The largest lake entirely within Canada, lying right on the Arctic Circle.
Surface area
31,153 km²
Maximum depth
about 446 m
Elevation
156 m
Continent
North America
Countries
Canada
Did you know?
Great Bear Lake is frozen for much of the year and is one of the least disturbed large lakes on Earth.
Little-known fact
Uranium mined on its shores in the 1930s–40s was used in the first atomic bombs.
Highlights
- Largest lake wholly in Canada
- Straddles the Arctic Circle
- Source of wartime uranium
Life in the Great Bear Lake
The fish and animals, waterbirds and water plants — including some of the rarest — that this water supports.
Animals & fish
Northern pike
A long, torpedo-shaped ambush predator that lurks among weeds across the cool rivers and lakes of the north.
North American beaver
Nature’s engineer: its dams create wetlands that reshape whole river valleys.
Waterbirds
Mallard
The familiar green-headed dabbling duck — ancestor of most domestic ducks — found on waters worldwide.
Interactive · 3D dive
How deep does a lake go?
A lake is layered from the sunlit, weed-filled shallows down to a cold, dark bed. Tap a zone to dive the submersible through the water column — and meet the life that belongs at each depth.
Tip: hover the column to tilt it · tap a layer to dive
Littoral Zone
The warm, bright band close to shore where sunlight reaches the bottom. Reeds, water lilies and rooted plants grow thickly here, making it the busiest, most crowded part of the whole lake.
Who lives here