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The terms are also referred to in the film trilogy Three Colors by Krzysztof Kielowski

Abso Lutely Productions is a film and television production company owned by actor and producers Tim Heidecker Eric Wareheim and producer Dave Kneebone It is known for producing the long running series Tom Goes to the Mayor Nathan For You Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job and Check It Out with Dr Steve Brule

Nuisance from archaic nocence through Fr noisance nuisance from Lat nocere to hurt is a common law tort It means that which causes offence annoyance trouble or injury A nuisance can be either public also common or private A public nuisance was defined by English scholar Sir JF Stephen as

an act not warranted by law or an omission to discharge a legal duty which act or omission obstructs or causes inconvenience or damage to the public in the exercise of rights common to all Her Majesty s subjects

Private nuisance is the interference with the right of specific people Nuisance is one of the oldest causes of action known to the common law with cases framed in nuisance going back almost to the beginning of recorded case law Nuisance signifies that the right of quiet enjoyment is being disrupted to such a degree that a tort is being committed

Under the common law persons in possession of real property land owners lease holders etc are entitled to the quiet enjoyment of their lands However this does nt include visitors or those who are nt considered to have an interest in the land If a neighbour interferes with that quiet enjoyment either by creating smells sounds pollution or any other hazard that extends past the boundaries of the property the affected party may make a claim in nuisance

Legally the term nuisance is traditionally used in three ways

The law of nuisance was created to stop such bothersome activities or conduct when they unreasonably interfered either with the rights of other private landowners ie private nuisance or with the rights of the general public ie public nuisance

A public nuisance is an unreasonable interference with the public s right to property It includes conduct that interferes with public health safety peace or convenience The unreasonableness may be evidenced by statute or by the nature of the act including how long and how bad the effects of the activity may be

Private nuisance arose out of the action on the case and protects a person s right to the use and enjoyment of their land It does nt include trespass

To be a nuisance the level of interference must rise above the merely aesthetic For example if your neighbour paints their house purple it may offend you however it does nt rise to the level of nuisance In most cases normal uses of a property that can constitute quiet enjoyment can not be restrained in nuisance either For example the sound of a crying baby may be annoying but it is an expected part of quiet enjoyment of property and does not constitute a nuisance Nuisance distinguishes between cases where the conduct alleged to be a nuisance has caused material injury to property and the cases where it has caused sensible personal discomfort

Any affected property owner has standing to sue for a private nuisance If a nuisance is widespread enough but yet has a public purpose it is often treated at law as a public nuisance Owners of interests in real property whether owners lessors or holders of an easement or other interest have standing only to bring private nuisance suits According to Oldham v Lawson where held that the husband has a mere licence and had no title to sue whereas his wife as owner did have title to sue and some later cases exclusive possession is necessary to establish a private nuisance case However one situation related to transform a private nuisance against land to one against person this case is no longer considered to be authoritative

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries the law of nuisance became difficult to administer as competing property uses often posed a nuisance to each other and the cost of litigation to settle the issue grew prohibitive As such most jurisdictions now have a system of land use planning eg zoning that describes what activities are acceptable in a given location Zoning generally overrules nuisance For example if a factory is operating in an industrial zone neighbours in the neighbouring residential zone ca nt make a claim in nuisance Jurisdictions without zoning laws essentially leave land use to be determined by the laws concerning nuisance

Similarly modern environmental laws are an adaptation of the doctrine of nuisance to modern complex societies in that a person s use of his property may harmfully affect another s property or person far from the nuisance activity and from causes not easily integrated into historic understandings of nuisance law

Under the common law the only remedy for a nuisance was the payment of damages However with the development of the courts of equity the remedy of an injunction became available to prevent a defendant from repeating the activity that caused the nuisance and specifying punishment for contempt if the defendant is in breach of such an injunction

The law and economics movement has been involved in analyzing the most efficient choice of remedies given the circumstances of the nuisance In Boomer v Atlantic Cement Co a cement plant interfered with a number of neighbors yet the cost of complying with a full injunction would have been far more than a fair value of the cost to the plaintiffs of continuation The New York court allowed the cement plant owner to purchase the injunction for a specified amount the permanent damages In theory the permanent damage amount should be the net present value of all future damages suffered by the plaintiff

