On: Lake Michigan Is So Clear Right Now Its Shipwrecks...

[semi-extrinsic]

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.

[JoeAltmaier → semi-extrinsic]

Still, it requires nitrogen to get an algae bloom, right? Has to come from somewhere.

[mattgrice → JoeAltmaier]

Phosphorus is the limiting nutrient, not nitrogen. But yes, it's nearly all from ag and wastewater.

[semi-extrinsic → mattgrice]

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.