Fieldwork
LAB TOW TANK
anchor shot

Lake Michigan Drifter Animation

Lake Michigan drifters released in 2013

This animation shows the paths of 6 floating drifters that we released at the center of Lake Michigan in 2013. The drifters were equipped with satellite-tracked GPS units that reported location every 1 hour. The drifter paths illustrate the dominance of near-inertial surface layer motions in Lake Michigan’s interior during the summer. These motions are clockwise spirals with roughly 18 hour period and dominate motions in the surface layer of Lake Michigan between roughly May and December.

More details can be found in: Choi, J., Troy, C., Hawley, N., McCormick, M., & Wells, M. (2020). Lateral dispersion of dye and drifters in the center of a very large lake. Limnology and Oceanography, 65(2), 336-348.


Dispersion Relation Simplifications for Short and Long Waves


2D Wave Shoaling – Deep Water Shoaling Coefficient


Lake Michigan waves


Purdue wave tank – wave breaking


March 10, 2020


Open channel flow: Introduction to specific energy


Conservation of Linear Momentum for Fluid Flows


Lake Michigan dune and beach erosion LIDAR drone survey


Detached island breakwater, as modeled with Celeris wave model


Shoaling diagonal waves on uniform slope – 20sec


Waves refracting at the beach (10s period)


Shoaling waves – 4sec period


Shoaling water waves – 10sec period


Stratified Gate Underflow – Kelvin Helmholtz


Prof. Cary Troy cutting line from Michigan City buoy anchor


3D vector animation Milwaukee 2012


Lafayette chlorination chamber


Draining water from a cylindrical container


Lake Michigan Upwelling – Michigan Coast


Michigan City Thermal Transect 2009


Muskegon 2010 Lake Michigan Thermal Transect


Muskegon 2010 Spring Transect