About GLAD
The Great Lakes are the largest freshwater system in the world, providing about one fifth of the world’s surface freshwater and nine tenths of the surface freshwater in the United States. The Great Lakes are also among the most sensitive ecosystems in the world to a broad range of toxic contaminant deposition and accumulation. With over 94,000 square miles of surface area, the Great Lakes are very susceptible to atmospheric pollutants that fall with snow or rain (wet deposition) or fall as dust particles (dry deposition) on the lake surface or within the extensive land drainage system.
The Great Lakes Air Deposition program is set up by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) to address the deposition of toxic pollutants, as well as understand how these pollutants adversely affect both human and ecosystem health within the Great Lakes basin. Under the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM), the GLAD program will primarily be used to highlight the need to better understand impacts associated with the deposition of pollutants and what can be done to aid I relief efforts. IDEM hopes to aid in the efforts of maintaining the delicate ecosystem of the Great Lakes by working closely with leading scientists to help further scientifically sound management of atmospheric deposition.
For more information, please contact the GLAD Program Administrator in the Office of Air Quality.
2018 GLAD Documents
2017 Project Spotlight
In 2017, two projects were funded through GLAD:
- The Lake Michigan Air Directors Consortium (LADCO) became a recipient again in 2017 in order to fund a project that involves the analysis of existing mercury (Hg) wet and dry deposition monitoring data from mercury monitoring sites in Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, and Kentucky. LADCO will interpret spatial and temporal patterns, as well as Hg emission source areas associated with statewide atmospheric Hg wet and dry deposition. Their results will be presented in a scientific paper at the conclusion of their study.
- The second recipient of the 2017 GLAD award is Michigan Technological University (MTU), who will use the awarded funds to analyze polychlorinated biphenyl compounds (PCBs) in atmospheric deposition on fish in the Great Lakes. The project aims to answer the following question: Do PCB congener patterns in Great Lakes fish indicate that new policies to reduce atmospheric concentrations of PCBs would lead to more rapid reduction in fish PCB concentrations? Researchers will use existing data collected by U.S. EPA and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) and perform statistical analyses in order to answer this question. Finally, they will present their findings in a scientific paper.
2017 GLAD Documents
2016 Project Spotlight
In 2016, the Lake Michigan Air Directors Consortium (LADCO) became the first recipient of the GLAD grant. LADCO is using the awarded funds in order to monitor mercury deposition at an Atmospheric Mercury Network (AMNet) site in southern Indiana. The data collected will then be analyzed in order to better understand both dry and wet mercury deposition within the Great Lakes region, as well as potential effects on the ecosystem.
2016 GLAD Documents
2016 GLAD Submitted Questions
Q: Does the proposed research need to be conducted within Indiana?
A: No, as long as the research is within the Great Lakes Region, the proposed project is not required to be conducted within Indiana.
Q: Under the formatting section of the solicitation, there is some confusion about how many pages the Summary/Approach should be. Could you please clarify?
A: There was a typo in the original posted solicitation. The Summary/Approach section should be seven (7) pages. The solicitation has been fixed to note this change.