An Inspector of Nuisances was the title of an office in several English speaking jurisdictions In many jurisdictions this term is now archaic the position and or term having been replaced by others In medieval England it was an office of the Courts Leet and later it was also a parochial office concerned with local action against a wide range of nuisances under the common law obstructions of the highway polluted wells adulterated food smoke noise smelly accumulations eavesdropping peeping toms lewd behaviour and many others In the United Kingdom from the mid 19th century this office became associated with solving public health and sanitation problems with other types of nuisances being dealt with by the local constables

The first Inspector of Nuisances appointed by a UK local authority Health Committee was Thomas Fresh in Liverpool in 1844 Liverpool later promoted a private Act the Liverpool Sanatory sic Act 1846 that created a statutory post of Inspector of Nuisances This became the precedent for later local and national legislation In local authorities that had established a Board of Health under the Public Health Act 1848 or under local Acts implementing the Towns Improvement Clauses Act of 1847 the title was Inspector of Nuisances The 1855 Nuisances Removal and Diseases Prevention Act and the Metropolis Management Act 1855 via section 134 mandated such an office but with the title of Sanitary Inspector So in some places the title was Sanitary Inspector and in others Inspector of Nuisances Eventually the title was standardized across all UK local authorities as Sanitary Inspector An Act of Parliament in 1956 changed the title to Public Health Inspector Similar offices were established across the British Commonwealth and Empire

The nearest modern equivalent of this position in the UK is the Environmental Health Officer This title being adopted by local authorities on the recommendation of Central Government after the Local Government Act 1972 Today Registered UK Environmental Health Officers working in nonenforcement roles eg in the private sector may prefer to use the generic term Environmental Health Practitioner

In New South Wales the NSW Public Health Act 1896 gave the NSW Board of Health power to establish standards of strength and purity for articles of general consumption to appoint analysts and to cause to be made such enquiries as it thinks fit in relation to any matters concerning the public health Inspectors under the new Act were known as Inspectors of Nuisances but were later renamed sanitary inspectors

In the United States a modern example of an officer with the title Inspector of Nuisances but not the public health role is found in Section 3767 7 of the Ohio Revised Code which defines such a position to investigate nuisances where this term broadly covers establishments in which lewdness and alcohol are found Whereas in the United States the environmental health officer role is undertaken by local authority officers with the titles Registered Environmental Health Specialist or Registered Sanitarian depending on the jurisdiction

The boundaries of the tort are potentially unclear due to the public private nuisance divide and existence of the rule in Rylands v Fletcher Writers such as John Murphy at Lancaster University have popularised the idea that Rylands forms a separate though related tort This is still an issue for debate and is rejected by others the primary distinction in Rylands concerns escapes onto land and so it may be argued that the only difference is the nature of the nuisance not the nature of the civil wrong

Under English law unlike US law it is no defence that the claimant came to the nuisance the 1879 case of Sturges v Bridgman is still good law and a new owner can bring a claim in nuisance for the existing activities of a neighbour In February 2014 the UK Supreme Court ruling in the case of Coventry v Lawrence prompted the launch of a campaign to have the coming to a nuisance law overturned Campaigners hold that established lawful activity continuing with planning permission and local residents support should be accepted as part of the character of the area by any new residents coming to the locality

Prosser W Page Keeton W Page 1984 Prosser and Keeton on Torts 5th ed St Paul Minnesota West Publishing 86 616 ISBN 978 0 314 74880 5

Many states have limited instances where a claim of nuisance may be brought Such limitation often became necessary as the sensibilities of urban dwellers were offended by smells of agricultural waste when they moved to rural locations For example many states and provinces have right to farm provisions which allow any agricultural use of land zoned or historically used for agriculture

