If Lake Superior Isn’t a Lake, What is It?

While there are many interesting facts about Lake Superior, the most captivating one revolves around the ongoing debate about whether it should be considered a lake at all.

How can Lake Superior, a body of water with 'Lake' in its name, not be considered a lake? Because of its sheer size, some believe this great lake is greater than originally thought.

See Also: This Cozy Airbnb Sits on a 50-Foot Cliff Overlooking Lake Superior

Lake Superior is the largest of the Great Lakes, both in terms of surface area and volume. Because Lake Superior is so massive, it's often described more like an inland sea than a typical lake.

Lake Superior is the largest freshwater lake in the world in area and the third largest in volume.

To put things in perspective, Lake Superior contains 2,900 cubic miles of water which is enough to cover the entire land surface of North and South America to a depth of 12 inches.

If Lake Superior Isn't a Lake, Then What Is It?

According to the National Park Service, Lake Superior is truly an inland sea. While there is some debate about whether or not it's an inland sea, the United States Environmental Protection Agency, for example, describes The Great Lakes as “vast inland freshwater seas.”

Michigan State University:

Calling Superior a lake is a somewhat misleading label, referring to it as a vast freshwater inland sea might portray a more accurate mental image.

Teso Coker, a water resource scientist at the University of Minnesota Duluth:

Compared to other bodies of water in the U.S., I would definitely classify it as an inland sea. When I’ve shown videos and pictures to my colleagues overseas of Lake Superior, they have all said, "That is a sea!"

Regardless, of whether it's an actual sea or not, to Michiganders it will always be Lake Superior, the greatest of the Great Lakes.