Project Baseline, Hurricane Bay, Tahoe October 13, 2012

Observation Date:	13 October, 2012
Dive Team Members:	Mike Soldswich, Marc Briseno,  Martin McClellan
Begin Time: 10:45am	End Time:11:55am        Bottom Time: 50min
Weather Conditions:	Clear Calm 58f
Wind	Direction : n/a Speed: n/a Duration: n/a
Water Conditions
Surface	Flat Calm with some small surface ripples - Boat Wake present
Last 24 hrs:	Calm with no wind
Temperature:	Surface- 66f At Depth- 62 Site Gauge- 62    Diver Gauge- 62
Visibility:	Vertical- 30 minus      Horizontal- 20 - 30ft
Current:	Direction-N?A Speed-N/A
Site Depth Benchmark reading (Per the site gauge): 62 ffw     Dive Team Gauge:  #1- 59 ffw     #2- 60ffw
Animal & Plant Life
Fin Fish	Description : Lahotan Shiners Quantity: large schools 100+
Copepod	Est. Density: Low
Invasive Species	None Present
Mysis Shrimp	Est. Density: Low
Team Observations/Comments: Today, NMDE divers established the PBTahoe site in Hurricane Bay at the site of the Alley Cat, a 30+ foot sail boat that sank some 10 years ago.  We also cleaned off a 1 meter square area of the Alley Cat's hull from algae and debris and took some photos of the Hurricane Bay site under water.  Following the set-up of the site depth/temperature/visibility metering devices, we scootered south along the 40 - 60 foot contour and noticed a very active crayfish community, many shiners but did not see any trout, suckers, or other fin fish.  We failed to notice copepod or mysis shrimp but that said, there was probably a very small population however I personally saw the biggest Paiute Sculpin I have ever seen.  Crusing the contours at between 40 and 60 feet provided no improvement in the 20 - 30 foot visibility. PB Tahoe stats: Depth: 62 feet Temp: 62f Visibility: 20-30 feet Photo:

Project Baseline - Tahoe: Dive #2

Observation Date:	11 August, 2012
Dive Team Members:	Marc Briseno, Todd Kincaid, Laura James, Vanessa Belz, Martin McClellan
Begin Time: 1:00	End Time: 1:30        Bottom Time: 25min
Weather Conditions:	Clear, Calm, Sunny
Wind	Direction : N/M Speed: N/M Duration: N/M
Water Conditions
Surface	Flat w/tremendous boat chop
Last 24 hrs:	Calm, Afternoon Thunderstorms, temp mid 80's
Temperature:	Surface- 66f At Depth-        Site Gauge- 66f           Diver Gauge- 68f
Visibility:	Vertical- '32 (could see boat from below     Horizontal- 30'-40'
Current:	Direction- Southerly longshore Speed- 25'-30' per minute
Site Depth Benchmark reading (Per the site gauge): 22 ffw     Dive Team Gauge:  #1- 21 ffw     #2- 22ffw
Animal & Plant Life
Fin Fish	Description : Lahontan Mountain Sucker (

Catostomus platyrhynchus lahontan) Piute Sculpin (Cottus beldingi)Golden Shiner (Notemigonus crysoleucas)

  Quantity: Several of each and several schools of the Shiners

       CopepodEst. Density: Low     Invasive SpeciesNone Present        Mysis ShrimpEst. Density: N/M

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Team Observations/Comments: This was an exciting day as it was NMDE's second official Project Baseline Tahoe dive and joining the NMDE team were Todd Kincaid, VP GUE and Vanessa Belz, Project Baseline Director GUE and Laura James, Seattle based videographer and GUE diver.  The objective was to set up the SS Tahoe and the Sand Harbor Site.  This was the second dive of the mission and at the bottom, we secured a permanent altitude adjustable depth gauge (Tekna Zero Adjust) which we zeroed at the surface and a thermometer gauge.  These gauges are mounted in an aluminum box and secured to our depth benchmark preventing the gauges from moving.  We then established visibility markers at 30-40-50-60 feet from the depth benchmark location.  Unlike the visibility in Glenbrook at our SS Tahoe site, the visibility here was much better at between 30&40'. Again, these markers were placed with the use of a physical tape measure.  Again, this dive had two teams, Marc Briseno and Martin McClellan doing the work of establishing the PB station and Todd Kincaid (video support) and Laura James (videographer).  Project Baseline Director, Vanessa Belz was our surface support and boat tender during this operation. Dive was short in duration due to the schedule for the day, 25min at 28' with water temps at 66f as this time of year in the shallow depths of the lake with sandy bottoms (Sand Harbor is typical of this type of bottom composition) the thermocline is not dominantly present until 50-55' and even during a later dive to 65' the bottom temperature did not drop below 58f..

