Lake Superior Lake Levels
Lake water levels are systematically measured all around Lake Superior. GLERL has an great interactive web page showing the base levels of the Great Lakes, and facilitating the thorough public exploration of this important data.
Lake Superior’s base level has been generally decreasing since about 1993, and has decreased by about 50 cm in 20 years (about 2.5 cm or ~1 in/yr). This decrease is small compared to seasonal changes, so it seems muted unless one has a decadal perspective. While it is good for our geological goals of seeing wave-washed shoreline exposures, this decline has many local residents quite concerned. In the past few months, the lake level has rebounded to about its long term average, a change that is driven in part by groundwater levels bouyed by increased precipitation, that broke a decade of drought.