How an International Collaboration is Helping Tahoe Prepare for Climate Impacts
Thanks to a partnership with Italian researchers, Lake Tahoe is proactively addressing future climate-related changes expected by the end of the century.
Projected Changes in Lake Tahoe
Scientists, including Sudeep Chandra, PhD, professor and limnologist at the University of Nevada, Reno, anticipate that Lake Tahoe will stop mixing between 2070 and 2100. This process redistributes oxygen and nutrients throughout the water column, and its absence could pose new challenges in lake management.
Lessons from Italian Lakes
For lakes like Maggiore and Iseo in Italy, the cessation of mixing began around 2006 due to milder winters preventing surface water from cooling enough to mix with bottom water. Italian researcher Barbara Leoni has been monitoring these lakes alongside Veronica Nava. These lakes, structurally similar to Tahoe, provide valuable insights for Tahoe’s future.
“We’re trying to get ahead of this issue that will arise as the climate changes so managers can create progressive policies which manage for a new lake future,”— Sudeep Chandra
Collaborative Research Efforts
During sampling in October, Chandra, Leoni, and Nava emphasized that their collaboration aims to gather a decade's worth of research, lessons, and insights from the Italian lakes to inform Tahoe’s management strategies ahead of its transition away from mixing.
This international effort provides a proactive approach, leveraging lessons from Italian lakes to prepare Tahoe for climate-induced changes in lake behavior.