Caumasee

Caumasee
Lag la Cauma
summer 2008 at high level
Caumasee is located in Canton of Graubünden
Caumasee
Caumasee
Caumasee is located in Switzerland
Caumasee
Caumasee
Caumasee is located in Italy
Caumasee
Caumasee
Caumasee is located in Alps
Caumasee
Caumasee
LocationGrisons
Coordinates46°49′13″N 9°17′45″E / 46.82028°N 9.29583°E / 46.82028; 9.29583
Primary inflowsunderground
Primary outflowsunderground
Basin countriesSwitzerland
Surface area10.3194 ha (25.500 acres)
Max. depth30 m (98 ft)
Water volume650 thousand cubic metres (23×10^6 cu ft)
Shore length12.105 km (1.308 mi)
Surface elevation997 m (3,271 ft)
ReferencesSwisstopo[1]
Map
1 Shore length is not a well-defined measure.

Caumasee (Romansh: Lag la Cauma or Lai da Cauma) is a lake near Flims, in the Grisons, Switzerland. It is one of the lakes on the Flims Rockslide deposits. The lake is fed from underground sources. Its surface area is 10.3194 ha.

The level of the lake varies by approximately 4 to 5 meters along with the varying underground water flow during the year, hence reaches its minimum by the end of April when snow melting in the mountains increases. A maximum level is reached by mid July but may be topped in August even after previous falling due to summer rain. The very western bay never freezes in winter, probably showing a maximum water flow in this area.

When the lake is at a low level, with a small volume of water, it warms up sooner than most lakes in the region, so people can be seen starting to swim the lake in April while bigger lakes even in lower areas of Switzerland remain rather cool. Water temperature in summer is at an average 21 Celsius, with a maximum around 24 Celsius.

The lake is in a huge forest that was allowed to remain on the agriculturally useless debris area of the biggest prehistoric rockslide in the Alps and can only be reached by a footpath (wheelchair accessible), possibly using Caumasee-Lift, a funicular built in 1939, refurbished in 1988 on its original tracks (running May to October only). The walk from the edge of town to the funicular takes about 10 minutes.

  1. ^ VECTOR25 Primary surfaces (Federal Office of Topography swisstopo). Retrieved 2014-06-14.