Lake Level Monitoring

 

Lake Lawrence began lake level monitoring in 1986 when Lake Management District (LMD) Steering Committee (SC) personnel voluntarily established gauges in the lake at the end of their private boat docks.  The members recorded the data and reported it to the SC at regularly scheduled meetings until 2018.  Unfortunately much of this earlier data has been lost. The measuring devices became old and unserviceable.  The LMD SC searched for alternatives to continue to collect data.  The University of Washington suggested looking at a new program that had just been funded by the National Aeronautic & Space Administration (NASA).

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In 2017 the SC reached out to the NASA project grant recipients at the University of Washington, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill and Tennessee Tech University and coordinated to have two lake level monitoring devices installed in September 2018.  One was placed in the East Basin and another in the West Basin.  Volunteers collect and report data biweekly in conjunction with NASA Satellites that fly over the lake every couple of weeks to take photos to determine the surface area of the lake.  Since 2018 dozens of lakes have enrolled in this program with varying degrees of participation.  This program now is currently being conducted world wide in areas such as Canada, France, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal & Chile.  Washington State currently has 35 gauges at 33 different lakes.  You can access the site data by going to www.locss.org . 

 

You will find three measurement sites on Lake Lawrence (Lake Lawrence, Lake Lawrence North and Lake Lawrence South).  The Lake Lawrence gauge is the one with the most accurate data.  The Lake Lawrence South gauge is at the public boat launch where data is uploaded at random intervals by citizens that take a picture of the gauge with their phone and text the information.  The Lake Lawrence SC has produced a YouTube Video on lake level monitoring that can be accessed through this link.  https://youtu.be/CDYJ_zUT_WQ