Posted on 08/09/2006 4:45:18 PM PDT by SierraWasp
LAKE TAHOE Lake Tahoe not losing clarity, test shows
- Carl T. Hall Wednesday, August 9, 2006
Lake Tahoe's water clarity is nothing like it used to be, but the latest measurements revealed Tuesday that at least the murk doesn't seem to be getting any murkier.
UC Davis scientists said the lake was clear to an average depth of 72.4 feet in 2005, based on how far from the surface they could see a white dinner-plate-size measuring tool known as a "Secchi disk." The disk is lowered every seven to 10 days at two locations. The depth at which the plate disappears, averaged for each year, is recorded as the lake's "Secchi depth."
The 2005 measurement was marginally shallower than the 73.6 feet reported for 2004, but remained well within the recent range, which has varied from 67.3 feet in 2000 to 78 feet in 2002. In 1968, when the measurements began, the Secchi depth was an average of 102.4 feet.
Environmental managers are working on a long-range restoration plan for the Lake Tahoe basin and use water clarity as one measure of the lake's health. Scientists discount year-to-year changes in clarity because of the transitory effects of precipitation. Lake clarity is affected mostly by the amount of algae and fine particles in the lake, which can enter from the atmosphere or seasonal runoff.
In a news release, Julie Regan, communications director of the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, said the latest clarity number is "encouraging," but also underscores "how crucial it is to stay the course in our efforts to restore Lake Tahoe and to preserve it for future generations."
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Wull... whateryew doin up there? Everybudy knows dat Wershingtun ain't near as good as Cauleeforneeah!!! (Arnoild's pronunciation)
But, before you react too strongly, I realize that the geological timeline is more cryptic that the prophecies buried in the tombs of Egypt... But when mutha naychur decides to "blow up those boxes," she gits 'er done!!! (unlike Arnoiled Schwartzenrenegger)
We're sittin here waitin for the big blowhard to come to the microphone to give us a news conference, or some such!!! (listening to the radio)
Were you aware he slapped a humoungous Sierra-Nevada CONservancy land-use governmental body over the entire 25 million acres of the Sierra-Nevada range? 1/5th of CA!!!
He's on now proclaiming he jumped the gun just to look good! (just kidding)
Those are truly beautiful pictures!!!
We used to have a place at Marla Bay near Zephyr Cove.A true paradise on Earth.
Ever swam to the island in Emerald Bay?
Man,that will TEST you!
The posting of this picture is what will keep me from losing my mind at work tonight!
Thanks,Riverman,who"summered"at Tahoe from 1948-1971.
Lake Tahoe was originally named for former California Governor, John Bigler. The name was changed to the Indian name of Tahoe during the Civil War because Bigler was pro-secessionist. Mark Twain wrote an editorial blasting the name change in the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise...
"I yearn for the scalp of the soft-shell crab, be he injun or white man, who conceived of that spoony, slobbering, summer complaint of a name. Why, if I had a complaint against a half-price n*gg*r, I wouldn't be mean enough to call him by such an epithet as that."
My guess is that the pollen count is pretty steady, regardless of the condition of the forest, compared to the difference between a young forest after a fire versus a decadent forest full of rotting biomass. There may be a lot of pollen, but given the historical data the lake can clearly handle that amount.
Another weird fact! There a tree trunks preserved over 200 feet deep in Lake tahoe with over 200 rings!!!
I mean there's the golf course fertilizers that feed the algea that everybody keeps screaming about as a token of all the dastardly development by greedy capitalistic devilish developers/speculators for fun and profit in the evil America that allows such sport at the expense of the fragile, pristine environment!!!(dripping sarcasm in response to a total overload of militant environmentalistic rhetoric for the past 40 years)
I didn't believe it was that much, so I checked. We may both be wrong.
According to the USGS, Lake Tahoe has an average depth of 1000 feet and covers 191 square miles, or 191,000 square-mile-feet.
According to Encyclopedia Britannica, the floor of the Central Valley is about 18,000 square miles.
Dividing, (191,000 square miles * feet) / (18,000 square miles) and we obtain 10.6 feet of coverage, not one foot.
California covers 163,707 square miles.
Dividing, (191,000 square miles * feet) / (163,707 square miles) and we obtain 1.16667 feet, or 14 inches of depth covering the entire state, which is confirmed elsewhere.
Let's steal people's property so we can see the damn disc!
Nonsense! Gentrification is a natural process, and if man never set foot there it would still be happening.
Another theory is that a siezemic slide dammed Tahoe up to where it is today, drowning those trees.
Thanks for checking out the inland sea concept and finding out we were both wrong. Amazing, isn't it?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.