There are two classes of nuisance under the American law a nuisance in fact or nuisance per accidens and a nuisance per se The classification determines whether the claim goes to the jury or gets decided by the judge An alleged nuisance in fact is an issue of fact to be determined by the jury who will decide whether the thing or act in question created a nuisance by examining its location and surroundings the manner of its conduct and other circumstances A determination that something is a nuisance in fact also requires proof of the act and its consequences

By contrast a nuisance per se is an activity or an act structure instrument or occupation which is a nuisance at all times and under any circumstances regardless of location or surroundings Liability for a nuisance per se is absolute and injury to the public is presumed if its existence is alleged and established by proof it is also established as a matter of law Therefore a judge would decide a nuisance per se while a jury would decide a nuisance in fact

Most nuisance claims allege a nuisance in fact for the simple reason that not many actions or structures have been deemed to be nuisances per se In general if an act or use of property is lawful or authorized by competent authority it can not be a nuisance per se Rather the act in question must either be declared by public statute or by case law to be a nuisance per se There are few state or federal statutes or case law declaring actions or structures to be a nuisance in and of themselves Few activities or structures in and of themselves and under any and all circumstances are a nuisance which is how courts determine whether or not an action or structure is a nuisance per se

Over the last 1000 years public nuisance has been used by governmental authorities to stop conduct that was considered quasicriminal because although not strictly illegal it was deemed unreasonable in view of its likelihood to injure someone in the general public Donald Gifford argues that civil liability has always been an incidental aspect of public nuisance Traditionally actionable conduct involved the blocking of a public roadway the dumping of sewage into a public river or the blasting of a stereo in a public park To stop this type of conduct governments sought injunctions either enjoining the activity that caused the nuisance or requiring the responsible party to abate the nuisance

In recent decades however governments blurred the lines between public and private nuisance causes of action William Prosser noted this in 1966 and warned courts and scholars against confusing and merging the substantive laws of the two torts In some states his warning went unheeded and some courts and legislatures have created vague and ill defined definitions to describe what constitutes a public nuisance For example Florida s Supreme Court has held that a public nuisance is any thing that causes annoyance to the community or harm to public health

A contemporary example of a nuisance law in the United States is the Article 40 Bylaw of Amherst Massachusetts known as the Nuisance House Bylaw The law is voted on by members of the town at town meetings The stated purpose of such a law is In accordance with the Town of Amherst s Home Rule Authority and to protect the health safety and welfare of the inhabitants of the Town this bylaw shall permit the Town to impose liability on owners and other responsible persons for the nuisances and harm caused by loud and unruly gatherings on private property and shall discourage the consumption of alcoholic beverages by underage persons at such gatherings

In practice the law works so that if one member of the neighborhood feels that a neighbor s noise level is annoying or excessively loud that neighbor is instructed to inform the town police so that they can respond to the location of the noise The responding officer has some discretion in how to deal with the noise complaint When determining the appropriate response the officer may take many factors into consideration such as the severity of the noise the time of day whether the residents have been warned before the cooperation of the residents to address the problem

The term is also used less formally in the United States to describe the nonmeritorious nature of frivolous litigation A lawsuit may be described as a nuisance suit and a settlement a nuisance settlement if the defendant pays money to the plaintiff to drop the case primarily to spare the cost of litigation rather than because the suit would have a significant likelihood of winning

In the field of environmental science there are a number of phenomena which are considered nuisances under the law including most notably noise water and light pollution Moreover there are some issues that are not necessarily legal matters that are termed environmental nuisance for example an excess population of insects or other vectors may be termed a nuisance population in an ecological sense

In terms of environmental nuisance litigations it is hard for someone to be successful in this area due to the standing requirements of private and public nuisance It is the Court s opinion that legislation should regulate this area

Particularly in Australia all the jurisdictions have such kind of legislation

A common nuisance is punishable as a misdemeanour at common law where no special provision is made by statute In modern times many of the old common law nuisances have been the subject of legislation It s no defence for a master or employer that a nuisance is caused by the acts of his servants if such acts are within the scope of their employment even though such acts are done without his knowledge and contrary to his orders Nor is it a defence that the nuisance has been in existence for a great length of time for no lapse of time will legitimate a public nuisance

