Centre for Earth Observation Science

Manitoba Great Lakes Program

The Manitoba Great Lakes (MBGL) program is led by researchers at the Centre for Earth Observation Science (CEOS) and comprised of a series of sub-projects, engaging researchers from a variety of disciplines to work on specific questions. Collaboration from all disciplines is invited.

two researchers on a boat in Lake Winnipeg, one is lowering a net into the water.
Photo by Whitney Light

Background

For Manitoba, an abundance of clean, reliable freshwater is the centrepiece to the province’s economic and social infrastructure. From clean drinking water and agricultural irrigation to hydroelectric power and recreational activities, the very identity of Manitoba is built upon its freshwater supply.

The upper Manitoba Great Lakes (Lake Manitoba, Winnipegosis and Waterhen) include the 27th (Winnipegosis) and 32nd (Manitoba) largest lakes in the world.  They are important drinking water sources for the people who live near their shores, and important recreational and fisheries resources for the region and the Province as a whole.  Moreover, they help to protect Lake Winnipeg by filtering nutrients and contaminants in runoff from its western watershed. In particular, the operation of the Portage Diversion during flood events has effectively shifted significant fractions of the Assiniboine River nutrient and contaminant load from the south basin of Lake Winnipeg to the south basin of Lake Manitoba, with undocumented impacts on the latter.

Research

Projects

Research conducted by the MBGL program helps support science-informed management of Manitoba's largest freshwater resources. 

View the MBGL program on CanWIN

Open water season monitoring with in-lake moorings

Since 2012, the Centre for Earth Observation Science (CEOS) has recorded water conductivity, temperature, chlorophyll concentration and turbidity at stations in Lakes Winnipegosis, Waterhen and Manitoba.

Nutrient flow through the upper Manitoba Great Lakes

In 2016, CEOS expanded the mooring program to include open water sampling at up to 20 stations situated throughout the upper MBGL. At each station we have recorded physical parameters including conductivity, temperature, oxygen and light profiles, and collected water samples to measure water chemistry and biological samples for algae and zooplankton abundance.

Comparison of satellite algorithms for water quality in the upper Manitoba Great Lakes

Current CEOS graduate student programs include remote sensing of algal diversity, biomass and geographical distribution.

Changes in runoff and nutrient loading in major rivers in the Lake Winnipegosis watershed

Graduate student Katelyn Rodgers studies land use/climate forcing of nutrient loading from the watershed.

Water quality monitoring through airborne remote sensing

Graduate student Agoston Fischer's research looks at remote sensing of sediment dynamics in the lakes.

Carbon transport through the freshwater-marine spectrum

Another research program within the MBGL includes work centred on how carbon is transported and modified as it flows through Manitoba rivers and lakes to Hudson Bay.

Greenhouse gas monitoring at the Keeyask Reservoir

MBGL researchers are also conducting a multi-year study devoted to the understanding of the greenhouse gas (GHG) exchange dynamics in the Nelson River. The GHG fluxes are being monitored both pre- and post- flooding of the future Keeyask Hydroelectric reservoir to account for the changes in rate, variability and controls on GHG exchange as the natural peatland and river become part of a reservoir.

Algal biomass and algal toxins

MBGL researchers are also studying nutrient forcing of algal biomass and associated algal toxins. We look at water quality indicators such as chlorophyll, suspended solids and dissolved organic carbon and use them to create visualizations such as maps of chlorophyll concentration in surface water. These methods combined with satellite data can be used for early detection of algal blooms and identify potential sites where algal toxins may occur.

