Amadjuak Lake

Where is Amadjuak Lake?

Countries on its shores: Canada.

Middle of the lake: 64.92° N, 71.13° W

The story behind it

Amadjuak Lake lies in the south of Baffin Island, in the Canadian territory of Nunavut. It is more than 80 km long and 45 km wide. Only Nettilling Lake on the same island is bigger. The flat land around the lake was under the sea until about 4 500 years ago, when it slowly rose out of the water. For most of the year the lake is covered with ice. On one side, limestone cliffs 30 metres high tower over the water; the waves have shaped them over a long time. High cliffs like these are rare in the Arctic. In summer, herds of caribou come to the lake to feed, and many travel along it on their yearly journey. Arctic char and small sticklebacks swim in the cold water. For a long time Inuit from many places met here, but today nobody lives at the lake.

Find it on the globe

Amadjuak Lake is there as a small blue dot with its name, right on the water. From far away the planet is only a blue ball; detail arrives as you zoom in, and this one appears once you are close enough. Open it on the globe.

It sits at its real coordinates, not near them — the same numbers listed in the facts above. Switch off the layer for this kind of place and it disappears again; the buttons for that are down the right-hand edge.