A private nuisance is an act or omission which causes inconvenience or damage to a private person and is left to be redressed by action There must be some sensible diminution of these rights affecting the value or convenience of the property The real question in all the cases is the question of fact whether the annoyance is such as materially to interfere with the ordinary comfort of human existence Lord Romilly in Crump v Lambert 1867 LR 3 Eq 409 A private nuisance differing in this respect from a public nuisance may be legalized by uninterrupted use for twenty years It used to be thought that if a man knew there was a nuisance and went and lived near it he could nt recover because it was said it is he that goes to the nuisance and not the nuisance to him But this has long ceased to be law as regards both the remedy by damages and the remedy by injunction

The remedy for a public nuisance is by information indictment summary procedure or abatement An information lies in cases of great public importance such as the obstruction of a navigable river by piers In some matters the law allows the party to take the remedy into his own hands and to abate the nuisance Thus if a gate be placed across a highway any person lawfully using the highway may remove the obstruction provided that no breach of the peace is caused thereby The remedy for a private nuisance is by injunction action for damages or abatement An action lies in every case for a private nuisance it also lies where the nuisance is public provided that the plaintiff can prove that he has sustained some special injury In such a case the civil is in addition to the criminal remedy In abating a private nuisance care must be taken not to do more damage than is necessary for the removal of the nuisance

In Scotland there s no recognized distinction between public and private nuisances The law as to what constitutes a nuisance is substantially the same as in England A list of statutory nuisances will be found in the Public Health Scotland Act 1867 and amending acts The remedy for nuisance is by interdict or action

That s So Raven is the soundtrack album to the Disney Channel original series of the same name The album includes songs sung by the show s star Raven Symon and its theme song The album debuted and peaked at 44 on the Billboard 200 and has been certified Gold by the RIAA for sales of 500000 copies

A mixed review by the ParentCenter Family Entertainment Guide called the album both fun and predictable

The Disney Karaoke Series That s So Raven is a karaoke album featuring songs from the Disney series That s So Raven

In biology antrum is a general term for a cavity or chamber which may have specific meaning in reference to certain organs or sites in the body

In vertebrates it may refer specifically to

In invertebrates it may refer specifically to

In Hindu society the term gotra Sanskrit is commonly considered to be equivalent to clan It broadly refers to people who are descendants in an unbroken male line from a common male ancestor or patriline Generally the gotra forms an exogamous unit with the marriage within the same gotra being prohibited by custom being regarded as incest The name of the gotra can be used as a surname but it is different from a surname and is strictly maintained because of its importance in marriages among Hindus especially among the higher castes Pini defines gotra for grammatical purposes as apatyam pautraprabhrti gotram IV 1 162 which means the word gotra denotes the progeny of a sage beginning with the son s son When a person says I am Vipparla gotra he means that he traces his descent from the ancient sage Vipparla by unbroken male descent

According to the Brihadaranyaka Upanisad 22 6 Gautama and Bharadvja Vivmitra and Jamadagni Vashishtha and Kahyapa and Shandilya are seven sages also known as saptarishi the progeny of these seven sages are declared to be gotras This enumeration of seven primary gotras seems to have been known to Pini The offspring apatya of these seven are gotras and others than these are called gotrvayava

One who follows the system defined by three sages defines himself as tria rishaye Similarly for five sages it is pancha rishaye and for seven sages it s sapta rishaye

There exists another theory about gotra sons and disciples of a sage would have the same gotra it is believed that they possess similar thought and philosophy People of the same gotra can be found across different castes Each Gotra comprises pravaras

As a Rigvedic terms gotra simply means cow pen or herd of cows The specific meaning family lineage kin as it were herd within an enclosure is relatively more recent first recorded around the mid1st millennium BCE eg Chandogya Upanishad

These lineages as they developed among the Brahmins of that time meant patrilineal descent The Brahmanic system was later adopted by other communities such as the Kshatriyas and Vaishyas

