Campaign to Map Great Lakes Bottom Gains Momentum

The initiative aims to pinpoint shipwrecks, improve shipping safety, and enhance climate change models.

Jennifer Boehme, executive director of the Great Lakes Observing System, leads the effort to create high-resolution maps of the Great Lakes' bottom.
Improved mapping technology, like multibeam sonar and laser imaging, is driving the project forward.
Congressional representatives from Michigan have introduced a bill seeking $200 million to fund the mapping by 2030.
High-resolution maps are expected to aid in navigation, identify fisheries, and inform storm surge and flooding models.
The project could uncover hundreds of shipwrecks and other underwater features, but funding remains uncertain as Congress has yet to act on the bill.