NASA Satellite Spots an Unexpected Discovery in Popular California Lake

The lake had turned bright green in color and was clearly visible from space. However, the satellite images revealed that this green color in the lake is possibly due to an algae bloom.

However, due to the dangers this algae bloom poses to humans, it is unlikely that these activities will be carried out over the next few weeks while the algae is treated and removed.

Archaeological evidence suggests that humans have lived around the lake for at least 12,000 years. For a similar amount of time, there has also been evidence of large algae populations. It is also California’s largest freshwater lake.

The wildlife supported includes large populations of fish and various species of birds, including ducks, pelicans and bald eagles. However, some of these (fish in particular) have been found dead due to the water’s algae.

Clear Lake is known as the ‘bass capital of the West’, used frequently for bass fishing. At this point in time, fishers are still enjoying generous catches of between 10 and 15 basses a day.

Environmental director for the Big Valley Band of Pomo Indians, Sarah Ryan, said that the presence of cyanobacteria does not automatically mean there are toxins in the water. Others said that the middle of the main body of water is very clear.

This highlights serious environmental challenges regarding climate change and nutrient pollution, especially as warm temperatures cause algae to grow.

This algae can come from runoff from nearby farms, vineyards, faulty septic systems, gravel mines, an abandoned open pit from a mercury mine or a non-native carp that has stirred up nutrients in the sediment of the lake’s bed.

However, as this bloom happened just before the summer months, it is the earliest it has happened and at one of the worst levels ever recorded. It is likely a result of warmer weather outside of the summer months due to climate change.

Some species of cyanobacteria release toxins that can damage the liver. Contact with the algae can cause various symptoms, such as headaches, eye irritation and wheezing.

Some cyanotoxins cause a fever, headaches, vomiting, and bloody diarrhea. Others can cause numbness, drowsiness, paralysis, blistering around the mouth, pneumonia, and even death. The importance of preventing exposure of algae to Clear Lake visitors and residents cannot be overstated.

This includes costs related to health, fisheries, recreation, tourism and monitoring. As around 1,200 lakes and rising in the U.S. have this algae, this cost is only expected to increase over the next few years.

“It’s a sensational photo in June – June 1, thank you very much,” Fisher said to The Press Democrat. “We’re just a little county. We’re small. There’s no way to counter that kind of brand tarnish,” he said.

This is the earliest time of year in the last decade when algae bloomed. At this time, the water has turned the typical bright green, but it is also among the worst bloomings of algae that Clear Lake has seen.

California State Parks and the Big Valley Band of Pomo Indians of the Big Valley Rancheria have signed a memorandum of understanding for Clear Lake State Park in the tribe’s traditional territory. Restoration of the Clear Lake Park is part of that cooperation to acknowledge the importance of the land to the Pomo Indians.

The lake was also compared to the same time in 2023. The results were quite clear, as was the water in 2023, whereas the water in 2024 was bright green.

These estimates were calculated using an ocean color instrument on Sentinel-3. The NOAA National Ocean Service also used additional processing, which showed that the water levels had reached their highest in May.

Once this testing has been completed, it will be known exactly how the water can be treated to get rid of the algae and phytoplankton, with hopes that it doesn’t cause as much of an issue in the future.

Communities on social media have come together to follow the progress of water quality checks. On the Clear Lake Water Quality Facebook page, one commenter said: “Water quality is also a measure of quality of life for the people who live in Lake County.”

In some cases, the toxin levels were 200,000 times the level that would have been safe. According to Ryan, there were points where the stench of an algae bloom that was decaying was extreme.

These two factors work together to deliver more nutrients to the algae, causing them to bloom more intensely and more often.

Since this air has nowhere to go, it becomes reintegrated into Earth’s weather systems and is eventually transferred into the ocean.

Individuals with respiratory conditions must be extremely careful when drinking possible algae-contaminated water to avoid the toxins inflaming their condition.

“Adverse health effects from harmful algal blooms have most frequently been linked to eating fish or shellfish that have accumulated algal toxins. However, people have also suffered asthma-like symptoms after inhaling minute amounts of algal toxins that were aerosolized by waves,” said the study.

Red tide algae contain multiple types of brevetoxins that can cause symptoms like “numbness, tingling, and gastrointestinal distress.” Persons exposed to aerosolized brevetoxins may suffer “shortness of breath, sneezing, and other allergy- and asthma-like symptoms. Persons with preexisting airway disease appear most likely to be affected.”

“To study airborne toxin exposure in a more controlled setting, the research team used a sheep model of asthma. The sheep model used is naturally sensitive to an antigen derived from the roundworm Ascaris suum, developing asthma-like symptoms (such as airway constriction) when exposed to this antigen. The sheep therefore can serve as surrogates for persons with asthma,” said the study.

“This new strain of Acaryochloris is unique because it is able to live on its own,” said UO biology professor Michelle Wood.

At the time, the article warned that the fate of the Salton Sea could be a preview of what will happen in other communities across the western U.S. as water supplies become less predictable with climate change.

“People here used to fish, swim, bring their boats,” said Frank Ruiz, Audubon’s Salton Sea Program Director, as he stood by a crumbling dock on land that once held water. “They went from living in paradise to living in hell.”

Angela De Palma-Dow, an invasive species coordinator for Lake County, said the lake is now “out of balance” because building tourist activities around the lake has destroyed the wetland plants that rimmed the lake, such as tule and bulrushes. These plants were a natural filter for the water.

“A warning for people and their dogs to avoid water contact in the Salton Sea has been issued after the detection of Harmful Algal Blooms at numerous sites and the recent report of a dog that died soon after a swimming excursion…The confirmed presence of HABs around the Salton Sea indicates the blooms contain varieties of toxic cyanobacteria,” said the guidance.

The Press Democrat, a local newspaper, advised residents and tourists alike to avoid water  “that appears discolored, has scum layers, or emits a foul odor.”

Some species of cyanobacteria are unique because they can regulate their own buoyancy levels, allowing them to rise to the surface to form thick surface scum. This property, along with greater cyanobacteria levels, might be what allowed the recent algae bloom at Clear Lake to be observed from space.

As global temperatures continue to increase, it will no doubt lead to more frequent and destructive algae blooms that will threaten America’s water resources for years to come.

Sherie Littleton, a Kelseyville resident with two daughter playing at the edge of the beach at Clear Lake, told The Press Democrat: “I wouldn’t let my daughters in the lake if it was a big problem.”

The most that the Big Valley water quality testing initiative has been able to do is educate the public on what unsafe water looks like. The initiative discourages people from drinking or bathing in water that looks like spilled paint, has surface scum, film, or mats of green-blue, or emits a foul odor.