All members of a particular gotra are believed to possess certain common characteristics by way of nature or profession Many theories have been propounded to explain this system According to the brahminical theory the Brahmins are direct descendants of seven sages who are believed to be the sons of Brahma borne out of his mind through yogic prowess They are Gautama Bharadwaja Vishvamitra Jamadagni Vashista Kashyapa Atri To this list Agastya is also sometimes added These eight sages are called gotrakarins from whom all 49 gotras especially of the Brahmins have evolved For instance from Atri sprang the Atreya and Gavisthiras gotras

A gotra must be distinguished from a kula A kula is a set of people following similar cultural rituals often worshiping the same divinity the Kula Devata god of the clan Kula does not relate to lineage or caste In fact it is possible to change one s kula based on one s faith or Ia devat

Marriages within the gotra sagotra marriages are not permitted under the rule of exogamy in the traditional matrimonial system The compound word sagotra is a union of the words sa and gotra where sa means same or similar It is common practice in preparation for Hindu marriage to inquire about the kula gotra meaning clan lineage of the bride and groom before approving the marriage People within the gotra are regarded as siblings and marrying such a person would be thought of as taboo In almost all Hindu families marriage within the same gotra is not encouraged or practised since they are believed to be descended from the same family Marriages between opposite gotras are therefore encouraged But marriage within the jaati is allowed and even preferred

For example Jats and Rajputs have 3000 Gotras and Mudirajas of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu have 2600 Gotras Gotra is always passed on from father to children among most Hindus However among the Malayali and Tulu people it is passed on from mother to child

The tatsama words sahodara brother and sahodari sister derive their roots from the Sanskrit word saha udara meaning couterine or born of the same womb In communities where gotra membership passed from father to children marriages were allowed between a woman and her maternal uncle while such marriages were forbidden in matrilineal communities like Nairs and Tuluvas where gotra membership was passed down from the mother

A much more common characteristic of South Indian Hindu society is permission for marriage between crosscousins children of brother and sister as they are of different gotras Thus a man is allowed to marry his maternal uncle s daughter or his paternal aunt s daughter but is not allowed to marry his paternal uncle s daughter She would be considered a parallel cousin of the same gotra and therefore to be treated as a sister

North Indian Hindu society not only follows the rules of gotra for marriages but also has many regulations which go beyond the basic definition of gotra and has a broader definition of incest Some communities in North India do not allow marriage with certain other clans based on the belief that both clans are of the same patrilineal descent In other communities marriage within the gotra of the mother s father and possibly some others is prohibited

A possible workaround for sagotra marriages is to perform a Dathu adoption of the bride to a family of different gotra usually dathu is given to the bride s maternal uncle who belongs to different gotra by the same rule and let them perform the kanniyadhanam kanya girl dhanam to give Such workarounds are used in rare cases and the acceptability is questionable

While the gotras are almost universally used for determining excluding marriages that would be traditionally incestuous they are not legally recognized as such although those within degrees of prohibited relationship or are sapinda are not permitted to marry Khap panchayats in Haryana have campaigned to legally ban marriages within the same gotra A convener of the Kadyan Khap Naresh Kadyan petitioned the courts to seek amendment to the Hindu Marriage Act to legally prohibit such marriages However the petition was dismissed as withdrawn after being vacated with the Delhi High Court warning that the Khap would face heavy penalty costs for wasting the time of the court

In the 1945 court case of Madhavrao vs Raghavendrarao which involved a Deshastha Brahmin couple the definition of gotra as descending from eight sages and then branching out to several families was thrown out by the Bombay High Court The court called the idea of Brahmin families descending from an unbroken line of common ancestors as indicated by the names of their respective gotras impossible to accept The court consulted relevant Hindu texts and stressed the need for Hindu society and law to keep up with the times emphasising that notions of good social behaviour and the general ideology of the Hindu society had changed The court also said that the mass of material in the Hindu texts is so vast and so full of contradictions that it is a near impossible task to reduce it to order and coherence

The Great Lakes French les Grands Lacs also called the Laurentian Great Lakes and the Great Lakes of North America are a series of interconnected freshwater lakes located primarily in the upper mideast region of North America on the Canada United States border which connect to the Atlantic Ocean through the Saint Lawrence River They consist of Lakes Superior Michigan Huron or Michigan Huron Erie and Ontario

