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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Diana Ramirez-Simon

Lake Tahoe’s best clarity in 40 years is the work of this ‘natural cleanup crew’

Image of a lake with mountains in the background
Lake Tahoe's clarity is at the best it’s been in 40 years due to a zooplankton boom. Photograph: Brant Allen/UC Davis TERC

Lake Tahoe has attained a clarity that scientists haven’t seen in 40 years – and it’s all because of a microscopic animal acting as a “natural cleanup crew” to restore the clear blue waters.

On Monday, researchers from the UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center (TERC) released their annual report showing that the lake’s average visibility in 2022 was at 71.7ft – compared with 61ft in 2021 – which was largely due to a spike in clarity in the last five months of the year.

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