Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

This site is currently in beta, and your feedback is helping shape its ongoing development.

Return to search results

Great Lakes Environmental Database (GLENDA)

Published by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 5 | U.S. Environmental Protection Agency | Metadata Last Checked: August 03, 2025 | Last Modified: 2019-09-20
The Great Lakes Environmental Database (GLENDA) houses environmental data collected by EPA Great Lakes National Program Office (GLNPO) programs that sample water, aquatic life, sediments, and air to assess the health of the Great Lakes ecosystem. GLENDA is available to the public on the EPA Central Data Exchange (CDX). A CDX account is required, which anyone may create. GLENDA offers “Ready to Download Data Files” prepared by GLNPO or a “Query Data” interface that allows users to select from predefined parameters to create a customized query. Query results can be downloaded in .csv format. GLNPO programs providing data in GLENDA include the Great Lakes Water Quality Survey and Great Lakes Biology Monitoring Program (1983-present, biannual monitoring throughout the Great Lakes to assess water quality, chemical, nutrient, and physical parameters, and biota such as plankton and benthic invertebrates), the Great Lakes Fish Monitoring and Surveillance Program (1977-present, annual analysis of top predator fish composites to assess historic and emerging persistent, bioaccumulative, or toxic chemical contaminants), the Cooperative Science and Monitoring Initiative (2002-present, intensive water quality and biology sampling of one lake per year focusing on key challenges and data gaps), the Great Lakes Integrated Atmospheric Deposition Network (1990-present, monitoring Great Lakes air and precipitation for persistent toxic chemicals), the Lake Michigan Mass Balance Study (1993-1996, analyzed the atmosphere, tributaries, sediments, water column, and biota of Lake Michigan for nutrients, atrazine, PCBs, trans-nonachlor, and mercury modelling), and the Great Lakes Legacy Act (1996-present, evaluations of sediment contamination in Areas of Concern). GLENDA is updated frequently with new data.

data.gov

An official website of the GSA's Technology Transformation Services

Looking for U.S. government information and services?
Visit USA.gov