Though a recent string of hot days has sent Lake Michigan’s surface temperature soaring, the effects don’t penetrate the water’s depths. A dive into the data shows that at bottom, Lake Michigan is a chilly 44.7 degrees, holding fairly steady compared with 44.1 degrees in 2019 and 44.9 degrees in 2018.
How cold is the bottom of Lake Superior?
The average depth of Superior is about 500 feet. It is the deepest (1,335 feet) of the Great Lakes. If you go swimming there in the hottest part of the summer, you’ll soon learn that Lake Superior is also the coldest of the Great Lakes – brrr, icy cold at an average temperature of 40° F (4°C).
How deep is the bottom of Lake Michigan?
925 feet
Averaging 279 feet in depth, the lake reaches 925 feet at its deepest point.
Is it colder at the bottom of a lake?
The gravitational weight of all the water higher up in the lake presses down on the water deep in the lake. The pressure allows the water near the bottom of the lake to get cold without expanding and rising. Because of the pressure, the water at the bottom of deep lakes can become cold without freezing to ice.
Is the bottom of a lake always 4 degrees?
When water cools down to 0 degrees Celsius (0°C), ice begins to form and floats on top of warmer water; water at the bottom of a lake or river is typically 4°C (if it is not frozen).
Which Great Lake is coldest?
Lake Superior
Lake Superior is the world’s largest freshwater lake by area (31,700 mi2 /82,100 km2). It is also the coldest and deepest of the Great Lakes, with a maximum depth of 406 meters (1,332 feet). By most measures, it is the healthiest of all the Great Lakes.
How many bodies are in Lake Superior?
Lake Superior Bodies
There an 350 shipwrecks in Lake Superior and an estimated 10,000 people have died in the icy waters, but as legend says, Lake Superior never gives up her dead. Underwater bacteria feed on human remains and create gas which causes bodies to float back to the surface.
What is on the bottom of Lake Michigan?
While scanning underneath the waters of Lake Michigan for shipwrecks, archeologists found something a lot more interesting than they bargained for: they discovered a boulder with a prehistoric carving of a mastodon, as well as a series of stones arranged in a Stonehenge-like manner.
Whats the biggest fish in Lake Michigan?
Lake sturgeons are the only sturgeon species endemic to the Great Lakes basin and are the largest freshwater fish indigenous (native) to that system.
What is the deepest lake in United States?
Crater Lake
At 1,943 feet (592 meters), Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the United States and one of the deepest in the world. The depths were first explored thoroughly in 1886 by a party from the U.S. Geological Survey.
Is water colder the deeper you go?
Cold water has a higher density than warm water. Water gets colder with depth because cold, salty ocean water sinks to the bottom of the ocean basins below the less dense warmer water near the surface.
Why does water under ice not freeze?
The ice formed on the surface is less dense than water and floats at the water surface. This layer acts as an insulation layer which prevents contact between the water bulk and the freezing surrounding, thus preventing further freezing of water.
Why is lake water warmer at night?
At night, while the land cools off quickly, the water at the surface is kept warmer because the water is mixed around with the warmer water underneath. All of this mixing keeps the temperature in the area more constant, not like the land that goes from hot to cold.
How do fish get oxygen in a frozen lake?
Different fish species do this either by absorbing oxygen into their skin, into the blood vessels in the walls of their swim bladders, stomach and gut, and some even inhale the air bubbles that form underneath the ice through their mouth.
Do fish survive in frozen lakes?
Fish have several adaptions to survive a winter below the ice. First, they are cold blooded meaning their body temperature matches their environment. Colder temperatures mean a reduction in their metabolism. This slows numerous metabolic processes, such as respiration, digestion, and activity level.
How do fish not freeze?
The natural proteins found in the fish perform far better than man-made antifreezes, which bond directly with water molecules to lower the freezing point. The proteins don’t need to bond. Their mere presence is enough to slow freezing.
What’s the dirtiest Great Lake?
Lake Erie
The most polluted Great Lake is Lake Erie.
What’s the cleanest Great Lake?
Lake Superior
Watershed’s surface: 209,000 square kms. Lake Superior is the largest, cleanest, and wildest of all the Great Lakes.
What is the hottest lake in the world?
The Boiling Lake is approximately 200 to 250 feet (60 to 75 m) across and is the second-largest hot lake in the world after Frying Pan Lake, located in Waimangu Valley near Rotorua, New Zealand.
| Boiling Lake | |
|---|---|
| Surface elevation | 800 m (2,600 ft) |
Do bodies decompose in Lake Michigan?
The gases would allow a body to rise “like a balloon. The body buoys up to the top,” Sohn said. Since the lake has frigid temperatures bodies don’t decompose, thus gases don’t form, prompting them to stay submerged.
Why do bodies sink in Lake Superior?
Normally, bacteria decaying a sunken body will bloat it with gas, causing it to float to the surface after a few days. But Lake Superior’s water is cold enough year-round to inhibit bacterial growth, and bodies tend to sink and never resurface.