You may already know this: you have probably read somewhere that Lake Hévíz is the largest in Europe. There is no doubt about that.
But then, which lake would take first place worldwide?
The answer is not as clear-cut as it might seem. Let’s look more closely at the figures and compare these lakes as rigorously as possible. In the north of New Zealand, there is in fact a truly impressive thermal lake, comparable in size to Hévíz. As you walk through the corridors of the Lake Bath at Hévíz, this New Zealand lake is even shown on a large photographic panel.
Where the comparison becomes complicated is that in New Zealand we are dealing with a pair of lakes, physically connected by a small channel that sometimes disappears underground. From the air, two lakes are clearly visible, but from a strictly hydrological point of view, they form a single hydrological system.
While the Hungarian lake is a temperate haven, refreshing in summer (around 36°C) and warming in winter at a surprising temperature of nearly 24°C, the two New Zealand lakes are true volcanic infernos, off-limits for swimming! Temperatures reach around 50°C in the larger Frying Pan, and can climb to 75°C in its smaller sibling, Inferno Crater.
You can swim almost anywhere in Lake Hévíz, among its water lilies, all year round. For the New Zealand lakes, by contrast, you will have to settle for walking around the site to take photos. The site is set up as a visitor attraction, geared toward walking and exploration.
Now let’s move on to precise measurements, carried out with the perimeter-based vector calculation tool mapdevelopers.com.
Here are the areas obtained for the three lakes in question:
Hévíz = 43 994 m²
Frying Pan = 40 343 m²
Inferno Crater = 7 606 m²
To avoid even the slightest favoritism toward my adopted country, I repeated all three measurements three times to obtain the most accurate perimeters possible, carefully adjusting the sometimes blurred edges caused by vegetation.
Hévíz does indeed appear to be the largest individual body of water, but the combined area of the “two” New Zealand lakes exceeds that of the Hungarian lake.
Everyone can therefore draw their own conclusion, depending on whether they consider Frying Pan and Inferno Crater to be two separate lakes or a single thermal lake.
Creation of content:
Vincent LAURENT
Online tool used:
mapdevelopers.com
