The Salton Sea. Credit: USGS/ NASA’s Earth Observatory, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
The Salton Sea’s dried lakebed is creating more polluted dust from dried agricultural runoff that affects nearby communities.
The Salton Sea, California’s largest lake by surface area, is experiencing an increasing rate of shoreline retreat following a policy change that shifted more water from the Colorado River to San Diego, according to a newly published study.
The resulting dried lakebed is creating more polluted dust from dried agricultural runoff that affects nearby communities.
The researchers forecast that parts of the Salton Sea’s North Shore are expected to retreat 150 metres by 2030 and an additional 172 metres by 2041 given the current rate of retreat.
The average rate of retreat between 2002 and 2017 rose from 12.5 metres a year to nearly 38.5 metres per year after 2018.
The study stated: “[W]ithout mitigation, the expanding exposed playa around the Salton Sea is expected to worsen pollutant exposure in local communities.”
Researchers use balloon mapping to track the Salton Sea shoreline. Credit: Loma Linda University.
Balloon mapping
The study was conducted as a community science programme involving local youth and other residents using balloon mapping to record images of coastline.
Primary investigator, Ryan Sinclair, PhD, MPH, associate professor of environmental microbiology at Loma Linda University School of Public Health, said: “This research was a direct response to a request from the community, which wanted to be involved in impactful research questions to understand shoreline reduction.
“The community wants to be able to live next to a Salton Sea that they’re proud of.”
Sinclair said balloon mapping can cover a larger area compared to using drones, which need to be recharged.
Sinclair and community members spent numerous days from 2019 to 2021 creating a series of maps using balloons outfitted with cameras suspended 200 feet above the shore.
The researchers compared their findings with satellite images from 2002. They now hope their results can be part of efforts to restore the lake’s capacity.
The study authors included students, LLU faculty, staff from the Alianza Coachella Valley, and a researcher from the University of California, Riverside.
The study is published in Geographries.
