2018. Surface water temperatures are measured by satellites. The initiative also sparked increased public awareness and is catalyzing additional natural climate resilience efforts. TNC connected with businesses across the state to learn about their renewable energy programs and plans, the hurdles they face and the opportunitiesthey see. |, Join the million supporters who stand with us in taking action for our planet, Get text updates from The Nature Conservancy. The result is sewer backups that spout polluted water into basements and onto city streets. A city hotline fielded more than 1,500 distress calls from residents whose basements were flooded. Message in a Molecule: How Were Using Environmental DNA to Protect Aquatic Species. Donations are tax-deductible as allowed by law. Olden. In 2013, Lake Michigan plunged to a low not seen since record-keeping began in the mid-1800s, wreaking havoc across the Midwest. If a two-foot storm surge were to strike when the lake level was just a couple of feet higher, the lock itself would in effect be useless. A Battle Between a Great City and a Great Lake, Sign up for the Climate Fwd: newsletter to get all the climate news. It is likely no coincidence that the average air temperature in the same region has increased 1.2 degrees Fahrenheit since 1991. The superintendent takes his stand, the Chicago Tribune wrote at the time, and with a shrill whistle directs the crew to begin. Slaughter and her neighbors is not theoretical. It can flow in both directions. Along the way, his crew called him with alarming updates: Water was rising menacingly fast against the riverbanks in the heart of Chicago. Then in May 2020, another record, 9.51 inches, swamped Chicago. Several brutally cold winters settled over the Great Lakes starting in 2014, driven in part by the destabilization of the famous swirl of frigid air around the North Pole. | At 6:16 p.m. the river hit +3.8 feet. Just a year later, in 2014, the lake started climbing at a stunning rate, ultimately setting a record summertime high in 2020 before drought took hold and water levels started plunging again. Lakes Michigan and Huron are shown together because they are connected at the same water level. In Minnesota, TNC is leading a Trees, Water, Soil campaign to increase understanding of the role people and nature can play to slow and avoid some consequences of climate change. Please enter a valid email address (formatted as name@company.com). When we leverage that momentum and pinpoint the best places in the Great Lakes region for solar and wind development while also prioritizing the needs of nature, we can achieve a balance that sets us up for a future of abundance. The resulting floodwaters not only submerged the bustling Lower Wacker Drive, one of the citys main arteries, but also knocked out the electrical power at the nearby Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower) all the way up to the aircraft warning lights atop its tusk-like antennas. Back then, she said, everyone repeatedly was assured it was an aberration. In fact, the speed and uncertainty of the changes underscore how Chicago, in some crucial ways, is perhaps more immediately exposed to the dangers of global warming than cities on the ocean. Thats about where it had been when Mr. Valley had headed home that morning. But this time was different: Lake Michigan wasnt at the ready to function as an oversized emergency retention pond. 11(3):400403. Despite being an early leader in the transition to clean energy, nearly half of Wisconsins electricity is still generated from coal-fired plants. These types of disruptions from low water levels are expected to continue as the climate changes.3, Another possible effect of warmer water, reduced ice cover, and increased evaporation is a corresponding increase in precipitation over nearby land, especially lake effect snow (see the Snowfall indicator).4 Rising water temperatures are also expected to expand the ranges of and give new advantages to some invasive species such as the zebra mussel, and to encourage the growth of certain waterborne bacteria that can make people ill.5,6. It is a problem that is particularly acute in some of Chicagos impoverished, low-lying South Side neighborhoods where basements commonly double as bedrooms and play areas. Slaughter mostly worried about making it through the inconvenience of the basement flooding and the temporary loss of power. 5 Rahel, F.J., and J.D. In this way, Lake Michigan has been there to rescue Chicago in its most dire times of need. As a result, many of her neighbors keep their suffering to themselves. That meant the storm water and sewage had to be released straight to the river. Accessed February 2021. www.glerl.noaa.gov/data/dashboard/data. A city by the sea might build for the future, said Joel Brammeier, president of the Chicago-based conservation group Alliance for the Great Lakes. The good news is that there are many solutions to help us achieve that goal. The towering skyscrapers and temples of commerce were built upon a swamp. The past few years, however, have shown notable increases toward the top of the historical range. The morning of Jan. 11, 2020, on the lakeshore. Whatever the case, the frigid blasts caused Lake Michigans ice cover to surge for several winters. That record lasted just