The Great Lakes is the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth by total area and second largest by total volume containing 21 of the world s surface fresh water by volume The total surface is 94250 square miles 244106 km and the total volume measured at the low water datum is 5439 cubic miles 22671 km a bit less than the volume of Lake Baikal 23615 km3 Due to their sea like characteristics rolling waves sustained winds strong currents great depths and distant horizons the five Great Lakes have also long been referred to as inland seas Lake Superior is the second largest lake in the world by area and Lake Michigan is the largest lake that is entirely within one country

The Great Lakes began to form at the end of the last glacial period around 14000 years ago as retreating ice sheets exposed the basins they had carved into the land which then filled with meltwater The lakes have been a major highway for transportation migration and trade and they are home to a large number of aquatic species Many invasive species have been introduced due to trade and some threaten the region s biodiversity

The surrounding region is called the Great Lakes region which includes the Great Lakes Megalopolis

Though the five lakes reside in separate basins they form a single naturally interconnected body of fresh water within the Great Lakes Basin The lakes form a chain connecting the east central interior of North America to the Atlantic Ocean From the interior to the outlet at the Saint Lawrence River water flows from Superior to Huron and Michigan southward to Erie and finally northward to Lake Ontario The lakes drain a large watershed via many rivers and are studded with approximately 35000 islands There are also several thousand smaller lakes often called inland lakes within the basin The surface area of the five primary lakes combined is roughly equal to the size of the United Kingdom while the surface area of the entire basin the lakes and the land they drain is about the size of the UK and France combined Lake Michigan is the only one of the Great Lakes that is located entirely within the United States the others form a water boundary between the United States and Canada The lakes are divided among the jurisdictions of the Canadian province of Ontario and the US states of Michigan Wisconsin Minnesota Illinois Indiana Ohio Pennsylvania and New York Both Ontario and Michigan include in their boundaries portions of four of the lakes Ontario does not border Lake Michigan and Michigan does not border Lake Ontario New York and Wisconsin s jurisdictions extend into two lakes and the remaining states into one of the lakes

As the surfaces of Lakes Superior Huron Michigan and Erie are all approximately the same elevation above sea level while Lake Ontario is significantly lower and because the Niagara Escarpment precludes all natural navigation the four upper lakes are commonly called the upper great lakes This designation however is not universal Those living on the shore of Lake Superior often refer to all the other lakes as the lower lakes because they are farther south Sailors of bulk freighters transferring cargoes from Lake Superior and northern Lake Michigan and Lake Huron to ports on Lake Erie or Ontario commonly refer to the latter as the lower lakes and Lakes Michigan Huron and Superior as the upper lakes This corresponds to thinking of Lakes Erie and Ontario as down south and the others as up north Vessels sailing north on Lake Michigan are considered upbound even though they are sailing toward its effluent current

Lakes Huron and Michigan are sometimes considered a single lake called Lake Michigan Huron because they are one hydrological body of water connected by the Straits of Mackinac The straits are 5 miles 8 km wide and 120 feet 37 m deep the water levels currently at 577 feet 176 m rise and fall together and the flow between Michigan and Huron frequently reverses direction

Dispersed throughout the Great Lakes are approximately 35000 islands The largest among them is Manitoulin Island in Lake Huron the largest island in any inland body of water in the world The second largest island is Isle Royale in Lake Superior Both of these islands are large enough to contain multiple lakes themselves for instance Manitoulin Island s Lake Manitou is the world s largest lake located on a freshwater island

The Saint Lawrence Seaway and Great Lakes Waterway make the Great Lakes accessible to ocean going vessels However shifts in shipping to wider ocean going container ships which do not fit through the locks on these routes have limited container shipping on the lakes Most Great Lakes trade is of bulk material and bulk freighters of Seawaymax size or less can move throughout the entire lakes and out to the Atlantic Larger ships are confined to working in the lakes themselves Only barges can access the Illinois Waterway system providing access to the Gulf of Mexico via the Mississippi River Despite their vast size large sections of the Great Lakes freeze over in winter interrupting most shipping from January to March Some icebreakers ply the lakes keeping the shipping lanes open through other periods of ice on the lakes

