Tahoe Science Projects supported by SNPLMA Monitoring past,
present, and future water quality using remote sensing (RS) Our
current view of water quality in Lake Tahoe depends heavily on
data records from two points within the lake and the points
where some of the streams enter the lake. These point data do
not provide the temporal and spatial detail needed to understand
the changes taking place at different parts of the lake (such as
the nearshore zone), and the linkage between the lake
observations and the input sources. The intent of this project
was to demonstrate the use of remote sensing for measuring water
quality parameters at Lake Tahoe. One of the major benefits of
this approach would be that a whole-lake view of water quality
changes would be possible, even extending into the nearshore
where discrete sources of pollutants could be identified. Linked
to this was the possibility that through using archived
satellite data, long-term trends in other parts of the lake
(beyond the two sites currently mon