White Shoal

Latitude: 45°50'32" N
Longitude: 85°8'7" W
Site Elevation: 177 meters above sea level

Construction of the White Shoal Light 20 miles west of the Mackinac Bridge began in 1907 after Congress appropriated $250,000 for a light and fog signal to replace a lightship serving at White Shoal. The 125 foot tall lighthouse was completed in 1911 and continued to stay staffed until 1976 when the light became automated. When originally built, the lighthouse tower was white, then in 1927 it was changed to a black tower, and in 1937 it was changed back to white. In 1954 the tower received its current distinctive red and white spiral bands. In May 2014 the lighthouse was deemed excess by the Coast Guard and was made available for purchase under the guidelines of the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act.

An eddy covariance station was place at the top of Spectacle Reef Lighthosue in 2012 by Dr. Peter Blanken from the University of Boulder-Colorado. The eddy covariance station along with other ancillary meteorological instrumentation are 43 meters above the water surface. Meteorological data from the lighthouse are sent to the National Data Buoy Center where they can be viewed in real-time at http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.php?station=wslm4

Photos from the installation in 2012 can be viewed on Youtube.