What is Lake Erie?
Answer
The shallowest and most southerly of the Great Lakes, bordered by Ontario, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and Michigan, with Pelee Island as Canada's most southerly inhabited point.
Explanation
Lake Erie is the most southerly and shallowest of the five Great Lakes. Surface area is 25,667 square kilometres, mean depth is just 19 metres, and maximum depth is 64 metres. Lake Erie is bordered by the Canadian province of Ontario to the north and by the United States states of Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and Michigan to the south, east, and west. The Canadian share of Lake Erie's surface area is about 38 per cent, the smallest Canadian share of the four Great Lakes adjacent to Canada.
Lake Erie sits at 174 metres above sea level. The Niagara River drops the lake's water about 99 metres to Lake Ontario, including the 57-metre drop at Horseshoe Falls. The Welland Canal, opened in 1932, allows ships to bypass Niagara Falls. The Detroit River and Lake St. Clair connect Lake Erie to Lake Huron at the western end. The lake's shallow depth makes it the warmest of the Great Lakes in summer (with surface temperatures regularly reaching 26 degrees Celsius) and the first to ice over in winter.
Pelee Island in western Lake Erie is the most southerly inhabited point in Canada, at latitude 41.77 north. Point Pelee on the neighbouring mainland is the most southerly mainland point in Canada and is protected within Point Pelee National Park (the smallest of Canada's national parks at 15 square kilometres). The park is internationally famous for spring and autumn bird migration, with more than 390 species recorded. Hawk Cliff and Long Point are additional Lake Erie migration funnels.
Lake Erie suffers from periodic harmful algal blooms caused by agricultural runoff, primarily phosphorus from corn and soybean fields in Ohio and Ontario. The 2014 Toledo, Ohio drinking water crisis (when about 500,000 people were ordered not to drink the water for several days because of microcystin contamination) highlighted the issue. The 2012 Canada-US Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement renewed targets for phosphorus reduction. Lake Erie's Canadian commercial fishery is the largest freshwater commercial fishery in the world by tonnage, with yellow perch, walleye, white perch, smelt, and white bass the principal catches. Major Canadian communities along Lake Erie include Windsor at the western end, Leamington, Wheatley, Erieau, Port Stanley, Port Burwell, Port Dover, and Port Colborne.
Why this matters for your test
Lake Erie is the shallowest and most southerly Great Lake. Recognising Pelee Island as Canada's most southerly inhabited point and Point Pelee National Park as Canada's smallest national park gives candidates two specific anchors.
Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada; Parks Canada
