About Jeff Gillies

Jeff Brooks-Gillies has written about science, energy and the environment for going on 10 years. He's a native Michigander who, after a stint in Colorado, lives in Indianapolis with his wife and two kids.

Articles By Jeff Gillies

Great Lakes Tsunami

Lakes

Great Lakes Meteotsunami Experts Hone in on Big Wave Forecasts

Meteotsunamis are big waves that have been historically mislabeled and poorly forecasted in the Great Lakes. Experts are learning more and predictive tools are in sight.

  • Posted July 2, 2018
buoy data

Monitoring Technology

Buoy Data Powers Muskegon Lake Hypoxia Research

Experts call Muskegon Lake a “model Great Lakes estuary.” Two new studies detail its patterns of hypoxia and the ecological effects with unprecedented clarity.

  • Posted April 20, 2018
buoy

Lakes

Little Buoy, Big Waves

A record-setting wave in Lake Superior highlights the value of data buoys in informing the public while inviting speculation about the size of the waves that don’t get measured.

  • Posted February 19, 2018
datalogger

Monitoring Technology

Ready to ‘Soar’: FAU Team Preps Low-Power, Low-Cost Datalogger Rollout

A Florida Atlantic University engineering team is rolling out the ‘Soar,’ its new low-cost, low-power data logging and telemetry platform.

  • Posted February 1, 2018
monitoring

Rivers

White River Monitoring Backs Work to Boost River’s Civic Profile

Water quality monitoring on the recovering White River in Indiana backs work behind the idea that a healthy, accessible river will enrich Indianapolis and its citizens.

  • Posted December 15, 2017
GLOS

Lakes

Lake Erie HAB Monitoring Network Matures to Protect Drinking Water

With a new grant, an ad-hoc monitoring network that sprang up after the Toledo water crisis is maturing into the premier Lake Erie observatory.

  • Posted November 30, 2017
nearshore

Oceans

Drones Go Where Other Tools Can’t When Monitoring Nearshore Water Quality

Where in-situ sensors and boats struggle in monitoring nearshore shallows, sensor-toting aerial drones are emerging as promising tools for the job.

  • Posted October 26, 2017
A monitoring station including a nitrate sensor on the Lower Mississippi River. (Credit: USGS)

Rivers

Paving The Way For The Nutrient Sensor Boom

Federal agencies are preparing for a price drop in nutrient sensor tech that could bring a boom in the number of instruments deployed across the nation.

  • Posted March 31, 2016
This station on Hard Creek supplied some of the study’s small stream data. (Credit: Weyerhaeuser)

Rivers

Three-Decade Stream Temperature Study Shows Regulations Benefits

A 35-year stream temperature study in Washington shows that forestry regulations are helping keep water cooler in a major timber company’s forests.

  • Posted February 19, 2016
Kathleen Weathers. (Credit: M.L. Ferraro)

Lakes

Q&A With Kathleen Weathers: GLEON Co-Chair Talks On Network’s 10th Year

Weathers, co-chair of the Global Lakes Ecological Observatory Network and a biogeochemist at the Cary Institute, comments on the network’s 10th year.

  • Posted July 22, 2015
A stream gauge on the St. John River in Maine. (Credit: USGS)

Rivers

USGS network tracks climate effects on New England hydrology

A USGS network of monitoring stations is helping track the effects of climate change on New England's hydrology.

  • Posted June 26, 2015
Tahoe Environmental Research Center boat captain Brant Allen conducting a Secchi depth measurement (Credit: Geoff Schladow)

Monitoring Technology

Observing 150(ish) years of Secchi disk measurements

It’s been 150 years since, as the legend goes, an Italian Jesuit priest named Angelo Secchi, lowered a white disk into the water of the Mediterranean Sea until it disappeared from sight and measured the depth as an indication of water clarity. It would be a little too convenient...

  • Posted June 25, 2015
The Lake Sunapee buoy is a long-time GLEON site. (Credit: GLEON)

Lakes

GLEON: Ten years of linking lakes and people

The Global Lake Ecological Observatory Network is celebrating ten years of linking lakes, and more importantly, the people who study them.

  • Posted June 24, 2015
The Regional Science Consortium buoy of the shore of Presque Isle State Park in Erie, Pennsylvania (Credit: Doug Nguyen/NexSens Technology)

Fondriest Blog

Friday Follow-up: Buoy captures storm over Lake Erie in data, video

A Lake Erie buoy overseen by the Tom Ridge Environmental Center captured an abrupt storm crossing the lake’s southern coast in May.

  • Posted June 12, 2015
A forested Oregon stream (Credit: Kristine/CC BY-ND 2.0)

Fondriest Blog

Friday Follow-up: Oregon stream temperature study may soon influence logging rules

Nearly four years ago, I covered a study of stream temperatures in Oregon that found that water stayed cooler when logging operations left wider forested buffers along the streams. The study found that, on average, streams didn’t warm at all after harvests on state land, where wider buffers are...

  • Posted May 8, 2015
A satellite image of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico (Credit: NASA)

Fondriest Blog

Looking back five years after Deepwater Horizon and the BP oil spill

The Environmental Monitor didn’t even have a website when the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded five years ago this week, killing 11 workers and leaving behind a gushing well that led to the largest-ever oil spill in U.S. waters. Not than anyone missed out from our lack of reporting...

  • Posted April 24, 2015

Fondriest Blog

Free pH buffer kit with Thermo Orion portable pH meters

On the Fondriest store we’re offering a free pH buffer kit with the purchase of any Thermo Orion Star portable pH meter. See the promotion details here (PDF). These are rugged meters built to handle day-to-day testing. They’re in a waterproof, dustproof housing with an IP67 rating. USB and...

  • Posted April 10, 2015
temperature profiling

Fondriest Blog

New Fondriest Guides: Lake Temperature Profiling, Hydropower DO and Bridge Scour

Fondriest Environmental has assembled new guides to simplify the strategies and equipment required for three more water quality and environmental monitoring applications. Guides for temperature profiling in lakes, monitoring scour at bridges and monitoring dissolved oxygen at hydropower facilities are available now, joining the earlier release of the guide...

  • Posted April 9, 2015

Fondriest Blog

Fondriest Environmental offering instant savings on equipment for the new field season

The Environmental Monitor's publisher, Fondriest Environmental, is running a special spring promotion on equipment from a few of the monitoring industry's top brands.

  • Posted April 3, 2015
Feral hogs are an invasive pest across the U.S., including these photographed in Florida. (Credit: NASA)

Wetlands

GPS collar study helps in Louisiana invasive wild pig problem

A GPS collar tracking study shows how far damaging, invasive wild pigs range in Louisiana marshes, helping control crews with a daunting task.

  • Posted April 1, 2015