The UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center has released its annual Tahoe: State of the Lake Report for 2016 — a year marked by the hottest temperatures on record followed by a winter of unprecedented levels of rain and snow in the Sierra Nevada mountains.
The report summarizes data collected in 2016 as part of the center’s ongoing, decades-long measurement programs, while also presenting research driven by important questions of the day. This includes how drought has impacted Tahoe’s forests, and the lake’s response to increasing levels of algae on the shoreline, climate change, and invasive species. It also takes a first look at what new technologies, including autonomous underwater vehicles, are finding in the deepest parts of the lake.