Danau Ontario

Seen from near Wolcott, New York

Lake Ontario, bounded on the north by the Canadian province of Ontario and on the south by Ontario's Niagara Peninsula and by New York State, USA, is one of the five Great Lakes of North America.

Name

The name of the lake is derived from ontarí:io, a Huron word meaning "great lake".^[2] The Canadian province of Ontario was later named after the lake.

Previous to its current name, the lake was identified in some maps under different names. In a map drawn in the Relation des Jésuites (1662-1663), the lake has the legend "Lac Ontario ou des Iroquois" and in smaller type "Ondiara". A French map produced in 1712 (currently in the Canadian Museum of Civilization), created by military engineer Jean-Baptiste de Couagne, identified Lake Ontario as "Lac Frontenac". Iroquois people called the lake "Skanadario."

Geography

Lake Ontario (43°30'N, 78°00'W) is the eastern-most and smallest in surface area (7,540 square miles, 19,529 km²) of the Great Lakes, although it exceeds Lake Erie in volume (393 cubic miles, 1639 km³). It is the 14th largest lake in the world and has a shoreline 712 miles (1146 km) long.

Lake Ontario has an elevation of 246 feet (75 m)above sea level. Its length is 193 miles (311 km), and its width is 53 miles (85 km). The average depth is 283 feet (86 m), with a maximum depth of 802 feet (244 m).

Its primary inlet is the Niagara River (from Lake Erie) and primary outlet is the St. Lawrence River. Other major rivers which flow into it include the Don River; Humber River; Trent River; the Cataraqui River; the Genesee River; the Oswego River; the Black River; and the Salmon River. Other notable geographic features include Hamilton Harbour, the Bay of Quinte, the Toronto Islands, and the Thousand Islands. The Bay of Quinte separates most of Prince Edward County from the north shore except for a 2 mile (3km) stretch of land connecting it to the mainland. The largest island on the lake is Wolfe Island located near Kingston at the St. Lawrence River entrance. It is accessible by ferry from both Canada and the U.S.

A portion of the Great Lakes Waterway passes through the lake, which is accessible from upstream by the Welland Canal and from downstream by the St. Lawrence Seaway. The Trent-Severn Waterway for pleasure boats connects Lake Ontario at the Bay of Quinte to Georgian Bay of Lake Huron passing through the inland Lake Simcoe. The Rideau Waterway, also for pleasure boats, connects Lake Ontario at Kingston to the Ottawa River at Ottawa. The Oswego Canal connects the lake at Oswego, NY to the New York State Canal System, with outlets to the Hudson River, Lake Erie, and Lake Champlain.

A large conurbation called the Golden Horseshoe (including major cities of Toronto and Hamilton, Ontario) is on the Canadian side at the western end of the lake. Other centres on the Canadian side with ports include St. Catharines, Oshawa, Cobourg and Kingston near the St. Lawrence River inlet. Close to 9 million people or over a quarter of Canada's population lives within the watershed of Lake Ontario.

The American shore of the lake is largely rural, with the exception of Rochester, New York and the much smaller port at Oswego, New York. The city of Syracuse is 40 miles (65 km) inland from the lakeshore and is connected to it by the New York State Canal System. Over 2 million people live in Lake Ontario's American watershed.

A high-speed passenger/vehicle ferry service across Lake Ontario between Toronto and Rochester was launched on June 17, 2004, using the vessel Spirit of Ontario I. The service was canceled on January 10, 2006.

On the south shore, breezes off the cool lake tend to retard fruit bloom until the spring frost danger is past, and the area has become a major fruit growing area, with apples, cherries, pears, plums, and peaches grown in many commercial orchards on both sides of Rochester. The Canadian part of the south shore, known as the Niagara Peninsula is also a major fruit-growing and wine-making area located between Stoney Creek and Niagara-on-the-Lake. Apple varieties that tolerate a more extreme climate are grown on the lake's north shore, around Cobourg.

From Wikipedia