OTTAWA COUNTY, Mich. – While tsunamis are most often associated with oceans, they are more common in the Great Lakes than you may expect. Around 106 meteotsunamis are observed in the Great Lakes each year, although many are too small to notice.
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In most cases, lakes are confined to smaller fetches which limit wave size, but the Great Lakes are large enough to produce frequent swells up to several metres. However, the highest ever recorded waves were 8.7 metres, outside of Marquette, Michigan, on Lake Superior.
“The waves hit you every three to five seconds in the Great Lakes, where in the ocean it might be 10 to 12 seconds between waves,” said Guy Meadows, a Michigan senior research scientist.
From some vantage points, the Great Lakes feel more like vast inland seas than freshwater lakes. But the 6 quadrillion gallons (~23 quadrillion liters) sloshing in Superior, Michigan, Huron, Ontario, and Erie represent one fifth of the planet's fresh water.
Lake Michigan's riptide and longshore tides are unparalleled when it comes to danger among all the Great Lakes. In fact, due to its unnaturally strong winds, it's not unusual for this lake to have strong rip currents that can be dangerous for swimmers.
At the deepest measured point, Lake Superior is 1,332 feet, around a quarter-mile straight down. Again, comparing it to the next deepest point in another Great Lake, Lake Michigan comes in second with a depth of 925 feet.
The Great Lakes have been known to generate waves of more than 25 feet. They can sink lake freighters over 500 feet long when this happens. Lake Erie is booby-trapped with reefs, numerous sand bars and a wide range of waves and shallows. Some mariners have called it the world's most temperamental lake.
When a tsunami comes ashore, areas less than 25 feet above sea level and within a mile of the sea will be in the greatest danger. However, tsunamis can surge up to 10 miles inland. “It's really just kind of relentless, the water just keeps on coming and coming and coming for a long time,” Garrison-Laney says.
The water in Lake Tahoe is of excellent quality, and our community treatment plants are designed to remove or inactivate microorganisms, meeting exacting standards .
The deepest recorded depth of Lake Tahoe is 1,645 feet. To visualize this depth, imagine the bottom of Tahoe reaching down 100 feet lower than Carson City, Nevada, sitting in the basin far below Tahoe to the east. What we see as normal Lake Tahoe depth is only our perspective.
Why is the Lake so blue? Tahoe's clean air and water are the keys to the Lake's dazzling blue color. The surface of Lake Tahoe is blue in part because it's reflecting the sky, but there is more to this phenomenon. Water as crystal clear as Tahoe's absorbs red light, leaving the rich blue color that we all see.
And as recently as 2012, a 7-foot wave swept beachgoers and swamped harbors along the shoreline near Cleveland. All are now considered historic examples of meteotsunamis, which also have been recorded in the Gulf of Mexico, Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea and Adriatic Sea.
So you know how when you go for a dip in the ocean and you come out covered in salt crust and with the distinct stench of rotting seaweed? Yeah, that doesn't happen in the Great Lakes. The water may be colder, but it's wonderfully clean.
The Great Lakes are freshwater ecosystems. Traditionally, Lake Michigan, for example, has been a very low-salt lake, with levels around one milligram of chloride per liter of water. Over the years, due to our increased salt use, that level has steadily but gradually climbed up to 15 milligrams per liter.
How did the Great Lakes get so deep? The Great Lakes are deep due to the heavy glaciers slowly moving north over time. The weight of these glaciers caused the now Great Lakes to become deeper as they moved.