Mysterious Floating Island in Muskegan Lake a Result of High Water Levels and Erosion

Boaters and residents along the shoreline spotted the chunk of grasses and vegetation moving as a floating island on Thursday, most likely created by high water levels and shoreline erosion.

If by any chance, an owner of a missing chunk of shoreline would like to reclaim it, it is currently moving about the Muskegon Lake as a floating island.

Boaters and those along the shore have spotted the chunk of grass and other vegetation on Thursday floating in the middle of the lake. It is believed that record-high water levels and shoreline erosion might have caused its separation from the shoreline.

While it is not an extraordinary event, this chunk of shoreline is a big one. In a video shot by Norton Shores, photographer Joe Gee using an aerial drone, showed that a pontoon boat circling it looks small compared to the floating island.

"I've lived my whole life in the Muskegon area, and I've never seen anything like it," said Joe Gee.

High Water and Erosion Caused the Separation of the Chunk of a Shoreline

Upon seeing the video of Gee, Alan D. Steinman, director of the Annis Water Resources Institute at Grand Valley State University, said he was perplexed by the aerial footage of the floating island.

"We have had (floating islands) in the past, but they tend to be much smaller, cattails that break off from a coastal wetland," Steinman said. "This one is bizarre."

Moreover, Fox News reports that Steinman believes that the floating island does not seem to look like any piece of Muskegon Lake shoreline that he is familiar with, as he knows every vegetation along Muskegon Lake's shoreline.

According to him, water moves every which way in Muskegon Lake. "Both out to adjacent Lake Michigan from currents along the lake bottom and the Lake Michigan into Muskegon Lake at the upper part of the water column from prevailing westerly winds," Detroit Free Press reports.

This supports the idea that the island floated into the Muskegon Lake from somewhere else along the Michigan shoreline or across Lake Michigan, says Steinman.

He is genuinely bewildered of the floating island, so he wants to find and get on it, or close to it to figure out the mystery of the floating vegetation. He is even hoping to see the floating island float by his window on Muskegon Lake.

Impact of Michigan Coastline Flooding and Erosion From High Water

On March 2020, M Live reports that Army Corps projected that water levels on all five lakes of Michigan would rise over April, threatening to flood the state's 3,288 miles of shoreline.

One factor of the rise of the water levels in the Great Lake is the rainfall. Michigan has seen record-high rainfall over the past several years, which means that spring rains could flood storm drains and farm fields.

Many shoreline homeowners are grappling with the high water which prompts the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy has already dedicated staff time to fast-track permits for shoreline construction.

With the high water levels and erosion on the five lakes of Michigan, it is no wonder that an islet would appear in Muskegon Lake, but its size is truly a bizarre thing.