Lena River
| Lena | |
|---|---|
The Lena Pillars along the river near Yakutsk | |
Lena watershed | |
| Native name | |
| Location | |
| Country | Russia |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Source | Baikal Mountains |
| • location | Kachugsky District, Irkutsk Oblast |
| • coordinates | 53°59′40″N 107°52′33″E / 53.99444°N 107.87583°E (approximately) |
| • elevation | 1,640 m (5,380 ft) |
| Mouth | Lena Delta |
• location | Arctic Ocean, Laptev Sea |
• coordinates | 72°24′31″N 126°41′05″E / 72.4087°N 126.6847°E |
• elevation | 0 m (0 ft) |
| Length | 4,294 km (2,668 mi) |
| Basin size | 2,460,742 km2 (950,098 mi2) to 2,490,000 km2 (960,000 mi2) |
| Width | |
| • maximum | 10,000 m (33,000 ft) |
| Depth | |
| • maximum | 28 m (92 ft) |
| Discharge | |
| • location | Kyusyur, Russia Basin size: 2,440,000 km2 (940,000 sq mi) to 2,418,974 km2 (933,971 sq mi) |
| • average | (Period of data: 1971–2015)17,773 m3/s (627,600 cu ft/s)
(Period of data: 1970–1999)17,067 m3/s (602,700 cu ft/s) 15,500 m3/s (550,000 cu ft/s) |
| • minimum | 366 m3/s (12,900 cu ft/s) |
| • maximum | 241,000 m3/s (8,500,000 cu ft/s)
Lena Delta, Laptev Sea, Russia (Period of data: 1984–2018)577 km3/a (18,300 m3/s) (Period of data: 1940–2019) 545.7 km3/a (17,290 m3/s) |
| Discharge | |
| • location | Vilyuy |
| • average | 12,100 m3/s (430,000 cu ft/s) (Period of data: 1967–2017) 7,453.2 m3/s (263,210 cu ft/s) (max. 51,600 m3/s (1,820,000 cu ft/s)) |
| Discharge | |
| • location | Olyokminsk |
| • average | 4,500 m3/s (160,000 cu ft/s) |
| Discharge | |
| • location | Vitim |
| • average | 1,700 m3/s (60,000 cu ft/s) |
| Discharge | |
| • location | Kirensk |
| • average | 480 m3/s (17,000 cu ft/s) |
| Basin features | |
| Tributaries | |
| • left | Vilyuy |
| • right | Kirenga, Vitim, Olyokma, Aldan |
The Lena is a river in the Russian Far East and is the easternmost river of the three great rivers of Siberia which flow into the Arctic Ocean, the others being Ob and Yenisey. The Lena River is 4,294 km (2,668 mi) long and has a capacious drainage basin of 2,490,000 km2 (960,000 mi2); thus the Lena is the eleventh-longest river in the world and the longest river entirely within Russia. Geographically, permafrost underlies all the Lena River's catchment and it is continuous in over 75 percent of the basin.