REMOTE MONITORING OF SELECTED GROUND-WATER DOMINATED LAKES IN THE NEBRASKA SAND HILLS

The Landsat-Multispectral Scanner (MSS) data were used to measure lake area fluctuations (1972-1989) for 130 ground-water dominated lakes in the Western Lakes Region of the Nebraska Sand Hills. In general, the pattern shown in lake area hydrographs was similar to that for in-situ lake elevations. In-situ lake-elevation data verify that remote monitoring of surface-area fluctuations, even at relatively coarse spatial resolution, is not only practical and useful, but also it elucidates the hydrologic characteristics of groundwater-dominated lakes of the Sand Hills. The apparent differences in behavior between lakes in the northern and southern portions of the study area may be related to both their location in the regional ground water system and the substantial local hydrologic complexity.