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Research Center (TERC)
Tahoe Environmental Research Center
The Tahoe Environmental Research Center (TERC) is dedicated to research, education
and public outreach on lakes and their surrounding watersheds and airsheds. Lake
ecosystems include the physical, biogeochemical and human environments, and the
interactions among them. The Center is committed to providing objective scientific
information for restoration and sustainable use of the Lake Tahoe Basin.
New 3-D Movie "Lake Tahoe in Depth" Available at Science Education Center
Visit the Thomas J. Long Foundation Education Center in Incline Village to see the
new 3-D movie "Lake Tahoe in Depth" now available in the Otellini 3-D
Visualization Lab. You can see into the lake, under the water, and around the watershed.
Lake Tahoe is affected by many impacts including urbanization, loss of clarity,
invasive species and climate change. This tour provides the underlying geologic
history of the basin for a better understanding of these issues.[more...]
Attached algae or “periphyton” growth peaks in spring at Lake Tahoe
This time of year the UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center (TERC) receives
many phone calls and emails from locals and visitors with concerns about the algae
growth they see. Spring, with its increasing solar radiation, is the time when growth
of attached algae (periphyton) is usually the heaviest...[more...]
View Historic Papers About Lake Tahoe
Professor John Le Conte of the State University, Berkeley, California, was an American
scientist and academic. He presented the results of his physical studies of Lake
Tahoe in three elaborate chapters presented in the November and December 1883 and
January 1884 editions of the Overland Monthly. View three historic scientific papers
on Lake Tahoe:
Lake Tahoe Clarity Continues to Hold Steady in 2009
Lake Tahoe clarity held steady in 2009 for the ninth year in a row, but remains
significantly poorer than in previous decades, according to UC Davis scientists
who have monitored the lake for more than 40 years.
The lake was clear to an average depth of 68.1 feet in 2009, the researchers found.
That’s down from 102.4 feet in 1968, when UC Davis researchers first measured the
lake’s clarity...[more...]
Tahoe Research Center Among 'Greenest' Buildings
The home of the UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center has been named one
of only five science laboratories in the world to receive a Platinum LEED Certification
from the U.S. Green Building Council. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental
Design. The building council recognizes several levels of energy- and environmental-design
excellence; platinum is its highest award.
Located in Incline Village, Nev., the Tahoe Center is a 45,000-square-foot facility
that houses UC Davis research laboratories and a free, public education center;
Sierra Nevada College laboratories and classrooms; and office space for the Desert
Research Institute and University of Nevada, Reno's Academy for the Environment.
All of these functions are focused on understanding and preserving the unique ecology
of the Lake Tahoe watershed.[more...]
The University of California, Davis, has monitored Lake Tahoe for nearly 40 years,
amassing a unique record of change for one of the world’s most beautiful and vulnerable
lakes. In the UC Davis Tahoe: State of the Lake Report, we summarize how natural
variability and human activity have affected the lake’s clarity, physics, chemistry
and biology. More…
Geoff Schladow and Charles Goldman board the research vessel John LeConte to demonstrate
the measurements that protect Lake Tahoe's renowned clarity.
More…
