Lake Michigan–Huron is the combined waters of Lake Michigan and Lake Huron, which are joined through the narrow, open-water Straits of Mackinac. They are sometimes considered a single lake because the flow of water through the straits keeps their water levels in near-equilibrium. Although the flow is generally eastward, the water moves in either direction depending on local conditions.
Lake Michigan and Lake Huron are widely considered distinct, though some sources count them as a single lake or note that they are technically a single lake, making Lake Michigan–Huron the largest fresh water lake by area in the world.
The connection between Lake Michigan and Lake Huron through the Straits of Mackinac is 5 miles (8 km) wide and 120 feet (37 m) deep. This depth compares with the maximum depths of 750 feet (229 m) in Lake Huron and 923 feet (281 m) in Lake Michigan. Although the Straits create a pronounced bottleneck in the contours of the shoreline and a major constriction in the local bathymetry, defining two distinct basins, they are still deep and wide enough to allow free exchange of water between the two sides. Because of the link through the Straits, Lakes Michigan and Huron have the same mean water level (in 2011, it was 577 feet (176 m)).
The largest inflow to the system is the St. Mary's River from Lake Superior, and the main outflow is the St. Clair River to Lake Erie; both lie in the Lake Huron basin. The combined effects of seiches (resonant standing waves) and of differing weather conditions (atmospheric pressure, wind) over each basin act to drive water either way through the Straits on a variety of characteristic timescales, at amounts sometimes exceeding 75,000 m3/s (2,600,000 cu ft/s) for several hours in either direction. However, the long-term average flow through the Straits is eastwards at 1,500–2,000 m3/s (53,000–71,000 cu ft/s), the amount of water that enters Lake Michigan from its rivers.
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