Largest lakes & reservoirs in Northeast Minnesota by water volume
The estimated volume of water that a lake contains is measured at the lake’s normal elevation. By this measure, the world’s largest freshwater lake is Siberia’s Lake Baikal.Water Volume can be measured in acre-feet, in cubic miles, or in cubic kilometers. One acre-foot is the amount of water needed to cover one acre (43,560 square feet) to a depth of one foot. One cubic mile equals 3,379,200 acre-feet. One cubic kilometer equals 810,713 acre-feet. 1 acre-foot is equal to 325,851 US gallons. Siberia’s Lake Baikal contains about 6,276,367,740,000,000 gallons of freshwater – nearly 1 million gallons for every living person on earth.
The other – and more widely used – measure of a lake’s size is the lake’s surface acreage. By that measure, the world’s largest freshwater lake is North America’s Lake Superior.
Note: In the United States, an acre foot is a unit of volume used to refer to large-scale bodies of water. It is defined by the volume of water needed to cover 1 acre of surface area to a depth of 1 foot.
You can find many of the the world’s largest lakes (by water volume) on LakeLubbers. Note: For some lakes, the water volume data is unknown or does not apply, so you may see fewer lakes than the total 24 articles we have published for Northeast Minnesota lakes.
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Below are lakes within USA > US Midwest Region > Minnesota > Northeast Minnesota > Compared by water volume. This list does not represent all lakes in Northeast Minnesota, only the 24 Northeast Minnesota lake articles we have published on the LakeLubbers website.
Lake name  |
Water vol. in ac-ft |
Lake description |
|---|---|---|
| Lake Superior (Canada, Great Lakes of North America, Lake Superior Northwoods Region, WI, Michigan, Minnesota, Northeast Minnesota, Ontario, Canada, US Midwest Region, USA, Upper Peninsula Region, MI, Wisconsin) |
9,799,680,000 ac-ft | Skipping over state and country borders, Lake Superior, the largest, deepest, coldest, cleanest, least developed, and most pristine of the Great Lakes… |
| Kabetogama Lake, MN (Minnesota, Northeast Minnesota, US Midwest Region, USA) |
643,453 ac-ft | (Also known as Lake Kabetogama) Located just a few miles from the Canadian border in St. Louis County, Minnesota’s Kabetogama Lake is every bit as unique as its name implies. This fr… |
| Lake Winnibigoshish, MN (Minnesota, Northeast Minnesota, Northwest Minnesota, US Midwest Region, USA) |
220,000 ac-ft | (Also known as Lake Winnie) Lake Winnibigoshish is a legend among Minnesota lakes. The lake’s impressive size, covering more than 58,500 acres, reaches into both the Northwest an… |
| Deer Lake, MN (Minnesota, Northeast Minnesota, US Midwest Region, USA) |
168,811 ac-ft | (Also known as Lake of Changing Colors) Often called the “Lake of Changing Colors,” Deer Lake is a jewel in Minnesota’s northwoods country. Located northwest of Grand Rapids in south-central… |
| Bowstring Lake (Minnesota, Northeast Minnesota, US Midwest Region, USA) |
142,905 ac-ft | Be it fishing, wakeboarding, canoeing or just simply wildlife watching, Bowstring Lake fulfills its visitors every vacation need. Set in Itasca County… |
| Big Sandy Lake, MN (Minnesota, Northeast Minnesota, US Midwest Region, USA) |
134,018 ac-ft | Big Sandy Lake is located in Minnesota’s northeast Aitkin County, home to over one million acres of hardwood forest and 365 lakes. With the majority o… |
| Crane Lake MN (Minnesota, Northeast Minnesota, US Midwest Region, USA) |
92,640 ac-ft | Tucked into the vast and remote wilderness of northeastern Minnesota, Crane Lake is a picture of beauty seemingly taken before the rise of civilizatio… |
| Pokegama Lake (Minnesota, Northeast Minnesota, US Midwest Region, USA) |
80,126 ac-ft | (Also known as Lake Pokegama) Pokegama Lake has been a premier vacation destination for over 100 years. Located on the southwestern side of Grand Rapids, Minnesota in Itasca County… |
| Wabana Lake (Minnesota, Northeast Minnesota, US Midwest Region, USA) |
58,018 ac-ft | (Also known as Wabana Chain of Lakes) Trilling their distinctive call, loons glide across the surface of Wabana Lake, dodging in and out of the mist rising from the exceptionally clear wat… |
| Siseebakwet Lake (Minnesota, Northeast Minnesota, US Midwest Region, USA) |
52,648 ac-ft | (Also known as Sugar) Sitting atop a brightly-colored towel and looking across Siseebakwet Lake’s crystalline, vividly blue waters might bring up images of the Caribbean or… |
| Moose Lake, MN (Minnesota, Northeast Minnesota, US Midwest Region, USA) |
38,190 ac-ft | The passage of time often brings change and development to certain areas, but northern Minnesota’s Moose Lake rests quietly in its remote setting. Wit… |