Recent changes in Lake Erie have created a dead zone that stretches from the Lake Erie Islands north of Sandusky, Ohio, to Erie, Pa. After witnessing a rebounding lake from polluted conditions two decades ago, the turnabout in lake conditions has sent the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and a score of scientists out on the lake this summer to find out why.

Case Western Reserve University scientists under the direction of Gerald Matisoff, professor of geological sciences, will participate in the EPA's two-year, $2 million study that began June 17.

The Lake Guardian left the federal marine terminal in Cleveland for three, weeklong trips this summer to more than 20 research sites throughout the lake to take water and sediment samples to find out why chlorophyll levels are historically low, why phosphorous levels have increased when the amount entering the lake has decreased and why the "dead zone" is devoid of oxygen in the summer.

The EPA vessel, which regularly visits the various Great Lakes, will spend an extra 35 days on Lake Erie for intensive study this summer by CWRU and some other 20 universities from the U.S. and Canada.

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