Lake Superior, one of the five Great Lakes in North America, has a surface area of 31,700 square miles (82,100 square km), more than any other freshwater lake in the world. The volume of water in the lake — 2,934 cubic miles (12,229 cubic km) — is enough to submerge both North America and South America to a depth of almost 1 foot (about 30 cm), but it is only the world's fourth-largest lake by volume.
More facts about Lake Superior:
- Lake Superior contains 10% of all of the world’s freshwater and is approximately the size of the state of South Carolina.
- An estimated 3.5 million tourists visit the Lake Superior area each year.
- Lake Superior is considered ultra-oligotrophic, which means that it has little to no production of algae or aquatic plants. This contributes to the lack of nutrients in its soil and a limited fish population. It is, however, one of the cleanest lakes in the world.
