Great Lakes Profile
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Great Lakes, a chain of large and deep freshwater lakes in North America. The 5 Great Lakes – Superior, Huron, Michigan, Erie, and Ontario spread a total surface area of 94,250 sq mi (244,106 km2) and are all united by various lakes, rivers, and other watercourses, making them the most extensive freshwater system on the planet. The Great Lakes hold 21% of the global’s surface freshwater by volume or 84% of the surface freshwater in North America.
The bathymetric map below, designed by Alex Varlamov, helps understand the size and depth of the Great Lakes.
The visualization below clearly shows the depths of the Great Lakes. Lake Superior is the largest and deepest of the Great Lakes and ranks as the second largest lake in the world by area.
Great Lakes ranked by the average depth
Lake Superior: 483 ft (147 m) – Deepest Point is 1,333 ft (406 m)
Lake Ontario: 283 ft (86 m) – Deepest Point: 804 ft (245 m)
Lake Michigan: 279 ft (85 m) – Deepest Point: 925 ft (282 m)
Lake Huron: 195 ft (59 m) – Deepest Point: 748 ft (228 m)
Lake Erie: 62 ft (19 m) – Deepest Point: 210 ft (64 m)
Great lakes profile compared to profiles of other lakes
Related post:
– Lakes and oceans depth comparison
The Round, Long, & Crooked lakes of Michigan.
Source: https://adventuresinmapping.com/2020/07/22/the-round-long-and-crooked-lakes-of-michigan/
Bummer, I can’t zoom enough on my laptop to read any of the words on the depth chart. I came here to learn something and I’m leaving frustrated.
Click the graphic to open and use the built in magnifier.
I wanted to look up Lake Baikal in Siberia for comparison ; it is 1,642 m (5,387 ft) deep .
We’re gonna need a bigger boat.
What about Lake Baikal at depth of 5,387 feet?
I went to boot camp at Great Lakes RTC. I’d do it all over again just to be 22.
This is a bay just West of St. Ignace, near the Mackinaw bridge. Do you think that the lakes are getting deeper and deeper? Not according to this picture!
Since Lake Superior is almost frozen over, the depth will be much higher as the shoreline decreases this year.
Great Bear Lake. NWT. Biggest lake on Canadian soil and the deepest 1463 ft. Sad that people dont know this.
And completely irrelevant to the discussion at hand.
if you read the article you would notice they compared the great lakes to other notable bodies of water. I would argue that Great Bear Lake would deserve a mention there considering the other bodies of water being compared, and some weren’t even lakes!
Talking about the great lakes
It would be a bit like reading an article about the Alps and complaining that no mention of Mt. Kilimanjaro was made.
However, they are missing Lake Michigan as also being one of the Great Lakes and who invited you St. Lawrence as a Great Lake?!!?
As I understand it, Lake Michigan and Lake Huron are considered to be a single lake. Both are treated as one in the diagrams in the article.
shouldn’t the Erie canal be included in there?
I didn’t see the ‘Edmond Fitzgerald’ on there. 😉
I have sailed a tall ship across each of these lakes…by far, the scariest is Lake Erie. She may seem small and shallow but the water churns in her like a soup pot. With that said….Superior is one hell of a ride and can be scary as well. Love the St. Lawrence river and all the island homes. This brings back a lot of great memories!
Laurie Please check out my friends invention. Look up SeeArch.it’s perfect for sailors.This will save lives
THAT SOUNDS LIKE SO MUCH FUN
I am jealous :).
I guess Lake Erie lives up to the name its Erie to be on her lol
Someone mentioned Great Bear Lake in Canada. It is the deepest but is only the FOURTH largest lake in N. America. Wanna guess which ones are #1 thru 3? LOL
What about Lake Champlain?
Why does it look like water flows downhill when it enters the St. Lawrence?
Because it does. Water flows downhill, which is what rivers are.
Water does flow downhill.
Too funny…
So, where’s Lake Michigan?
Look at Lake Huron.
OK. Thanks.
It’s at the bottom of Lake Huron. 8*)
My family had a cottage on Lake Ontario back in the 50’s – 60’s. This is facinating!
That’s cool!
Please, change over to use the Metric system instead of using the obsolete Imperial shit.
There is a good reason why we still use Imperial measurements nautically. Check this out: https://metricviews.uk/2010/01/01/why-do-nautical-miles-linger-on/
Deeper is not better. The shallowest lake is Erie. Because of that, it can completely freeze over. I grew up in Buffalo and my father often went ice fishing on the lake. The ice was so thick people drove cars out onto it. Crazy, yes, but they did it anyway!
In summer, the water could reach 72 degrees, but not until late August because all that ice had to melt first. That led to glorious autumn weather. As the WKBW-TV weatherman used to say “We live next to the world’s largest air conditioner”.