Potential Impacts to Great Lakes Water Data and Safety

Reason for concern

We want to let our community know about some concerning news regarding NOAA, the Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS), and the possible serious effect on GLOS and our partners.

Several reports, including the articles below, describe major cuts in the President’s proposed budget for 2026. These cuts would terminate NOAA’s Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR), slash the National Ocean Service (NOS) budget, and eliminate IOOS entirely. If IOOS is eliminated, GLOS would also shut down.

If passed, these extraordinary funding cuts would negatively impact the whole nation. In the Great Lakes, we would lose vital observing tools in the water and access to trusted, public data about lake conditions – putting public safety, maritime commerce, and environmental protection at risk.

What’s at stake?

GLOS is the Great Lakes’ leading source for real-time water data. As an IOOS Regional Association, we have long-standing, trusted relationships across all the Great Lakes states and the extended region. We work closely with user groups to deliver data and applications that help local businesses and support safety, while also improving national weather and marine forecasts via real-time data provided by GLOS.

Wisconsin Public Radio – WWMT | News Channel 3

These proposed cuts would force GLOS to remove equipment from the water and shut down partnerships with private-sector innovators to fill critical mapping data gaps. This would also threaten progress on a key effort in Congress; the reintroduced H.R.7020 Great Lakes Mapping Act is a bipartisan bill to direct lakefloor mapping of the world’s largest freshwater system. Mapping the lakebed is the next frontier in our work — one that directly supports emergency response, water quality protection, and economic development.

This critical information protects Great Lakes communities and residents by reducing the risk of weather- and lake-caused damage and loss of life.

IOOS and GLOS efficiently use all of the funding they receive to maximize the impact of investment. Multiple studies have shown every dollar invested in IOOS and ocean and Great Lakes observing provides about a five dollar return on investment through data products.

IOOS and GLOS data support:

• The U.S. Coast Guard, via high frequency radar for search and rescue
• Ports and vessel pilots, through wave, wind, and water level data for safe navigation — e.g., from the Port of Duluth across Lake Superior
• Water treatment and public health, via real-time harmful algal bloom alerts for plant operators and Great Lakes recreators
• Flood forecasting, with surface current and wave data for National Weather Service offices
• Great Lakes Fisheries Commission and resource managers, by data collection and models to support NOAA Integrated Ecosystem Assessments for regional fisheries quotas and sustainable resource use
• Weather forecasts, with ~11 million meteorological observations that IOOS regions provide annually to the National Weather Service via the global telecommunications system (GTS)

Without government support, all that goes away.

If GLOS loses its funding, Seagull goes away.

Thank you for your continued support. We do this for you and we couldn’t do it without you.