Sampling over the side of a 16 foot boat on Lake Waterhen, MB.
Aluminium mooring pole with ecotriplet and conductivity and temperature sensors attached. For winter under ice deployment – Jan 2021.
Collecting a sample from the Waterhen River, MB, August 2017.
portable analytical spectral device attached to a fiber optic cable (bow of boat) collects reflectance data.
Graduate student Katelyn Rodgers collecting water quality samples in a stream near Waterhen, MB.
East Smart Park pond on University of Manitoba campus.
A flo-through system setup on the Fylgia to measure carbon production due to algae.
Eddy co-variance weather tower at Keeyask sample site.
Algal bloom seen from the shores of Lake Winnipeg, 2015.
Weather Station located at St. Laurent. View facing west.
Photo by Devin Hammett

Weather Keeper Program - Manitoba Métis Federation

Beginning in 2020, CEOS has partnered with the Manitoba Métis Federation to develop a weather keeper program on the upper MBGL. The program is designed to build Métis capacity in water related management activities and increase Métis ability to make science-based decisions about climate and nutrient issues in the basin. These programs will underpin a co-developed and jointly managed monitoring network that will allow for a system-level understanding of how the MBGL respond to land-use change in the watershed, to such major influences as the operation of the Portage Diversion and re-engineering of the Lake Manitoba outlet, and to regional changes in climate.

Explore Weather Keeper program data

Project team

  • Dr. Tim Papakyriakou
    Project Lead

    Dr. Greg McCullough
    Science Advisor 

    Claire Herbert
    Program Manager
    MBGL

    Hedy Kling
    Algal Specialist
    Algal Taxonomy and Ecology Inc.

  • Researchers

    Katelyn Rodgers
    Graduate student

    Agoston Fischer
    Graduate student

    Devin Hammett
    Technician

Impacts and outcomes

Access to clean water is a basic human right. Our research helps the University fulfill its commitment to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 6 - Access to Clean Water and Sanitation.

Benefits to Canada

Currently, the physical, chemical, biological and geological processes in the lakes are not well understood. Therefore, we have a poor ability to predict responses to change in factors such as climate, fishing pressure, and nutrient or contaminant loading from the watershed, or to understand impacts carried downstream to Lake Winnipeg, into Hudson Bay and the arctic. For example, climate change impacts include direct lake warming, which intensifies in-lake chemical and biological processes, and increasingly intense precipitation events. It is likely that this has led to increased runoff and more frequent flooding, and hence, increasing nutrient and contaminant transport from the watershed to the lakes, but we have no data to support this speculation. In Lake Manitoba, commercial catch of the most valuable species, pickerel, has declined by more than half since the 1980s. This may be due to pike in-migration through the Portage Diversion, or to high fishing pressure; we have too little information to know the cause. Most recently, in the summer of 2021, zebra mussel larvae were discovered in Lake Manitoba; again, without better information, the impact of this invasive species is a matter of conjecture. Overall, lake management and governance are being decided without adequate scientific support.

Through our multi-disciplinary research the MBGL program will provide biological and physical data to support science-based decision making in the Hudson Bay Watershed, at local, regional and hemispherical scales.

Reports

Key publications

View a selection of reports and publications related to our work

Lake Winnipeg Special Edition
In 2021, the Journal of Great Lakes Research published a collection of peer reviewed paywalled publications about Lake Winnipeg. MBGL researchers contributed multiple articles to this issue.

View Lake Winnipeg 2021 Special Issue

Related publications

  • Lake Winnipeg Basin Indicator Series
    Environment and Climate Change Canada, Agriculture and Resource Development. 2018. Lake Winnipeg Basin Indicator Series Gatineau, QC. Environment and Climate Change Canada.

  • State of Lake Winnipeg, 2nd Edition, Technical Report
    Environment and Climate Change Canada, Agriculture and Resource Development, Water . 2020. “State of Lake Winnipeg, 2nd Edition, Technical Report.” Gatineau, QC. Environment and Climate Change Canada.

View more related publications

Two scientists observe as a third preserves samples taken from the South Basin of Lake Winnipeg.

Field stories

Students in CEOS conduct research that contributes to the global conversation on climate change and its effects on our planet. From their field research, they write stories and bring photos back from their experiences.

More field stories

Funding and partners

This work has been made possible in part with a contract from Health Canada.

  • environment and climate change canada logo.
  • lake winnipeg foundation logo.
  • algal taxonomy and ecology logo.
  • Manitoba Métis Federation logo.

Contact us

Centre for Earth Observation Science
535 Wallace Building
125 Dysart Rd.
University of Manitoba (Fort Garry campus)
Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2 Canada

ceosinfo@umanitoba.ca
204-474-7602
204-272-1532