Great Bear Lake

Also known as Sahtú

large glacial lake in the Northwest Territories, Canada

AI overview

Great Bear Lake is a large glacial lake located in the Northwest Territories of Canada, making it one of the country's most significant freshwater bodies. It matters as an important natural feature of the Canadian Arctic that supports local ecosystems and communities in this remote region.

AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.

Wikidata facts

Instance of: lake
Country: Canada
Located in: Northwest Territories
Area: 31153
Elevation: 155
Image: Great Bear Lake.jpg
Width: 200
Length: 400

Show 8 more facts

Commons category: Great Bear Lake
outflows: Great Bear River
residence time of water: 124
vertical depth: 446
volume as quantity: 2236
watershed area: 114717
native label: Sahtú
on focus list of Wikimedia project: Wikipedia:Vital articles/Level/4

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Encyclopedic overview

Great Bear Lake (North Slavey: Sahtú; French: Grand lac de l'Ours) in the boreal forest of Canada is the largest lake entirely in Canada (Lake Superior and Lake Huron are larger but straddle the Canada–US border), the fourth-largest in North America, and the eighth-largest in the world. The lake is in the Northwest Territories, on the Arctic Circle between 65 and 67 degrees of northern latitude and between 118 and 123 degrees western longitude, 156 m (512 ft) above sea level. It drains into the Great Bear River, thence into the Mackenzie River.

The name originated from the Chipewyan word satudene, meaning "grizzly bear-water people". The Sahtu, a Dene people, are named after the lake. Grizzly Bear Mountain, or Sahoyue, on the shore of the lake also comes from Chipewyan, meaning "bear-large hill".

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Great Bear Lake” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.