one year: In May 2019, 8.25 inches soaked the city. Extreme storms turned city streets into rivers. We just did it on the fly, Mr. Valley said. Data source: NOAA, 20218 And fears grew that the lake would drop so low it would no longer be able to feed the Chicago River, the defining waterway that snakes through the heart of the city. This website uses cookies to enhance your experience and analyze performance and traffic on our website. thoughtfully site wind and solar developments, climate assessment for the state, developed by TNC. Chicago hugs the shore of one of the grandest expanses of freshwater in the world. Official websites use .gov The time before climate change.But it is a city built for a different time. Maycock, and B.C. Patterson. To manage or opt-out of receiving cookies, please visit our. The resultingWisconsin Renewable Energy Reportis helping build motivation toward public-private partnerships. Communities around the Great Lakes in Wisconsin and Michigan are staring down the need to spend hundreds of millions of dollars in the coming years to repair coastal damage linked to climate change. It marks the spot where boats pass between the Great Lakes Basin and the Mississippi Basin. ? Global sites represent either regional branches of The Nature Conservancy or local affiliates of The Nature Conservancy that are separate entities. Which left two bad choices: Let the river and canal overtop their banks and flood city streets with sewage, or open the lock gates so the swollen, polluted river could again, albeit temporarily, tumble into Lake Michigan. At that moment, Mr. Valley was standing along the lock wall, helpless. Then, yet another force of nature emerged: a weakening of the Polar Vortex. Title VI Notice of Nondiscrimination To turn the tide on climate change, we must rapidly and significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Mr. Valley and the lock operators had to wing it, pinching the gates closed to let the river again rise above the lake, then swinging them open again to let the swollen river drain into the lake. As weather patterns become erratic because of climate change, wetlands are increasingly important. Did you mean to type That fear was short-lived. Like any river, that outflow must be replaced by inflows, and in this sense the lakes have historically operated like an exquisitely balanced bank account. They absorb and slow water, reducing flooding that can be harmful to species and communities. Cheryl Watson remembers the basement of her brick bungalow on the South Side as a place to play ping pong, to roller skate and, when it rained, to fear. That lowered water temperatures and slowed evaporation and helped drive the lake level to the record summertime high in 2020. Construction of such a canal had to wait a century and a half, until 1836. But even calls to the hotline probably dont capture the true scale of the crisis, Ms. Watson said. The White River as it flows through downtown Indianapolis. Accessed February 2021. https://coastwatch.glerl.noaa.gov. It was a feat of engineering as audacious as it was ultimately ineffective at solving Chicagos predicament. Advanced tools help our scientists detect native and invasive species in Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River. A truer measure, Ms. Watson said, are the mountains of toys, electronics, furniture and carpets that pile up in South Side alleys after the rains. Lewis, T.K. While jacking up Chicago to make room for sewers may have solved one predicament the filthy, impassable streets it caused another. Though basement floods can be triggered by only moderate rains, theyre much worse when big rains hit. It is Joliets dream, realized on a scale he never could have fathomed. It was dark water, green-looking, she said of the putrid stew. Climatic Change 120:697711. 2 USGCRP (U.S. They explained that the extreme high water in the lake during the May 2020 flood was partly due to a wind-driven surge that pushed up water levels along Chicagos shoreline by almost one foot. In others, its an imperceptible hump. Biol. Thats why in Michigan, TNC is demonstrating sustainable forestry and climate-smart restoration practices at ourTwo Hearted River Forest Reservein the Upper Peninsula, which is part of our statewide efforts tomaximize forests for climate resilience. In early 2013, the lake hit a record low. The states of the Great Lakes region differ from each other in countless ways, yet one commonality is the opportunity for smart alternative energy production. He continues his whistle long enough for every man to turn each screw one complete round of the thread. The comments section is closed. But it perfectly captures the citys delicate balance between dryness and disaster. In their natural state, the Mississippi River and Great Lakes basins were separated by a ridge in the landscape that kept the two basins waters from mingling, just like the better-known Continental Divide that runs the dorsum of the Rockies and separates waters bound west for the Pacific from those flowing eastward. But the same waters that gave life to the city threaten it today, because Chicago is built on a shaky prospect the idea that the swamp that was drained will stay tamed and that Lake Michigans shoreline will remain in essentially the same place its been for the past 