How would it raise Lake Michigan? Different precipitation patterns or changes in consumption due to climate change maybe, but how could a foot of sea level change lake Michigan's level?
silly question I know. I know they're indepenent, and higher than sea-level, but just wondered, more precipitation, snow melt, etc.
Should've googled it before I asked
> The Great Lakes are land-locked bodies of water that drain via the St. Lawrence River into the Atlantic Ocean. Lake Ontario, the lowest of the Great Lakes, sits 246 feet above sea level. It (and the other four Great Lakes at elevations of 571 feet for Lake Erie, 577 feet for Lakes Michigan/Huron and 600 feet for Lake Superior) will not be affected by rising oceans, whose rise will be only about one foot by the year 2100. Oceans have been rising at an average rate of 0.14 inches per year in recent years, but the rise is expected to increase slightly in coming years. The levels of the Great Lakes fluctuate a few feet in cycles that are independent of ocean levels.
Its not as silly as you might think. Levels in Lake Huron-Michigan recently reached an all time high (I believe last year). Some towns in Indiana were expecting to be completely wiped out. Of course, this is not due to melting glaciers but due to changing weather patterns.
For a region like ours though, its a similar problem. Water levels here also could move a lot faster than sea levels, however its not as steady or certain of a rise. Ultimately there is also already a geoengineering megaproject which has been built and is capable of flushing the lake into the Gulf of Mexico: the Chicago "river" (more of a canal at this point as its flow has been reversed).
