From 2011 to 2015 California saw the most severe recorded drought. By 2015 the snowpack in the surrounding Sierra Nevada, an important water source for California, had almost disappeared. Concerned and curious, Schafer contacted scientists dedicated to protecting Lake Tahoe to see how the drought would affect the color of the Lake. This artwork is the result of a collaboration with Tahoe Environmental Research Center (TERC) scientists at the University of California, Davis.
The circle of color on each of these works is a pigment-based archival print, generated by scientific data collected to monitor the health of Lake Tahoe. The prints represent the color through translations of numerical measurements to printed color (at the base of the gradation). They serve as a objective record of the exact hues of the Lake and are time-stamped with the year, month, date, and 24-hour time of capture.
Each print is overlaid with an analog counterpoint— a hand drawn original graphite sketch featuring Tahoe scenery. Some also focus on a particular animal or plant that is part of Tahoe’s ecology. These hand renderings also serve to highlight interconnectivity— the artist and viewer alike connect to the subject, and are a reminded of the uniquely human role in creating harmony or disruption in the Earth’s ecological systems.
Scientists with UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center (TERC) took measurements of the Lake’s color between 2012 and 2016 having tethered hyperspectral radiometers to the NASA-JPL Buoy TB3 (39°06’37”N 120°04’31”W) which were anchored 500 meters deep. The equipment measured the amount of light leaving the Lake was positioned at 12 and 5 meters below the surface. The scientists extrapolated the surface color from these measurements. The conversion of spectral measurements to print is described here so that future measurements may also be printed or compared visually.
For the Emerald Bay pieces in this series, the color measurements were taken manually at Emerald Bay by TERC researcher, Dr. Shohei Watanabe, for a project done in conjunction with Université Lavalin Quebec and show the stunning greens that are created by runoff of decomposed organic matter from the plants surrounding the Bay.
Many factors affect the Lake’s color, like its clarity and temperature, and levels of chlorophyll which the scientist continue to study. Information on the ecological complexities of Lake Tahoe can be found here: terc.ucdavis.edu
The circle of color on each of these works is a pigment-based archival print, generated by scientific data collected to monitor the health of Lake Tahoe. The prints represent the color through translations of numerical measurements to printed color (at the base of the gradation). They serve as a objective record of the exact hues of the Lake and are time-stamped with the year, month, date, and 24-hour time of capture.
Each print is overlaid with an analog counterpoint— a hand drawn original graphite sketch featuring Tahoe scenery. Some also focus on a particular animal or plant that is part of Tahoe’s ecology. These hand renderings also serve to highlight interconnectivity— the artist and viewer alike connect to the subject, and are a reminded of the uniquely human role in creating harmony or disruption in the Earth’s ecological systems.
Scientists with UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center (TERC) took measurements of the Lake’s color between 2012 and 2016 having tethered hyperspectral radiometers to the NASA-JPL Buoy TB3 (39°06’37”N 120°04’31”W) which were anchored 500 meters deep. The equipment measured the amount of light leaving the Lake was positioned at 12 and 5 meters below the surface. The scientists extrapolated the surface color from these measurements. The conversion of spectral measurements to print is described here so that future measurements may also be printed or compared visually.
For the Emerald Bay pieces in this series, the color measurements were taken manually at Emerald Bay by TERC researcher, Dr. Shohei Watanabe, for a project done in conjunction with Université Lavalin Quebec and show the stunning greens that are created by runoff of decomposed organic matter from the plants surrounding the Bay.
Many factors affect the Lake’s color, like its clarity and temperature, and levels of chlorophyll which the scientist continue to study. Information on the ecological complexities of Lake Tahoe can be found here: terc.ucdavis.edu