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A field guide to the world's lakes

Find the lake.
Know the water.

Water temperature month by month, ice, depth and what to do on the shore — for 171,466 named lakes, from alpine tarns to inland seas.

Warm enough to swim Lakes that freeze The deepest The highest
24°24°24°24°24°24°24°24°24°24°24°24°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec24°DecemberLake VictoriaUganda
named lakes
171,466
lake guides
1,500
with water temperature
151,357
languages
7

Pick a month

Warm water, month by month

Well-known lakes where the surface averages 20 °C or more in the month you choose.

Lake VictoriaUganda67,166 km²24°Lake TanganyikaDR Congo32,827 km²24°Lake ErieUnited States25,768 km²21°Lake MalawiMalawi29,544 km²24°Lake BalkhashKazakhstan16,718 km²23°Lake VanTurkey3,569 km²22°Urmia LakeIran4,933 km²27°Lake KivuRwanda2,401 km²23°

The shape library

Every lake has a face

Real outlines from satellite mapping. Switch on true scale to see how they compare.

Caspian SeaCaspian SeaLake VictoriaLake VictoriaLake BaikalLake BaikalLake TanganyikaLake TanganyikaLake MichiganLake MichiganLake OntarioLake OntarioLake HuronLake HuronLake ErieLake ErieLake LadogaLake LadogaLake SuperiorLake SuperiorLake MalawiLake MalawiTiticacaTiticacaLake BalkhashLake BalkhashLake VanLake VanUrmia LakeUrmia LakeLake OnegaLake OnegaLake KivuLake KivuLake GenevaLake GenevaLake ChadLake ChadLake AlbertLake AlbertGreat Salt LakeGreat Salt LakeLake NicaraguaLake NicaraguaSaimaaSaimaaIssyk-KulIssyk-Kul

Cross-section

Deep, deeper, deepest

The deepest lakes with a guide, hung from the same waterline and drawn to scale.

Surface
Lake Baikal1,642 mLake Tanganyika1,433 mCaspian Sea1,025 mO'Higgins/San Martín Lake836 mLake Malawi704 mIssyk-Kul668 mGreat Slave Lake614 mLake Matano600 mCrater Lake594 mLake General Carrera/Buenos Aires590 m

By country

Where the lakes are

Canada80Russia79United States79Germany60China57Finland56Norway42Switzerland41India40Sweden39Italy35Poland33Turkey33United Kingdom29Kazakhstan28Japan27Ukraine26Chile23

All countries

Built on open science

Every number on Lakeyas comes from a public, citable dataset — the same ones researchers use. Nothing is invented, and nothing is a forecast.

How we know

  • HydroLAKES1.4 million lake outlines, with depth and volume
  • LakeTEMPwater temperature and ice from the Landsat 8 satellite
  • NASA POWERair temperature, rain and sunshine since 1991
  • OpenStreetMapbeaches, campsites and marinas on the shore
  • Wikidatalake names in every language

The family

Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers, canyons, caves or dark skies?

Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.

beachesCoastyaFind your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit
lakesLakeyasEvery lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.You are here
mountainsPeakyasEvery summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit waterfallsCascadyasEvery waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Visit islandsIslandyasEvery island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Visit riversRiveryasEvery river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit canyonsCanyonyasEvery canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Visit
cavesCavernyasEvery cave with its real depth and length: the rock above, the temperature inside all year, and how to visit.Coming soonVisit
dark skiesDarkskyasWhere the night is still dark: the sky of every place, the Milky Way month by month, the Moon, eclipses and auroras.Coming soonVisit