Ammersee

Ammersee
Lake Ammer
Ammersee; Lake Ammer
	winter 2006
	map
Location	Upper Bavaria
Coordinates	48°00′N 11°07′E / 48°N 11.117°ECoordinates: 48°00′N 11°07′E / 48°N 11.117°E
Primary inflows	River Ammer
Primary outflows	Amper
Catchment area	993.0 km²
Basin countries	Germany
Max. length	16.2 km
Max. width	5 km
Surface area	46.6 km²
Average depth	37.8 m
Max. depth	81 m
Residence time	2.7 years
Surface elevation	520 m
Islands	Schwedeninsel
Settlements	Herrsching, Dießen am Ammersee

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Lake Ammer is a lake in Upper Bavaria, Germany located southwest of Munich between the towns of Herrsching and Dießen am Ammersee. With a surface area of approximately 47 square kilometres (18 sq mi), it is the sixth largest lake in Germany. The lake is located at an elevation of 520 metres (1,710 ft), and has a maximum depth of 81 metres (266 ft). Like other Bavarian lakes, Ammersee developed as a result of the ice age glaciers melting. Ammersee is fed by the River Ammer which flows as Amper out of the lake. Like neighbouring Lake Starnberg, which is similar in size and shape, it is a popular location for watersports. The lake's water generally is of very good quality since a circular sewerage system has been introduced in the 1960s collecting all wastewater from around the lake and transporting it to a treatment plant below the lake's outlet at Eching.

Ammersee and Amper are part of the ancient Celtic amber tradingroute leading to the Brenner Pass.

The word Ammer is a 13th-century form of Amper, Celtic *ambra, deriving from Indoeuropean *ombh-, *mbh- "wet, Water".^[1]

Passenger services have operated on the lake since 1879. Today they are operated by the Bayerische Seenschifffahrt company, using a mixture of historic paddle steamers and motor ships. ^[2]^[3]