Following Explosion, UMD Researchers Interested in Black Carbon Levels in Lake Superior

DULUTH, Minn. — Less than a week since the refinery explosion in Superior, scientists from UMD’s Large Lakes Observatory are launching a research mission to study the waters of Lake Superior.

Last Thursday, the Twin Ports watched as thick black smoke poured into the air from an explosion at Husky Energy’s Superior Refinery.

The smoke plume was so massive it could be seen from miles away.

Dr. Kathryn Schreiner, an Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, is among a team of UMD researchers interested in collecting samples from the water on Lake Superior.

“We will collect out particulate carbon – so, pieces of carbon,” Dr. Schreiner explains. “We will also analyze carbon that is dissolved in the water column. And we do that using light, actually, because carbon absorbs light.”

The research team is using their smaller vessel called the Kingfisher.

They are specifically looking to measure the levels of black carbon that were potentially added to the water from the smoke plume.

“Black carbon is a really natural thing. It comes from any sort of fire, right?” Dr. Schreiner said. “So forest fires produce a lot of black carbon, our shipping industry produces a lot; so it’s a very natural thing to have in our harbor.”

And the overall goal is to see if and how the black carbon will affect the micro-organisms that live in the great lake.

Dr. Cody Sheik is a microbiologist who works at the LLO.

“This just gives us another way of actually thinking about how microorganisms degrade things like oil, right? This is a big process,” Dr. Sheik said. “And we have very little information about how that process works for large lakes like Lake Superior.”

Thanks to funding from the Minnesota Sea Grant, these researchers are hoping to make several more missions like this is in the coming months.