Great Lakes Flow. The animation illustrates how water flows from one Great Lake to another and eventually to the Atlantic Ocean. This profile view of the lakes demonstrates that water flows from Lake Superior to Lake Michigan and Huron. Lake Huron then empties into Lake Erie. At the end of Lake Erie the water level drops nearly 170 feet as it goes over Niagra Falls and into Lake Ontario. From here the water travels through a series of locks that bring it to sea level, out the St. Lawrence Seaway, and to the Atlantic Ocean.