Lake Tahoe

[Lake Tahoe Index Map]


 [Shaded Relief]  False sun illumination of bathymetry and landDTM
 [Backscatter]  Backscatter from multibeam and land DTM.
  Quicktime movie flying through the Lake Tahoeregion.
 [Perspective View]  Shaded relief oblique view of Lake Tahoe bathymetryand land DTM looking towards the northwest.
 [Data Download] Download Arc/Info Export (.e00) files and full resolutionTIFF images.
  

 The major objective of this survey was to map the bathymetry of LakeTahoe, California-Nevada to fulfill a commitment made during the Lake TahoePresidential Forum in 1997. The only existing bathymetry of Lake Tahoe,collected in 1923, was recently compiled by Rowe and Stone (1997), but thedata density is inadequate for the level of scientific studies ongoing andanticipated in the near future for Lake Tahoe. Recent advances in marinemultibeam-sonar capabilities now permit a cost-effective way, to preciselymap the bathymetry of large areas of the ocean floor with 100% coverage.This survey applied this state-of-the-art ocean technology to Lake Tahoe.The newest of these high-resolution multibeam mapping systems also simultaneouslycollects backscatter (similar to sidescan sonar) imagery that results ina complimentary and co-registered data set that is related to the distributionof lake-floor materials and textures. The two types of maps that resultedfrom this cruise provide the multidisciplinary Lake Tahoe research communityan unprecedented set of base maps upon which to build their studies.


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