The Great Lakes are also connected by canal to the Gulf of Mexico by way of the Illinois River from the Chicago River and the Mississippi River An alternate track is via the Illinois River from Chicago to the Mississippi up the Ohio and then through the Tennessee Tombigbee Waterway a combination of a series of rivers and lakes and canals to Mobile Bay and the Gulf Commercial tug and barge traffic on these waterways is heavy

Pleasure boats can also enter or exit the Great Lakes by way of the Erie Canal and Hudson River in New York The Erie Canal connects to the Great Lakes at the east end of Lake Erie at Buffalo New York and at the south side of Lake Ontario at Oswego New York

In 2009 the lakes contained 84 of the surface freshwater of North America if the water were evenly distributed over the entire continent s land area it would reach a depth of 15 meters 5 feet The source of water levels in the lakes is tied to what was left by melting glaciers when the lakes took their present form Annually only about 1 is new water originating from rivers precipitation and groundwater springs that drain into the lakes Historically evaporation has been balanced by drainage making the level of the lakes constant While the lake levels have been preserved intensive human population growth only began in the region in the 20th century and continues today At least two human water use activities have been identified as having the potential to affect the lakes levels diversion the transfer of water to other watersheds and consumption substantially done today by the use of lake water to power and cool electric generation plants resulting in evaporation

The water level of Lake Michigan Huron had remained fairly constant over the 20th century but has nevertheless dropped more than 6 feet from the record high in 1986 to the low of 2013 One newspaper reported that the long term average level has gone down about 20 inches because of dredging and subsequent erosion in the St Clair River Lake Michigan Huron hit all time record low levels in 2013 according to the US Army Corps of Engineers the previous record low had been set in 1964 By April 2015 the water level had recovered to 7 inches 175 cm more than the long term monthly average

The Great Lakes contained 21 of the world s surface fresh water around the year 2000 5472 cubic miles 22810 km or 60 10 US gallons 23 10 liters This is enough water to cover the 48 contiguous US states to a uniform depth of 95 feet 29 m Although the lakes contain a large percentage of the world s fresh water the Great Lakes supply only a small portion of US drinking water on a national basis

The total surface area of the lakes is approximately 94250 square miles 244100 km nearly the same size as the United Kingdom and larger than the US states of New York New Jersey Connecticut Rhode Island Massachusetts Vermont and New Hampshire combined

The Great Lakes coast measures approximately 10500 miles 16900 km however the length of a coastline is impossible to measure exactly and is not a well defined measure see Coastline paradox Of the total 10500 miles 16900 km of shoreline Canada borders approximately 5200 miles 8400 km while the remaining 5300 miles 8500 km are bordered by the United States Michigan has the longest shoreline of the United States bordering roughly 3288 miles 5292 km of shoreline followed by Wisconsin 820 miles 1320 km New York 473 miles 761 km and Ohio 312 miles 502 km Traversing the shoreline of all the lakes would cover a distance roughly equivalent to travelling half way around the world at the equator

It has been estimated that the foundational geology that created the conditions shaping the present day upper Great Lakes was laid from 11 to 12 billion years ago when two previously fused tectonic plates split apart and created the Midcontinent Rift which crossed the Great Lakes Tectonic Zone A valley was formed providing a basin that eventually became modern day Lake Superior When a second fault line the Saint Lawrence rift formed approximately 570 million years ago the basis for Lakes Ontario and Erie were created along with what would become the Saint Lawrence River

The Great Lakes are estimated to have been formed at the end of the last glacial period the Wisconsin glaciation ended 10000 to 12000 years ago when the Laurentide Ice Sheet receded The retreat of the ice sheet left behind a large amount of meltwater see Lake Algonquin Lake Chicago Glacial Lake Iroquois and Champlain Sea that filled up the basins that the glaciers had carved thus creating the Great Lakes as we know them today Because of the uneven nature of glacier erosion some higher hills became Great Lakes islands The Niagara Escarpment follows the contour of the Great Lakes between New York and Wisconsin Land below the glaciers rebounded as it was uncovered Since the glaciers covered some areas longer than others this glacial rebound occurred at different rates

