BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – A group of University of Vermont students will be studying in a floating classroom this summer. It’s been one year since the Marcelle Melosira docked on Lake Champlain. Since then, students say lessons about lake health have taken on new meaning.
Anna Hoppe lowers a turbidity meter into the murky Lake Champlain water. She’s out on UVM’s research vessel Marcelle Melosira, analyzing debris levels after recent flooding.
A rising sophomore, Hoppe spent many classes on the boat her first year of college, collecting and studying water samples in the on-board lab. She says it’s deepened her appreciation for the lake she grew up on.
“As an environmental science student, I’ve become more aware of the challenges the lake faces by climate change. It really shows,” she said.
This summer, Hoppe is working as a UVM fellow conducting research and taking community members out on the boat for a firsthand glimpse of the work. She says concepts like pollution and flood impacts sink in more out on the water.
“It makes it feel a lot more real and helps those concepts click in your brain,” she said.
Captain Taylor Resnick is at the helm of the vessel. He’s led countless outings, steering UVM students out to take water samples, taking kindergarteners into “Champ territory” and showing state leaders the trickle-down effects of their policies.
“It’s been awesome. People really get excited when they come out on the boat,” Resnick said.
As a boat fanatic, Resnick enjoys showing off the Melosira’s high-tech features like its hybrid-electric system, echo-sounding equipment to map out underwater species and corer for taking samples from the bottom of the lake. He says there’s a lot to study.
“I don’t think people really understand how big the lake is. Once you get out here– and if there’s a good south wind or a good north wind– you can get four-foot, five-foot waves. It’s a pretty fascinating lake to work on,” he said.
That work can inspire researchers to take action on land.
“It really motivated me to think about solutions, what we can be doing to address the problems to make it so that I can go swimming on the beaches and not have them be closed because of cyanobacteria blooms or things like that,” said Hoppe.
The researchers say they’re looking forward to new technology, including a rosette sampler and benthic sled coming aboard in the coming months, allowing even deeper lake exploration.