Nettilling Lake
Encyclopedia
Lake
A lake is a body of relatively still fresh or salt water of considerable size, localized in a basin, that is surrounded by land. Lakes are inland and not part of the ocean and therefore are distinct from lagoons, and are larger and deeper than ponds. Lakes can be contrasted with rivers or streams,...
located toward the south end of Baffin Island
Baffin Island
Baffin Island in the Canadian territory of Nunavut is the largest island in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, the largest island in Canada and the fifth largest island in the world. Its area is and its population is about 11,000...
, Nunavut
Nunavut
Nunavut is the largest and newest federal territory of Canada; it was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the Nunavut Act and the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act, though the actual boundaries had been established in 1993...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. It is also the world's largest lake on an island, with an area of 5,542 km2 and a maximum length of 123 km. The lake is in the Great Plain of the Koukdjuak
Great Plain of the Koukdjuak
The Great Plain of the Koukdjuak is located in Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut within the Canadian Arctic. It is the namesake of the Koukdjuak River in western Baffin Island on the southeastern coast of Foxe Basin. It stretches from Cory Bay to Hantzsch Bay, and then inland.-Geography:The plain is...
about 280 km northwest of Iqaluit. The Arctic Circle
Arctic Circle
The Arctic Circle is one of the five major circles of latitude that mark maps of the Earth. For Epoch 2011, it is the parallel of latitude that runs north of the Equator....
crosses the lake. The lake's name is of Inuktitut
Inuktitut
Inuktitut or Eastern Canadian Inuktitut, Eastern Canadian Inuit language is the name of some of the Inuit languages spoken in Canada...
origin, coming from the word for the adult ringed seal (netsilak). Franz Boas
Franz Boas
Franz Boas was a German-American anthropologist and a pioneer of modern anthropology who has been called the "Father of American Anthropology" and "the Father of Modern Anthropology." Like many such pioneers, he trained in other disciplines; he received his doctorate in physics, and did...
explored its southern shore in 1883.
Nettilling is the largest lake in Nunavut. It is fed by the second largest lake on Baffin Island, Amadjuak Lake
Amadjuak Lake
Amadjuak Lake is a lake in Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut, Canada. Along with Nettilling Lake, it is located in south-central Baffin Island's Great Plain of the Koukdjuak. It is south of Burwash Bay. The closest community is Iqaluit...
and several other smaller lakes and streams. It empties west via the very shallow Koukdjuak River
Koukdjuak River
The Koukdjuak River begins at the outlet of Nettilling Lake and empties into the Arctic Ocean. It is the namesake of the Great Plain of the Koukdjuak located in the Foxe Basin on western Baffin Island, Nunavut , northern Canada....
into Foxe Basin
Foxe Basin
Not to be confused with Fox Bay, Falkland IslandsFoxe Basin is a shallow oceanic basin north of Hudson Bay, in Nunavut, Canada, located between Baffin Island and the Melville Peninsula...
. The eastern half has many small islands and the western half is deeper with no islands. The lake is frozen for most of the year. Ringed Seal
Ringed Seal
The ringed seal , also known as the jar seal and as netsik or nattiq by the Inuit, is an earless seal inhabiting the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions...
s live in the lake and only three species of fish have been recorded there: the Arctic char
Arctic char
Arctic char or Arctic charr is both a freshwater and saltwater fish in the Salmonidae family, native to Arctic, sub-Arctic and alpine lakes and coastal waters. No other freshwater fish is found as far north. It is the only species of fish in Lake Hazen, on Ellesmere Island in the Canadian Arctic...
as well as the ninespine and threespine stickleback
Stickleback
The Gasterosteidae are a family of fish including the sticklebacks. FishBase currently recognises sixteen species in the family, grouped in five genera. However several of the species have a number of recognised subspecies, and the taxonomy of the family is thought to be in need of revision...
. The tundra around the lake and south to Amadjuak Lake is important for Barren-ground Caribou
Barren-ground Caribou
Barren-ground Caribou is a subspecies of the caribou that is found mainly in the Canadian territories Nunavut and the Northwest Territories and western Greenland. It sometimes includes the similar porcupine caribou, in which case the barren-ground caribou also is found in Alaska...
feeding and calving.
Nettilling Lake is the eleventh largest in Canada, being one of the largest lakes entirely within Canada.
Sources
- Thecanadianencyclopedia.com
- Columbia Electronic Encyclopedi entry
- Canada's Polar Environments, Nettilling Lake and Amadjuak Lake