Murray, Ky.–July 22, 1988 marked the beginning of a new era for the scientific study of Kentucky Lake. On that date, three faculty and staff from Murray State University’s Hancock Biological Station boarded a pontoon boat early in the morning and began regular monitoring of one of the largest reservoirs in the eastern United States.
Now, more than 30 years later, this effort will reach a significant landmark with the occurrence of the 600th monitoring cruise in March 2019. During this time, more than 260 faculty, students, and staff from Murray State’s departments of biological sciences, chemistry, and earth and environmental sciences have participated in the Kentucky Lake monitoring program.
Monitoring efforts have focused on measuring long term water quality and biological changes in Kentucky Lake. The resulting data are housed and maintained at the Hancock Biological Station. The data are used by government agencies, university researchers, corporations, and the general public.
Such large data sets are rare but vital for the evaluation of environmental change, including the effects of invasive species such as silver carp and zebra mussels. The biological station’s boats remain central to the monitoring program, but other technology has been incorporated. Satellite imagery of Kentucky Lake has been used throughout the study period and real time, continuous measurements of water temperature, oxygen levels, and other water quality indicators were added over a decade ago.
For access to the real-time data and for more information about the Kentucky Lake monitoring program, visit murraystate.edu/hbs.