CAYUGA LAKE FLOATING CLASSROOM WEBLOG

Trip Reports & On-Line Citizen Science

- field trips & charters
- public eco-cruises & charters
- internships & youth programming


Phone: (607) 327-5253
Email: floatingclassroom@gmail.com

SEE OUR MAIN WEBSITE: WWW.DiscoverCayugaLake.org

Sunday, April 26, 2009

A Windy Earth Sunday!

Thanks to all who braved the elements on a sunny but surprisingly chilly and blustery day on Cayuga Lake! With a few minor hitches, our 2009 "shakedown" cruises were a success!

Our early afternoon cruise focused on conditions near the southwest corner of the lake, while our 3:00pm cruise featured a trip into deeper waters. The combined results fro both trips:

Water clarity, as measured by Secchi Disk:
Cayuga Inlet - 1.5 M
Cayuga Lake, SW Cornel (4 meters of water) - >4.0 M
Central Cayuga Lake - 6.5 M

Water Temperature, near the surface was 48 Deg. F.
** Stay tuned for results from Cornell's SCAMP remoted sensor, demonstrated by Tim Phillips!
Biological Notes: The water is beginning to show signs of warming,and planktonic species are observable. Photosynthetic diatoms such as Astrionella, and Copepod zooplankton were identified by our participants.



We also collected samples of material from the bottom of the lake during our first cruise. At a depth of about 4 M (12 feet), aquatic plants, including coontail, were showing signs of spring growth

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Additionally, our sample was swimming with small shrimp-like amphipods. It was interesting to note that a second lake-bottom sample, from roughly 7 M revealed very little, other than fine silt and sediment.


Monday, April 20, 2009

Welcome to our new "under construction" blogsite!

Come aboard to stay up to date on Cayuga Lake- the Floating Classroom crew will be providing cruise highlights and offering notes of interest during the 2009 cruise season. We will depend on students and volunteers to submit class trip and eco-cruise reports, links to important information sources, and more.

Our 2009 public cruise season begins with Ithaca's Earth Sunday celebration at Ithaca Farmers' Market. The Floating Classroom vessel with be on-hand at the market between noon and 5:00pm, with free (donations gladly accepted!) cruises departing at 1:00pm nad 3:00pm. Check out Tiohero Tours for scheduling information.

See You On The Lake!
Bill F.