Project Baseline-Tahoe: First Official Dive

Observation Date:	11 August, 2012
Dive Team Members:	Marc Briseno, Todd Kincaid, Laura James, Vanessa Belz, Martin McClellan
Begin Time: 10:00a	End Time: 11:30a     Bottom Time:  22min
Weather Conditions:	Clear, Calm, Sunny
Wind	Direction : N/M Speed: N/M  Duration: N/M
Water Conditions
Surface	Flat w/tremendous boat chop
Last 24 hrs:	Calm, Afternoon Thunderstorms, temp mid 80's
Temperature:	Surface- 66f  At Depth- 54f [75'] [Mild thermocline at 22' (60f) and major thermocline at 50' (58f)]
Visibility:	Vertical- 30'-35' Horizontal- 20'-25' on bottom a bit better mid H20 to surface
Current:	Direction- Southerly longshore SE Speed- 30 feet per minute
Site Depth Benchmark reading: 80ffw by Tekna Depth [Bench Mark Depth Gauge] - 77' Uwatec
Animal & Plant Life
Fin Fish	Description : N/M Quantity: 0
Copepod	Est. Density: Low up to first major thermocline at 50' then high throughout
Invasive Species	Saw none
Mysis Shrimp	Est. Density: N/M
Team Observations/Comments: This was an exciting day as it was NMDE's first official Project Baseline Tahoe dive and joining the NMDE team were Todd Kincaid, VP GUE and Vanessa Belz, Project Baseline Director GUE and Laura James, Seattle based videographer and GUE diver.  The objective was to set up the SS Tahoe and the Sand Harbor Site.  This was the first dive of the day and it took place at our SS Tahoe starting point in what is now approximately 78' at the sand.  This is the location for all of NMDE's runs out to the Steamer Tahoe.  At the bottom, we secured a permanent altitude adjustable depth gauge (Tekna Zero Adjust) which we zeroed at the surface and a thermometer gauge.  These gauges are mounted to an aluminum board and secured to our depth benchmark preventing the gauges from moving.  We then established visibility markers at 30-40-50 feet from the depth benchmark location however we were very dissapointed as the visibility was well below 30' and we will have to go back and place a 20 foot visibility marker.  These markers were placed with the use of a physical tape measure.  Upon arrival at our station, we noticed significant algae build up on our line approaching the surface. It was measured to be 1.5" thick at the zone from 30 feet to the surface.  The line was cleaned along with the benchmark buoy and a photo was taken as a baseline photo of the white buoy suspended.  This dive had two teams, Marc Briseno and Martin McClellan doing the work of establishing the PB station and Todd Kincaid (video support) and Laura James (videographer).  Project Baseline Director, Vanessa Belz was our surface support and boat tender during this operation. Dive was short in duration due to the schedule for the day, 22min at 77' with water temps at 54f.

Establish Depth Benchmark Area -

Observation Date:	12 March, 2012
Dive Team Members:	Mike Soldwisch - Martin McClellan
Begin Time:10:00am	End Time:11:45am
Weather Conditions:	Clear with a slight breeze
Wind	Direction : Swirling in Hurricane Bay but blowing N-NE Speed: 5-10 MPH Duration: Continued throughout the dive and increased in intensity throughout
Water Conditions
Surface	Ripple waves but no whitecaps
Last 24 hrs:	Calm in mornings and breezy in afternoons
Temperature:	Surface- 46f At Depth- 42f
Visibility:	Vertical- 35+ft could see boat anchors from surface Horizontal- 40-45ft
Current:	Direction- None Speed- N/A
Site Depth Benchmark reading: No benchmark yet set
Animal & Plant Life
Fin Fish	Description : 0 Quantity: 0
Copepod	Est. Density: Low
Invasive Species	None
Mysis Shrimp	Est. Density: None
Team Observations/Comments:  Today's dive by NMDE was to scout out a good location to place the Project Baseline depth benchmark and visibility station.  Traveling about 4500 feet along the shoreline in a north by north east direction, we scootered the 40 -70 foot depth column observing as we moved along.  There were several areas of heavy branch and leaves slowly deteriorating in the water just below areas of heavy aspen groves, creating an interesting shade/tint to the water of yellowish brown.  What was most dominantly noticed is directly in the shallows off the parking on HWY 89 was thick algae growth attached to the rocks in the 5-10 foot range and when viewed from approximately 30 feet this algae had an incredible fluorescent green tinge to it.  Something the team had never observed in 20 years of diving this site.

