Water science news, explainers, and statistics covering freshwater, hydrology, lakes, rivers, groundwater, ice, and Earth’s connected water systems.
Lake Lanier reaches about 160 feet deep at its deepest point when the water surface is at the reservoir’s full summer level of 1,071 feet. That maximum occurs just north of Buford Dam, above the old river channel. The number answers a common question and applies to one location under a specific water-level condition. Most…
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Daily Arctic and Antarctic sea-ice extent from the NSIDC Sea Ice Index, with recent changes, charts, methodology, and limitations.
For the 2026 season, visitors cannot swim in Crater Lake because public access to its shore is closed. Cleetwood Cove Trail, the park’s only permitted public route to the lakeshore, is shut for major rehabilitation work. The Cleetwood Cove closure changes the practical answer to a popular summer question. The lake remains a spectacular place…
Texas is packed with places called lakes, yet most of its big open-water destinations began with a dam. Texas’s reservoir-dominated landscape makes the question of natural lakes sound simple. Yet the word “lake” may cover deep cypress water or a cut-off river bend. It can also describe a coastal basin or a rain-fed Panhandle playa.…
