirondacks. The lake has been the subject of numerous scientific research projects, a 30-year water quality monitoring initiative, and an invasive plant management program that has served as a model for lakes around the world.