| IJsselmeer | |
|---|---|
| Landsat photo | |
| Location | Northern Netherlands |
| Lake type | artificial lake |
| Primary inflows | IJssel, Vechte |
| Primary outflows | North Sea |
| Basin countries | Netherlands |
| Surface area | 1100 km² |
| Average depth | 5.5 m (18 ft) |
| Max. depth | 7 m (23 ft) |
| Surface elevation | −0.3 m (−0.98 ft) |
IJsselmeer (Dutch pronunciation: [ˌɛi̯səlˈmɪːr]; sometimes translated as Lake IJssel, alternative international spelling: Lake Yssel) is a shallow artificial lake of 1100 km² in the central Netherlands bordering the provinces of Flevoland, North Holland and Friesland, with an average depth of 5 to 6 m. The IJsselmeer is the largest lake in Western Europe.
The IJsselmeer is a freshwater lake fed through the Ketelmeer by the river IJssel, which gives it its name. It is mainly fed by water from the Rhine since the IJssel is branch of it.
The internal capitalization in the spelling is because IJ is a digraph in Dutch, possibly a ligature, and sometimes considered a single letter (see IJ (digraph)).
The IJsselmeer was created in 1932 when an inland sea, the Zuiderzee, was closed by a 32 km dam, the Afsluitdijk. This was part of a major hydraulic engineering project known as the Zuiderzee Works, that years later led to the reclaiming of land from the IJsselmeer, thereby diminishing the size of the lake.
In 1975 the IJsselmeer was further split in two by the completion of the Houtribdijk, now also called Markerwaarddijk because it was originally designed to border the Markerwaard; this dike runs from Enkhuizen southeast to Lelystad. This former southern part of the IJsselmeer is now the hydrologically separate Markermeer.
The IJsselmeer functions as a major fresh water reserve, serving as a source for agriculture and drinking water. It also offers plenty of opportunities for various recreational activities.
The province of Flevoland was created in 1986 from the polders reclaimed from the IJsselmeer.