Great Lakes ice coverage. (Photo Credit: Great Lakes Outreach Media)

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Shrinking Winter

SEGMENT 1 | Ann Arbor, MI; Muskegon, MI; all five lakes

Fifty years of observations make one thing clear: Great Lakes ice cover is declining. What does that mean for the lakes? And for the living beings that depend on them? We don’t know. The role of winter in the life of the Great Lakes is understudied, partly because freezing temperatures and ice make it hard to do anything on the lakes — including research. Now scientists are racing to fill in the gaps in our understanding, but how will they do it?

UPDATE: Great Lakes Now checked in with the scientists behind this segment about their work. Watch it on YouTube.

Here is other Great Lakes Now work on:

Cold Cover: Great Lakes ice forms after initial low percentage

Great Lakes researchers predict record-low ice coverage

Minnesota lake ice shrinking as climate change warms winters

Report: Warming climate will challenge Great Lakes states

Michigan is on thin ice. Get used to it, climate experts say.

Great Lakes Moment: Warmer, wetter, wilder

Documentary photographer Amy Sacka and her father Tim Sacka spend time on a pond near Lake St Clair. (Photo Credit: GLN)

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Angling For Ice

SEGMENT 2 | Lake St Clair Metropark MI, Houghton Lake MI, Fort William First Nation, Ontario

The Great Lakes region is full of natural beauty all year round. No one knows this better than photographer Amy Sacka, whose most recent project “Last Ice” is focused on the tradition of ice fishing. But Sacka kept hearing one thing as she traveled around the lakes to take pictures: there’s less ice than there used to be.

Ice fishing is a pastime, a tradition, an industry, and a food source—and declining Great Lakes ice cover means sometimes it’s impossible.

UPDATE: Great Lakes Now checked in with Sacka about what she’s been documenting around the Great Lakes recently. Watch it on YouTube.

Here is other Great Lakes Now work on: 

On Michigan’s inland lakes, ice fishing with less ice, and fewer fish

Warm weather has ice fishing industry on thin ice

Ontario’s Ice Fishing Extremes (A Great Lakes Now video)

Competitive speed skater Brian Hansen enjoys skating outdoors on wild ice. (Photo Credit: GLN)

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Milwaukee Speed Skater

SEGMENT 3 | Milwaukee, WI

Brian Hansen is a three-time Olympic speed skater, but these days, he’s leaving the indoor rinks and exploring “wild ice,” on rivers and harbors and floating ice islands. For skaters, these natural surfaces bring incredible surroundings—and some very real safety concerns.

Here is other Great Lakes Now work on: 

Warm winter changes — but can’t stop — outdoor fun