(Wahpeton)– Boaters and residents on West Lake Okoboji are probably noticing some lighted buoys.
The four lighted buoys are located east of Emerson Bay and north of Brown’s Bay. They’re protecting an instrument called the Lake Diagnostic System, or LDS. The device measures water temperature at different depths. The equipment was deployed by a research team from the Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering at Iowa State University.
The monitoring equipment will remain in the lake until the end of the summer.
The data will be used to study turbulence and mixing in lakes.
The research project is being funded by the National Science Foundation.
Three additional lighted buoys. One is about 300 feet offshore from Pillsbury and Lime Kiln Points; another is between Manhattan Point and Hayward’s Bay; and a third is located at the south end of Brown’s Bay or between Pike’s Point and Doc’s Cove. Two of those buoys have equipment to measure water temperature at different depths; the third marks where an acoustic velocity meter will be deployed to measure currents and turbulence.
Dr. Chris Rehman, an associate professor, is among those heading up the research. He’ll give a presentation on the project at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 26th at Lakeside Lab. It’s titled “Under the Surface: Internal Waves, Turbulence and Mixing in Lakes.”