300 years. For example, the St. Clair river opening was enlarged in the 1910s, 1930s, and 1960s, contributing to greater outflows from Lakes Michigan and Huron.9 Similarly, natural year-to-year variability and other factors such as human use and wastewater discharges can influence water temperatures. Reducing emissions through a thoughtful transition to clean energy and helping nature adapt as the climate changes are connected imperatives. In mere minutes, the suddenly reversed river, roaring like a freight train, dropped below lake level. To help soak up downpours, open spaces are also being built, as well as green roofs and porous parking lots. Today, on the Chicago waterfront stands the Harbor Lock, a set of mammoth steel gates separating lake water from river water. In Chicago, sometimes the threat of water comes from the sky. Chicago couldnt fix this problem the way other cities did, by laying sloped sewers. Many scientists believe this periodic weakening of the vortex may also be tied to a warming planet. And because ice reflects the suns heat, less ice means warmer water, which accelerates evaporation. The Chicago River passes through the heart of the city.The Chicago River passes through the heart of the city. A series of ferocious storms in recent years has made it clear that the threat this poses to a metro area of 9.5 million people is not abstract. Thus the building is raised at every point precisely at the same moment.. If warmer winters persist, the increased evaporation could help to shrink the lake back into record-low territory. It felt, he said, as if he were back standing on the Atlantic Coast of his native Maine. And in Chicago it is, or was, a wetlands surrounding a shallow lake whose indolent outflows could, in periods of high water, drift in both directions eastward toward Lake Michigan and westward into the Mississippi Basin. In the 19th century, Chicagoans dug a canal linking those two watersheds, transforming their muddy town into a metropolis of commerce by making the riches of the American Midwest accessible to the world. 4 Burnett, A.W., M.E. This indicator measures water levels and surface water temperatures in the Great Lakes. By 5:23 p.m. the river level hit +3.5 feet, the point under normal conditions to open the lock gates and reverse the river into Lake Michigan. There was nothing in the playbook for this scenario. Not only can she still picture her father and brothers descending the steps in galoshes, carrying squeegees and bleach to clean up the dangerous, sewage-laced water that regularly bubbled from the basement drain, she can smell it. Pre-1918 data came from one water level gauge per lake. In 1673, the Jesuit missionary Jacques Marquette and fellow explorer Louis Joliet, a philosophy student turned fur trader, became the first known Europeans to set eyes on what is today Chicago. The damage and destruction is where the terror lies, she said. Coasts, water levels, and climate change: A Great Lakes perspective. The river kept climbing, eventually peaking at +5.12 feet a little after 7 p.m. A lock (LockA locked padlock) or https:// means youve safely connected to the .gov website. Gauges on the United States side of the border show the Great Lakes Basin has, since the 1990s, received far more precipitation than average. But by 1870, the canal had helped propel Chicago from a mangy frontier outpost of less than 5,000 into a metropolis of 300,000. 2021. 2021. TNC Midwest U.S. Throughout the first two centuries of its existence, Chicago became famous as a city that pushed water around like nowhere else. Terms of Use Now, she is concerned that the relentless waves may cause structural damage to her nearly 100-year-old building, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Great Lakes are intrinsically connected to the forests that surround them. When Lake Michigan hit its low in 2013, conservationists warned it was very likely only a matter of time until the lake dropped so far in relation to the Chicago River that the river, which flows out of the lake and carries Chicagos treated wastewater south toward the Gulf of Mexico, might actually reverse course and begin flowing into the lake the citys drinking-water source. Sometimes it comes from the lake. 8 NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. While climate change influences water levels, human activities such as dredging can also play a role. Throughout much of the 20th century, storm-loaded sewers regularly overwhelmed Chicagos sewage treatment plants, resulting in storm water and sewage (Chicagos old-fashioned sewers carry both) being dumped straight into the river and canal. This figure shows the average surface water temperatures in each of the Great Lakes, as measured by satellites. To review your email preferences, please visit nature.org/emailpreferences. So opening the lock wasnt an option, because that would have sent lake water pouring into the river, flooding the city. But then, a second storm hit while the reservoirs were still holding water from the first storm. Changing weather patterns hint that it still is. For example, research shows that just 10 storms per year drive 70 to 90% of the nutrient runoff into Lake Erie. Yet the fortifications have proven a feeble match for breakers that can push around the hunks of concrete and can