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A comment on Lake Michigan Is So Clear Right Now Its Shipwrecks Are Visible from the Air. Parent comment

Re:Lake Michigan Is So Clear Right Now Its Shipwrecks Are Vi... by semi-extrinsic on Tuesday April 28, 2015 @04:29PM (#9454949)
I wouldn't be so quick to blaim run off without evidence that this is the main cause. Diving in the ocean in northern Europe you experience the same thing: you have a choice between 4 degrees C and clear water or 15 degrees C and murky green. Runoff isn't a significant cause of plankton blooming in the North Atlantic. Temperature is.
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Re:Lake Michigan Is So Clear Right Now Its Shipwrecks Are Vi... by JoeAltmaier on Tuesday April 28, 2015 @04:32PM (#9454972)
Still, it requires nitrogen to get an algae bloom, right? Has to come from somewhere.
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Re:Lake Michigan Is So Clear Right Now Its Shipwrecks Are Vi... by mattgrice on Tuesday April 28, 2015 @10:26PM (#9456189)
Phosphorus is the limiting nutrient, not nitrogen. But yes, it's nearly all from ag and wastewater.
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Re:Lake Michigan Is So Clear Right Now Its Shipwrecks Are Vi... by semi-extrinsic on Wednesday April 29, 2015 @07:28AM (#9457498)
In the ocean, iron plays the role of phosphorus.

And it looks like the evidence for run off causing algal blooms in the Great Lakes is pretty convincing.

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