NMDE Cave Diving Training

Observation Date:	27 October, 2011
Dive Team Members:	Steve Parker - Martin McClellan
Begin Time: 2:25pm	End Time: 4:45pm
Weather Conditions:	Clear Sunny Day - mid 50s
Wind	Direction : N/A Speed: N/A Duration: N/A
Water Conditions
Surface	Absolutely Flat - Mirror calm
Last 24 hrs:	No wind, No storms, Low temperatures in the high 2o's
Temperature:	Surface- 55 - 58 At Depth- 44 - 46, Thermocline at 100 to 50
Visibility:	Vertical-35 Horizontal- 50+
Current:	Direction-N/A Speed- N/A
Site Depth Benchmark reading: 22 ffw
Animal & Plant Life
Fin Fish	Description : Trout, Minnows, Macinaw Quantity: 100+
Copepod	Est. Density: None Present
Invasive Species	Mysis Shrimp
Mysis Shrimp	Est. Density: Low - less than 10 seen
Team Observations/Comments: Today's dive was training for NMDE expedition cave diving in Akumal during November of 2011. The dive took us to 171 feet where the visibility was below 30' horizontal and the water temp was 44. The observance of Mysis and Copepod were non existant and the brownish algae in the mid water column was non-existent. The visibility deep seemed to be silt suspended like a cloud although we could not figure out where it came from. We saw several trout on the deep wall between 120 and 160 and then saw two macinaw a very rare sight at approximately 50-60 and then back in close to the beach at 45 feet we saw the largest school of small fin fish ever, over 1000 fish was our estimate. Dive was 175 feet for 90 minutes with a combined deco of 50 minutes due to scooter distance. Divers were approximately 1 mile off shore.

NMDE Team Dive - Assess wood debris above SS Tahoe Site

Observation Date:	24 July, 2011
Dive Team Members:	Briseno, McClellan, Parker
Begin Time:10:00	End Time:11:45
Weather Conditions:	Clear, Calm, mid 70's
Wind	Direction : N/A Speed: N/A Duration: N/A
Water Conditions
Surface	Flat
Last 24 hrs:	Flat, Calm
Temperature:	Surface-65F At Depth-48F
Visibility:	Vertical-20' minus Horizontal-30' minus [0-40 ] 30' plus [40-105]
Current:	Direction-N/A Speed-N/A
Site Depth Benchmark reading: 26 ffw [Taken at the 20' benchmark]
Animal & Plant Life
Fin Fish	Description : N/A Quantity: 0
Copepod	Est. Density: Extremely High
Invasive Species	Mysis Shrimp - Density highest between 50 and 80 feet
Mysis Shrimp	Est. Density: Medium
Team Observations/Comments: The team in preparation for several mapping dives forthcoming during August and September, took this dive opportunity to assess the newly discovered lumber debris field between 70 and 120'. This lumber pile is very extensive and is of cut timber, milled lumber and discarded logs from the buildings on the Glenbrook Shore during the 1850 - early 1900's time period. Upon initial assessment, this lumber debris field begins somewhat above the SS Tahoe in an area estimated to be in an area of about 4 acres. It is unique as there is no other lumber debris of this quantity this far from the inside coordinates of Glenbrook Bay. This debris field is approximately in line with Deadmans Point. We will continue to explore this area for a more exact interpretation of its significance. Our dive utilized scooters, travel stages and back gas - 32% EAN with a run time of 93 minutes to a maximum depth of 105' - average depth was 34'. We did some maintenance work on our 20' decompression station and secured an additional auger as an anchor point for support boat.

NMDE Team Training Scooter Dive on Doris's Deep

Observation Date:	18 June, 2011
Dive Team Members:	James Novaes and Martin McClellan
Begin Time:10:30am	End Time:12:30pm
Weather Conditions:	Clear/Sunny 63 degrees at 10:30am
Wind	Direction : N/A Speed: 00 Duration: N/A
Water Conditions
Surface	Glass Flat beginning and end of dive
Last 24 hrs:	Calm, no inclimate weather, beautiful conditions
Temperature:	Surface- 55F At Depth- 43F
Visibility:	Vertical- less than 30' Horizontal- less than 50' [ave]
Current:	Direction-N/A Speed- N/A
Site Depth Benchmark reading: 22 ffw
Animal & Plant Life
Fin Fish	Description : Rainbow Trout Quantity: 1 at 30 feet
Copepod	Est. Density: Medium above 70' - None present at 70' and below
Invasive Species	Mysis Shrimp
Mysis Shrimp	Est. Density: Low at 70' and deeper none present shallower
Team Observations/Comments:An incredible and cooler than normal June day. Our winter weather pattern finally stopped just after Memorial Day weekend, May 28 - 30, 2011 where we had upwards of 12 inches of new snow at the highest Sierra Elevations. The lake is up some 5 feet since January of 2011 and one of our project objectives for this dive was to set a benchmark depth auger. We set this where the top of the auger is at 22ft and the bottom is 23 feet. We placed a sign upon the auger asking that it not be disturbed and listed all our websites. On past dives, our concrete block we use for tying off our dive flag consistently sat at 21 feet and now it is at 26 feet. Our dive took us to 208 feet where the visibility improved from 30+ in the shallow depths to that of 50+ below 150 feet. An interesting observation is that at 70' the green rock algae that clings to the granite boulders really became pronounced and obvious and below this depth, there was none present - identical situation for the copepod shrimp - none present at depths below 70' with the thickest concentration occurring between 30-60 feet. Temperature at 70' was 48 degrees F. Total dive time was 105 minutes. 30 minutes of bottom time and 75 minutes of decompression.