float 3,000-pound cars like bars of soap in a bathtub. Youve already signed up with this email address. Now, storm water often pools in her yard, then drains into her house. Instead of putting sewers under the streets, they put sewers on top of the streets, then built new roads atop the old ones. This is an existential problem for those neighborhoods and, ultimately, for the city., Jera Slaughter, who lives on the South Side, remembers a dramatic flood in 1987, when water washed through the ground floor of her apartment building. The tunnels, some a yawning 33 feet in diameter and running up to 300 feet below city streets, stretch 109 miles and collectively hold 2.3 billion gallons of water. Then, at 6:54 p.m. the river surged to +4.6 feet, putting it about five inches above the level of the lake. Great Lakes Res. When the vortexs tight spin goes wobbly, it can send blasts of arctic air into the Great Lakes region for weeks on end. It would be a problem, Mr. Schmidt said as waves crashed nearby. Please click here to see any active alerts. And it was too much for the river to handle. But the divide separating the Mississippi from the Great Lakes is nothing like a mountain range. It stands a half-continent away from the threat of surging ocean levels. Figure 1 shows annual water level anomalies in each lake from 1860 to 2020; anomalies are differences, in feet, compared with a baseline (in this case, the 19812010 average). Because he grew up in New England, Dr. Gronewold said, he hadnt reckoned with the true immensity of the Great Lakes until the first time he climbed a sand dune towering hundreds of feet over Lake Michigan. It was an ominous sign that the inland sea, yoked for centuries to its historic shoreline, is starting to buck. Impacts, risks, and adaptation in the United States: Fourth National Climate Assessment, volume II. Sources: Satellite images are from NOAA, TerraMetric and Landsat/ Copernicus via Google Earth Studio, Source: Water detected via Sentinel-2 short-wave infrared composite image. Secure .gov websites use HTTPS Lake water would overtop its gates and race into the city, and beyond. Then, less than 10 minutes later, it hit +4 feet, a number we thought wed never see, said James Duncker, a hydrologist with the United States Geological Survey. We may have detected a typo. Once more, the city was forced to try to dig itself out of a fix. Ms. Watson, who is 66, today still lives in the same home. Buildings in downtown were raised by as much as eight feet, an enterprise that required placing immense beams and jackscrews beneath their foundations. Harmful Algae 2:2941. Flooding isnt new in Chicago. Lakes Michigan and Huron are combined because they are connected at the same water level. One sign of the ubiquity of the problem: Chicago has a dedicated hotline for basement flooding. This figures data begin in 1995, which was the first year with complete satellite data for all five lakes. Since 1995, average surface water temperatures have increased slightly for each of the Great Lakes (see Figure 2). The northern forests of Michigan offer critical habitat for a variety of plants and animals, provide clean air, absorb carbon, filter water and provide year-round recreation and tourism opportunities. Climate & Energy Policy Advisor. But in the heaviest storms, even the river and canal system could get overwhelmed. 6 Kanoshima, I., L. Urmas, and J.-M. Leppanen. For most of the 121 years since it opened, the river and canal, the centerpiece of the city's huge manmade waterway system, functioned just as its designers had hoped. Working with partners from high school students and farmers to forest landowners and Indigenous leaders, we are using the power of nature itself to make a difference. Unfortunately, climate change is taking a toll on the regions forests, and all that rely on them are at risk. Beloved sandy beaches disappeared. And the river still flowed into the lake, the citys drinking-water source. Temporal effects of St. Clair River dredging on Lakes St. Clair and Erie water levels and connecting channel flow. Water level and water temperature are two important and interrelated indicators of weather and climate change in the Great Lakes. Slaughter lives the neighborhood where she rode out the 1987 storm that everyone back then dismissed as once-in-a-lifetime. When weconserve and connect areasthat are key for species migration and movement, plant trees and grasses, protect and restore forests, use sustainable farming practices and a host of other actions that help nature, we are pushing back against climate change. He hopped into his red Ford F-150 and started the hourlong drive back from his home in Joliet (yes, named after that Joliet). The nations third-largest city grew from a remarkable geographical quirk, a small, swampy dip in a continental divide that separates two vast watersheds: the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River Basin. Yet she still suffers occasional flooding. Rock piles, sandbags awaiting future floods. The graph uses the 1981 to 2010 average as a baseline for depicting change. These slower-growing trees also store carbon, further abating climate change. Over the last few decades, water levels have declined slightly for most of the Great Lakes (see Figure 1). These trends could relate in part to an earlier thawing of winter ice (see the. Chicago Lithographing Co., Library of Congress. Imagine a 30-foot-deep sewer lagoon roughly the size of two-and-a-half New York City Central Parks. Then, a conductor would direct hundreds of laborers in the precisely choreographed turns of the screws to lift the structures out of the muck. 7 NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). 