Clear Lake, one among California’s oldest and most-visited lakes, just isn’t so clear anymore after an algal bloom turned the water cloudy and inexperienced.
Photos from NASA underscore the dramatic change in water high quality on the Northern California vacationer vacation spot. Clear Lake is in Lake County about 120 miles north of San Francisco.
The bloom could also be comprised of blue-green algae, or cyanobacteria, which produce microcystin, “a potent toxin that may irritate the pores and skin and trigger liver and kidney injury,” the Nationwide Aeronautics and House Administration wrote.
The picture under reveals the lake on Might 16, 2023, (left) and the identical date this 12 months (proper). The algal ranges had been considerably decrease right now final 12 months, as evidenced by the clear change in water coloration.
Algal blooms have been frequent in Clear Lake’s lengthy historical past, however have grown extra frequent with human exercise within the final century, in response to NASA.
“Runoff from close by farms, vineyards, defective septic programs, gravel mines, and an deserted open-pit mercury mine contributes to water high quality points within the lake,” NASA wrote.
A satellite tv for pc picture from the Nationwide Aeronautics and House Administration reveals Northern California’s Clear Lake throughout an algal bloom on Might 15, 2024.
(NASA Earth Observatory, Wanmei Liang)
Moreover, they wrote, some vitamins exist within the lake mattress’s sediment and are blended into the water by waves and nonnative carp.
The NASA satellite tv for pc picture under reveals the lake in larger element. The principle algal bloom, within the high left of the lake, is darkish and cloudy.
The picture was taken Might 15 in the course of the peak of the seen bloom. Toxicity monitoring knowledge from Might 8 didn’t but present the bloom, and the following sampling is not going to happen till June 4.
At 43,000 acres, Clear Lake is the most important pure freshwater lake in California, probably the oldest lake in North America.
The lake is the centerpiece for a number of communities within the rural Lake County space, together with Lakeport, Clearlake, Kelseyville, Glenhaven and a number of other others.
The principle points of interest — boating, fishing and swimming — could also be affected by the algal bloom for weeks to come back, officers warn.
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