Lake Thun

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(Redirected from Thuner See)

Image:Thunersee.jpg Lake Thun (German: Thunersee) is a lake in the Bernese Oberland in Switzerland. It is located just north of the Alps, at approximately Template:Coor dm.

The lake is 17.5 km long and 3.5 km wide at its widest point. The surface area is 48.3 km². The maximum depth is 217 m, which gives it a total freshwater volume of about 6.5 km³. The city of Thun is located on the north side of the lake and gives the lake its name.

Lake Thun is located 558 metres above sea level. The catchment area is approximately 2,500 km². This large catchment area frequently causes local flooding after heavy rainfalls. This occurs because River Aare, which drains Lake Thun, has only limited capacity to handle the excess runoff.

The lake is fed by water from Lake Brienz to the south east, which lies 6 metres higher than Lake Thun. Lake Thun was created after the last ice age and was originally part of Lake Brienz. The historic combined lake is called Wendelsee by geologists and historians.

Fishing is important enough to keep a handful professional fishers employed. In 2001 the total catch was 53,000 kg. Since 1835 passenger ships have operated on the lake. There are ten passenger ships in total, operated by the local railway company BLS Lötschbergbahn.

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