The Country With The Most Lakes

  • 9 months ago
The Country With The Most Lakes

Canada has more lakes than any other country.

Lakes play a vital role in influencing the weather patterns and ecology of an area. All the world's lakes together (more than a million) also have a significant effect on the global climate. According to a scientific study, the total shoreline length of all the world's lakes is four times longer than the total coastline length of the global ocean. Scientists are also worried that climate change will have a dire impact on the lakes of the world. In some places, lakes will dry up while in others, new lakes will be formed. Such changes might have adverse effects on the global climate. Hence, scientists feel that an inventory of the current status lakes of the world needs to be created to monitor the changes and study their impact on the environment around us.

Counting the number of lakes present in different countries thus becomes important as well. Knowing their numbers will help in monitoring them more efficiently. So, geographers from McGill University, Canada, conducted a study on the lakes of the world and prepared a list of 10 countries with the largest number of lakes. Only lakes that are 0.1 sq. km (10 hectares) or larger were taken into account. The study was published in Nature Communications in 2016.

According to the study, Canada is home to the largest number of lakes in the world. Of the 1.42 million lakes around the world with a size of over 0.1 sq. km, Canada is home to a whopping 62% of them. These lakes play a very significant role in shaping the water cycle of the country. However, very little is known about most of these lakes. According to the researchers of the study, lakes in Canada's north could be severely affected by the fast-melting glaciers due to global warming. Old lakes might drain out and new ones form. Hence, studying these lakes in detail becomes necessary.

FACT OR FAKE.

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