Argonne at 50

Research vessel provided clues to Great Lakes' pollution

ARGONNE, Ill. (Oct. 25, 1996) — An important chapter in Argonne National Laboratory's long history of environmental research was opened on Oct. 25, 1978, with the commissioning of the research vessel "Ekos."

During commissioning ceremonies held in a cold, autumn rain, the American flag was raised on the mast of the Ekos, a floating laboratory for studying the effects of energy-related pollutants on the Great Lakes and other inland waterways. The vessel's name -- derived from the Greek root of the word ecology, meaning house or habitat -- recognized the Ekos' environmental research mission.

The Ekos was built by Halter Marine, Inc. of New Orleans, La. and was launched near the Crescent City in late August 1978. Weighing 50 tons, the vessel was a modified version of a fast work boat designed to deliver men and supplies to off-shore drilling rigs. It had a range of 400 miles at cruising speeds of up to 18.5 miles per hour.

By early September, it had passed its acceptance trials and was on its way to Argonne via the Mississippi and Illinois rivers with Argonne researchers as its crew. Even as it made its way north, research began with sediment and water samples collected in the Gulf of Mexico and the outer Mississippi River Delta, continuing northward and including the lower reaches of eight major tributaries of the Mississippi.

The ship's home base was near the mouth of the Chicago River, just inside the locks. From there, the Ekos had ready access to Lake Michigan in all seasons, and was used in a wide variety of environmental projects.

Using Ekos, researchers established monitoring stations on lakes Michigan and Huron and were able to routinely gather and analyze samples of water, bottom sediment and plankton.

Through samples and information obtained by the Ekos crew, researchers were able to trace cadmium contamination in Lake Michigan from its point of entry to its point of deposit. Argonne scientists determined that about 40 percent of the cadmium entering southern Lake Michigan did so in rain. Another 20 percent deposited on the lake in dry form, and less than half entered the southern portion of the lake by stream discharge, sewage or runoff.

Other research carried out on Ekos included studies of the biological effects of different types of contamination on marine life and geological studies.

The vessel remained in full use until September 1981 and was permanently removed from service in 1983.

The nation's first national laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory conducts basic and applied scientific research across a wide spectrum of disciplines, ranging from high-energy physics to climatology and biotechnology. Since 1990, Argonne has worked with more than 600 companies and numerous federal agencies and other organizations to help advance America's scientific leadership and prepare the nation for the future. Argonne is managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science.

For more information, please contact Donna Jones Pelkie (630/252-5501 or djpelkie@anl.gov) at Argonne.