A notable modern phenomenon is the formation of ice volcanoes over the lakes during wintertime Storm generated waves carve the lakes ice sheet and create conical mounds through the eruption of water and slush The process is only well documented in the Great Lakes and has been credited with sparing the southern shorelines from worse rocky erosion

The Great Lakes have a humid continental climate Kppen climate classification Dfa in southern areas and Dfb in northern parts with varying influences from air masses from other regions including dry cold Arctic systems mild Pacific air masses from the West and warm wet tropical systems from the south and the Gulf of Mexico The lakes themselves also have a moderating effect on the climate they can also increase precipitation totals and produce lake effect snowfall

The most well known winter effect of the Great Lakes on regional weather is the lake effect in snowfall which is sometimes very localized Even late in winter the lakes often have no icepack in the middle The prevailing winds from the west pick up the air and moisture from the lake surface which is slightly warmer in relation to the cold surface winds above As the slightly warmer moist air passes over the colder land surface the moisture often produces concentrated heavy snowfall that sets up in bands or streamers This is similar to the effect of warmer air dropping snow as it passes over mountain ranges During freezing weather with high winds the snow belts receive regular snow fall from this localized weather pattern especially along the eastern shores of the lakes Snow belts are found in Wisconsin Michigan Ohio Pennsylvania and New York United States and Ontario Canada

The lakes also moderate seasonal temperatures to some degree but not with as large an influence as do large oceans they absorb heat and cool the air in summer then slowly radiate that heat in autumn They protect against frost during transitional weather and keep the summertime temperatures cooler than further inland This effect can be very localized and overridden by offshore wind patterns This temperature buffering produces areas known as fruit belts where fruit can be produced that is typically grown much farther south For instance Western Michigan has apple and cherry orchards and vineyards cultivated adjacent to the lake shore as far north as the Grand Traverse Bay and Nottawasaga Bay in central Ontario The eastern shore of Lake Michigan and the southern shore of Lake Erie have many successful wineries because of the moderating effect as does the Niagara Peninsula between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario A similar phenomenon allows wineries to flourish in the Finger Lakes region of New York as well as in Prince Edward County Ontario on Lake Ontario s northeast shore Related to the lake effect is the regular occurrence of fog over medium sized areas particularly along the shorelines of the lakes This is most noticeable along Lake Superior s shores

The Great Lakes have been observed to help intensify storms such as Hurricane Hazel in 1954 and the 2011 Goderich Ontario tornado which moved onshore as a tornadic waterspout In 1996 a rare tropical or subtropical storm was observed forming in Lake Huron dubbed the 1996 Lake Huron cyclone Rather large severe thunderstorms covering wide areas are well known in the Great Lakes during midsummer these Mesoscale convective complexs or MCCs can cause damage to wide swaths of forest and shatter glass in city buildings These storms mainly occur during the night and the systems sometimes have small embedded tornadoes but more often straight line winds accompanied by intense lightning

Historically the Great Lakes in addition to their lake ecology were surrounded by various forest ecoregions except in a relatively small area of southeast Lake Michigan where savanna or prairie occasionally intruded Logging urbanization and agriculture uses have changed that relationship In the early 21st century Lake Superior s shores are 91 forested Lake Huron 68 Lake Ontario 49 Lake Michigan 41 and Lake Erie where logging and urbanization has been most extensive 21 Some of these forests are second or third growth ie they have been logged before changing their composition At least 13 wildlife species are documented as becoming extinct since the arrival of Europeans and many more are threatened or endangered Meanwhile exotic and invasive species have also been introduced

The organisms living on the bottom of shallow waters are similar to those found in smaller lakes The deep waters however contain organisms found only in deep cold lakes of the northern latitudes These include the delicate opossum shrimp order mysida the deepwater scud a crustacean of the order amphipoda two types of copepods and the deepwater sculpin a spiny large headed fish