National-scale remotely sensed lake trophic state from 1984 through 2020.

Area of Science:

• Ecology
• Environmental Science
• Remote Sensing

Background:

• Lake trophic state is crucial for assessing water quality, integrating physical, chemical, and biological lake processes.
• Standardized, machine-readable data on lake trophic states are currently limited, hindering comprehensive analysis.
• Remote sensing offers a powerful tool for reproducible and scalable monitoring of lake ecosystems.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop the first compendium of annual lake trophic states for numerous U.S. lakes.
• To leverage remote sensing for robust and reproducible lake water quality assessments.
• To create a FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reproducible) dataset for broad scientific use.

Main Methods:

• Utilized Landsat surface reflectance data spanning 1984-2020.
• Applied reproducible methods to analyze lake trophic state for over 55,000 lakes (≥10 ha).
• Ensured data accessibility and usability by retaining relational keys and scripting all data processes.

Main Results:

• Generated an extensive, annual dataset of lake trophic states for the contiguous U.S.
• Covered 55,662 lakes with a minimum area of 10 hectares.
• Provided a robust time-series dataset from 1984 to 2020.

Conclusions:

• The developed dataset is a critical resource for understanding lake water quality dynamics.
• Facilitates both basic and applied research on aquatic ecosystems at various scales.
• Promotes data-driven environmental management and conservation efforts for lakes.