Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Center
Explore the shipwrecks of Thunder Bay without getting wet! The Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Center has over 8,000 square feet of innovative exhibit space including artifacts, models, exhibits – featuring Science on a Sphere, and documentaries on shipwrecks in and around the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary.  Classroom, group and special interest tours, programs, and films are available by reservation.  Contact the sanctuary at 989-356-8805 or email: thunderbay@noaa.gov to book a tour, or to see a full list of presentation offerings. Spring 2008 will see new permanent exhibits throughout the building – stay tuned for new things to see and to at the Center. (click here for pdf)

The Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Trail

A new feature of the Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Center campus – opening July 4, 2007 – is the Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Trail.  This waterfront park has been developed through a grant from the Michigan Department of Transportation put forward with the City of Alpena, Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary and local developers Alpena Marc LLC.  The park gives the public access to the north bank of the Thunder Bay River for the first time since the mid 1800s.  The Trail from the Second Street bridge to the Ninth Street bridge includes a boardwalk, dockage for tall ships and research vessels, 20 historic markers, a new foot bridge to Rotary Island Park, and plenty of places to sit, picnic, play, and relax.

Science on a Sphere

Researchers at NOAA developed Science on a Sphere as an educational tool to help illustrate Earth System science to people of all ages. Animated images of atmospheric storms, climate change, and ocean temperature can be shown on the sphere, which is used to explain what are sometimes complex environmental processes, in a way that is simultaneously intuitive and captivating. Visit the Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Center to experience Science on a Sphere (click here) .

Telepresence at Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary

Take part in underwater expeditions LIVE around the sanctuary system and around the world!  Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary is an Immersion Presents partner, accessing special programming in our telepresence theater at various times throughout the year. Immersion Presents is a fun and powerful science education program for kids in grades 5-8. Famed oceanographer and explorer Dr. Robert Ballard founded Immersion Presents in 2002, and since then he’s brought hundreds of thousands of kids and their families along with him on amazing scientific expeditions throughout the world. Check our homepage (www.thunderbay.noaa.gov) for the latest telepresence broadcast schedule at the Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Center.