Saturday, February 20, 2010

Go Jump in the Lake

Before I left work, a good friend told me to go jump in the lake.  I chose this one.  OK, just kidding...I already had planned on jumping in the lake before he told me to.  My niece Sarah and I will be doing the Polar Plunge to benefit Special Olympics.  Pictures to follow.


Lake Superior is, by surface area, the world's largest freshwater lake.


The surface area of Lake Superior (31,700 square miles or 82,170 square kilometers) is greater than the combined areas of Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New Hampshire.


Lake Superior contains as much water as all the other Great Lakes combined, even throwing in two extra Lake Eries.


Lake Superior contains 10% of all the earth's fresh surface water.


There is enough water in Lake Superior (3,000,000,000,000,000--or 3 quadrillion-- gallons) to flood all of North and South America to a depth of one foot.


The deepest point in Lake Superior (about 40 miles north of Munising, Michigan) is 1,300 feet (400 meters) below the surface.


Over 300 streams and rivers empty into Lake Superior.


The average elevation of Lake Superior is about 602 feet above sea level.


The Lake Superior watershed region ranges in size from 160 miles inland near Wabakimi Provincial Park to only 5 miles inland from Pictured Rocks National Seashore.


The Lake Superior shoreline, if straightened out, could connect Duluth and the Bahama Islands.


The average underwater visibility of Lake Superior is 27 feet, making it easily the cleanest and clearest of the Great Lakes. Underwater visibility in places reaches 100 feet. Lake Superior has been described as "the most oligotrophic lake in the world."


The lake is about 350 miles (563 km) in length and 160 miles (257 km) in width.

In the summer, the sun sets more than 35 minutes later on the western shore of Lake Superior than at its southeastern edge.

4 comments:

  1. Good luck jumping the the big lake. It's cold even in summer, I couldn't imagine why you'd want to do it in the winter.

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  2. you could not have picked a better lake to jump into, in the dead of winter!!!! LOL

    it was for such a great cause, and the line of people willing to jump in the big lake was amazing!!!


    Peace,
    Joboo

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  3. Big Oak...At my age now, I wouldn't do it just for the fun of it. May have in my younger day though, lol lol

    Joboo...agreed, it is a good cause and lots of good people having fun.

    Jeff...It wasn't bad, but once out of the water, it was the tennis shoes holding water that was cold.

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