Lake Erie, named after the first nation Erie people who lived along the lake's southern shore,
is the eleventh largest lake globally by surface area (9,910 sq miles / 25,700 sq km)
and fourth largest of North America’s Great Lakes by surface area and smallest by volume
(116 cubic miles / 484 cubic km).
95 percent of Lake Erie's total inflow of water comes from the upper lakes (Superior, Michigan,
and Huron), the rest coming from numerous tributaries and precipitation.
Lake Erie, being the shallowest of the Great Lakes (avg 62 ft/19 m, max 210 ft/64 m), is especially
prone to fluctuating water levels. Wind pushing the water from one end of the 241 mile long (388 km)
lake toward the other end have produced large short term changes in water levels at the eastern and
western ends of the lake, the record being more than 16 ft (4.88 m)!
Point Pelee National Park in Lake Erie is the southernmost point on Canada's mainland.
Photographed from Canada's south coast at Sherkston Shores, Ontario.