3 Posey, J. Mullins, and W.P. Even a slight air temperature increase can dramatically reduce the lakes winter ice cover. But nobody knows where this is headed. They achieved this by dynamiting a 28-mile-long canal connecting the Chicago River to the Des Plaines River, which flows toward the Mississippi. One in five Indiana residents live within 10 miles of a coal-fired electricity plant. Nowhere has the lake been more menacing to lakefront property owners than the working-class neighborhood along South Shore Drive, about 10 miles south of downtown, where Ms. The towering skyscrapers and temples of commerce were built upon a swamp.Chicago has a weakness at its very foundations. Easterling, K.E. You cant see land in any direction.. 2003. And droughts that threaten crops, forests and water supplies in so many places? For example, research by TNC and others demonstrates that nature-based solutions provide up to 37% of the emission reductions needed by 2030 to keep global temperature increases under 2 degrees Celsius. A major new scientific assessment by The Nature Conservancy in Illinois details climate change impacts across the state. We can secure a resilient future for the Great Lakes so that generations to come judge this moment as the inflection point for climate action. At least, it does on a map. J. Satellite images are from NOAA, TerraMetric and Landsat/ Copernicus via Google Earth Studio. The climate crisis haunts Chicagos future. Marina docks became useless catwalks. Today, Chicago is still fighting to put water in its place. In many places, it is a gently sweeping hill. He gave the order, and his crew opened the immense steel lock gates. Lake Michigans level at that moment was at a record high for May well above the river. Across the ages, confronting seemingly insurmountable challenges has led humanity to innovation, collaboration and shifts in mindset that have changed the world for the better. Since last fall, the lake has fallen about a foot because of a relatively mild winter and a continuing drought. For generations, bold engineering projects have fought to maintain a perilous balance, keeping water in its place not too high, not too low.For generations, bold engineering projects have fought to maintain a perilous balance, keeping water in its place not too high, not too low. Now the water is lapping at their foundations, Josh Ellis, a former vice president of Chicagos 87-year-old, nonprofit Metropolitan Planning Council, said this year. Chicagos historic average for precipitation for May, 4.49 inches, was spectacularly eclipsed in May 2018 when a record 8.21 inches of rain fell. Patio furniture has been swapped for sandbags, concrete blocks the size of washing machines and highway-style Jersey barriers. The Nature Conservancy is a nonprofit, tax-exempt charitable organization (tax identification number 53-0242652) under Section 501(c)(3) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. The cost of climate change for Ms. Since the 1970s, Chicago has been constructing a multibillion-dollar system of sewage-storage tunnels and reservoirs. When we bring together bold policies, science-driven projects and people-centric actions, we can meet the moment together and ensure people and nature thrive. If the lake were to drop just a couple of feet below its all-time low, or surge a couple of feet above its record high, the consequences for the city could be dire. Another study looked backward, using carbon dating to examine Lake Michigans high points during the era of the Egyptian pharaohs, 4,500 years ago. Please enter a valid email address (formatted as name@company.com). Tremendous waves battered Chicagos coastline and ground up giant concrete barriers as if they were coffee beans, a journalist wrote at the time. Winter ice cover on Lake Michigan has been decreasing over the last 40 years. 2003. It would be a big problem., Added Mr. Valley: All the way down to the Mississippi.. While the system has dramatically increased water quality in the river and lake, its still not big enough to handle the worst storms. Six months after the flood, Mr. Valley and Joel Schmidt, an Army Corps hydraulic engineer, stood on the steel deck above the lock gates and looked down as Lake Michigan splashed against them. | But then, just seven years later, high water was the problem. Already, the swings between the two show signs of happening faster than any time in recorded history. The influence of weather conditions (temperature and wind) on cyanobacterial bloom development in the Gulf of Finland (Baltic Sea). But not as messy as letting sewage-laced water pour into downtown. Here, we dont even know what that looks like.. Avery, D.R. Messy, yes. That afternoon Tyrone Valley, lockmaster at Chicago Harbor, got a call. Stephen Carmickle / TNC Photo Contest 2021. Water levels are recorded by gauges along the shore of each lake, some of which have been operated since the 1800s.