Tahoe Tree Mortality Increases in 2017
KTVN - December 27, 2017 - Last winter's record snowpack appears to be having a positive impact on the amount of trees that died this year in the Sierra Nevada. In fact, California saw a decrease in tree deaths from 62 million in 2016, to 27 million in 2017. "Possibly, what we've seen is there could be some ...more
Explorit: Augmented reality creates watershed moment at Explorit
The Davis Enterprise - November 24, 2017 - A brand-new exhibit is landing in Explorit’s gallery, just in time for the holiday season. Come visit our new watershed model to create various land forms by manipulating sand, then trigger a digital projection of “rainfall” and watch where the water moves in the ...more
How Protecting Water Helps Industry and Nature
Water makes up nearly three-quarters of the Earth’s surface and more than half of every human’s body weight. It is essential to life itself. Yet, increasingly, the planet’s rivers, lakes and oceans are under assault from human-led stresses in the form of a warming climate, ocean acidification, overfishing, and commercial and recreational ...more
Report: Lake Tahoe is warming 14 times faster than average
North Lake Tahoe Bonanza - August 1, 2017 - The University of California, Davis, Tahoe Environmental Research Center released its annual State of the Lake report evaluating the health of Lake Tahoe and the surrounding landscape on July 27. The report highlights the severity of the ever-increasing number of dead and dying trees near Lake Tahoe, ...more
Lake Tahoe warming at unprecedented rate, scientists say
The Weather Network - July 28, 2017 - In the last four years, the average surface temperature of Lake Tahoe has risen 0.5 degrees per year — 14 times faster than the long-term warming rate, according to an annual report issued Thursday by the UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center. “It's going up on average,” Geoff Schladow, director of the UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center, and author of the State of Lake Tahoe, ...more
Annual Report Card for Tahoe Is In
KTVN - July 28, 2017 - The water level at Tahoe is passing the test this year. However the latest report card for the lake is not as clear. "The grade is an incomplete because the story is constantly changing," said Geoffrey Schladow of UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center. It's hard to predict where Tahoe will be in a year. After all, who would ...more
Lake Tahoe's waters continue to warm, and thousands of trees are dying
Sacramento Bee - July 27, 2017 - Lake Tahoe’s famously clear waters continue to warm, and the surrounding forests face dire threats due to drought, disease and insects, according to the annual Tahoe State of the Lake report by researchers at UC Davis. ...more
Dead trees double in number at Lake Tahoe
KCRA - July 27, 2017 - It's the crown jewel of the West, but Lake Tahoe is losing tens of thousands of trees each year. A UC Davis study released Thursday found the number of dead trees in the Tahoe basin has doubled in the past year to roughly 70,000 due to the previous drought. "When you have more dead and dying trees, the fire risk is ...more
Pummeled by drought and climate change, beloved Lake Tahoe in hot water
SF Gate - July 27, 2017 - Lake Tahoe and the community around it are increasingly battered by climate change and drought, with the lake’s temperature climbing 10 times faster than the historic average in the past four years and algae threatening the Sierra ...more
Boaters can help prevent spread of invasive species
Tahoe Weekly - July 26, 2017 - If you are one of the many recreational boaters who enjoys wake sport activities, you may be unwittingly contributing to the spread of aquatic invasive species (AIS). Be sure to fill and empty your boat’s ballast tanks at least a mile offshore over deep water, according to the UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research ...more
Tahoe Science Logbook: Responsible boating continues after passing your inspection
Tahoe Daily Tribune - July 24, 2017 - If you are one of the many recreational boaters who enjoys wake sport activities, you may be unwittingly contributing to the spread of aquatic invasive species (AIS). Be sure to fill and empty your boat's ballast tanks at ...more
Tahoe Transportation Plan Works To Improve Lake Clarity And End Gridlock
Capital Public Radio News - July 20, 2017 - The population at Lake Tahoe swells by up to five times its year-round population on busy summer weekends. The influx of tourists taxes an infrastructure designed for fewer people. The problem started decades ago, when highways and city streets in the Tahoe basin were designed. Engineers laid out plans ...more
Report: Climate change harming Lake Tahoe clarity
Reno Gazette Journal - May 18, 2017 - Lake Tahoe’s famous clarity took a hit last summer thanks to the “continuing effects of climate change,” according to a report posted Thursday. It’s the second consecutive year climate change contributed to reduced seasonal lake clarity, the report stated.
Although climate change contributed to murkier ...more
Climate and Ecology Linked to Lake Tahoe Clarity Decline in 2016
Press Release - May 18, 2017 - Clarity levels at Lake Tahoe in 2016 increased in winter and decreased in summer in 2016. The summer values were due to the continuing effects of climate change, according to researchers at the University of California, Davis. The summer declines ...more
Tahoe Science Logbook: Big winter may mean more algae growth in Lake Tahoe
Sierra Sun Times - May 16, 2017 - Kayakers and paddle boarders enjoying Lake Tahoe’s shoreline may see more algae this spring and early summer than in the past several years. Algae are small microscopic plants that use the sun’s energy and nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) in the ...more
Beneath the Ice in Antartica - From Pole to Pole, Underwater Robots Help Predict How and When Ice Shelves Collapse
UC Davis News - May 8, 2017 - To outer space and the deep ocean, add “beneath the ice” to the list of rarely charted frontiers of science exploration. There have been very few expeditions where robots dived beneath polar ice shelves to characterize and measure them. ...more
Tahoe Science Logbook: Winter weather does not stop research at Lake Tahoe
Tahoe Daily Tribune - April 17, 2017 - Everyone loves a big winter (especially when it follows a multi-year drought) and this was certainly a big winter. And despite technically being spring, there are plenty of days it still feels like winter. Skiers whoop ...more
Sierra Nevada’s small, remote lakes hold climate clues
Las Vegas Sun - February 18, 2017 - Anyone with an internet connection can see temperature and air sampling data that shows Earth is warming due to humans burning fossil fuels. But when it comes to learning what climate change means to ...more
Tahoe Scientist: 'We're living in a climate change affected world right now'
Sierra Sun - February 13, 2017 - Back in August the Sierra sun reported that researchers found that Lake Tahoe's temperature is rising at its fastest rate yet. Last week, we learned it isn't the only one. Researchers have found that temperatures are rising at a higher rate in mountain environments than they ...more
An advanced way of learning
Fremont Tribune - February 13, 2017 - It's not every day a person has the opportunity to see Fremont Public Schools' superintendent playing in a sand box, but that's exactly what Mark Shepard, and several other administrators, were doing prior to Monday's Board of Education meeting. Shepard and others, however ...more
Tahoe level up 2.83 feet in 2017
The Record-Courier - February 12, 2017 - More than 118 billion gallons of water was added to Lake Tahoe in the first six weeks of 2017. Between Jan. 1 and Feb. 9, Tahoe's level rose 2.83 feet to 6,226.15 feet, more than 3 feet above the natural rim. A single warm storm on Dec. 9-11 added 8.69 billion gallons of water ...more
Sierra Nevada lakes hold climate clues
Reno Gazette-Journal - February 11, 2017 - Anyone with an internet connection can see temperature and air sampling data shows Earth is warming due to humans burning fossil fuels. But when it comes to learning what climate change means to pristine Sierra ...more
Tahoe Science Logbook: What is TERC?
Tahoe Daily Tribune - February 11, 2017 - "All visitors to this beautiful lake are struck with the extraordinary transparency of the water." - John LeConte, 1883. The clarity of Lake Tahoe has been significant for both literary and scientific notables, alike. ...more