Scientists Resume Lake Studies Crater Lake Study Is Part Of Long-Term Monitoring Of Clarity

For the first time since 1990, scientists flew by helicopter to a research station on Crater Lake on Monday to resume winter monitoring of water quality in the nation’s deepest and clearest lake.

The five scientists will spend several days on Wizard Island, using a new research boat based there to take readings on water clarity and collect water samples as part of a long-term monitoring program, said Crater Lake National Park spokesman Mac Brock.

Congress mandated the study in 1982 when research indicated an alarming reduction in the clarity of Crater Lake’s fabled blue waters.

The park built a special boathouse on Wizard Island in 1985 to shelter scientists and their gear in winter so sampling could be done year-round. They used it that year to collect the first water samples in winter from the lake.

The park stopped the winter sampling excursions in 1990 because the research boat was no longer safe. But they bought a new boat in 1995 that allowed them to resume the trips, Brock said.

In 1994, scientists studying the lake said clarity had returned to a level not seen since 1937, and said the lack of clarity appeared to be related to less rainfall during a period of drought.

Formed in the caldera left after the Mount Mazama volcano blew its top more than 6,000 years ago, Crater Lake is the deepest in the country at 1,932 feet. It gets its water from rainfall and springs on the caldera wall. In 1994, scientists were able to see an eight-inch disk lowered to a depth of 40.8 meters, or 134.64 feet.