Abstract
Depth regulates many attributes of aquatic ecosystems, but relatively few lakes are measured, and existing datasets are biased toward large lakes. To address this, we used a large dataset of maximum ( Z max ; n = 16,831) and mean ( Z mean ; n = 5,881) depth observations to create new depth models, focusing on lakes Z max ; root mean square error [RMSE] = 8.0 m and Z mean ; RMSE = 3.0 m). Our models show that lake depth followed a Pareto distribution, with 2.8 orders of magnitude fewer lakes for an order of magnitude increase in depth. In addition, despite orders of magnitude variation in surface area, most size classes had a modal maximum depth of ~ 5 m. Concave (bowl‐shaped) lake basins represented 79% of all lakes, but lakes were more convex (funnel‐shaped) as surface area increased. Across the conterminous United States, 9.8% of all lake water was within the top meter of the water column, and 48% in the top 10 m. Excluding the Laurentian Great Lakes, we estimate the total volume in the conterminous United States is 1,057–1,294 km 3 , depending on whether Z max or Z mean was modeled. Lake volume also exhibited substantial geographic variation, with high volumes in the upper Midwest, Northeast, and Florida and low volumes in the southwestern United States.