Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2025

Department

Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering

Abstract

Increasing magnitudes of precipitation and evaporation are predicted for future climate change. Knowing whether these trends are occurring can help water managers plan with respect to future erosion, flooding, and design changes for shoreline infrastructure. Data from all the Laurentian Great Lakes (Erie, Michigan-Huron, Ontario, St. Clair, and Superior) were analyzed here to determine whether these trends are being realized. The MovingStatistics Method is used here using the moving average and moving standard deviation. It was found that Lakes Erie and St. Clair had the highest moving average trend of 0.5 mm/month, while Lake Ontario had the highest moving standard deviation trend (also 0.2 mm/month). Lake Superior had a decreasing moving average, while Lakes Erie, Michigan-Huron, and St. Clair had decreasing values of moving standard deviation. All lakes had moving average values greater than the measurement margin of error except Lake Superior. It is concluded that Great Lakes water levels have changed in the past and probably continue to change in the future. Property owners land managers can use these results to plan future budgets.

Publisher's Statement

© 2025. Copyright for this article is retained by the author(s), with first publication rights granted to the journal. https://doi.org/10.5539/jsd.v18n2p15

Publication Title

Journal of Sustainable Development

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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