The Asahan River (Indonesian: Sungai Asahan) is one of the principal rivers in North Sumatra, Indonesia, that begins in Porsea, Toba Regency near the southeast corner of Lake Toba.[2]

Asahan River
  • Aek Toba
  • Aek Asahan
  • Sei Asahan
  • Sungai Asahan
Spring of the Asahan River at Porsea, Toba Samosir (1929)
Asahan River is located in Sumatra
Asahan River
Asahan River is located in Indonesia
Asahan River
Location
CountryIndonesia
Physical characteristics
Source 
 • locationLake Toba, Porsea, Toba Samosir, North Sumatra
 • coordinates2.434866, 99.147690
 • elevation950 m (3,120 ft)
Mouth 
 • location
Strait of Malacca
 • coordinates
3.03333°N 99.866667°E
 • elevation
0 m
Length147 km (91 mi)
Basin size7,225.45 km2 (2,789.76 sq mi)[1]
Discharge 
 • locationNear mouth
 • average(Period: 1971–2000)265.7 m3/s (9,380 cu ft/s)[1]

Hydrology

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The river flows in a north-easterly direction, cutting through the upper course of the deep valley in the Barisan Mountains in Toba Regency, then flows through the Asahan Regency and eventually empties into the Strait of Malacca

The largest city on the Asahan is Tanjungbalai, Asahan with a population of more than 180,000 people. The river houses the Sigura-gura Dam, which supplies power to the North Sumatran Province.

Tributaries of the Asahan include the Silang, Silau, Nantalu, Masihi, Lauran, and Baru River.

Geography

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The river flows along the northeast area of Sumatra with predominantly tropical rainforest climate (designated as Af in the Köppen-Geiger climate classification).[3] The annual average temperature in the area is 23 °C. The warmest month is March, when the average temperature is around 25 °C, and the coldest is May, at 23 °C.[4] The average annual rainfall is 2950 mm. The wettest month is November, with an average of 381 mm rainfall, and the driest is June, with 117 mm rainfall.[5]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Sumatra".
  2. ^ Sungai Asahan at Geonames.org (cc-by); Last updated 2013-06-04; Database dump downloaded 2015-11-27
  3. ^ Peel, M C; Finlayson, B L; McMahon, T A (2007). "Updated world map of the Köppen-Geiger climate classification". Hydrology and Earth System Sciences. 11. doi:10.5194/hess-11-1633-2007.
  4. ^ "NASA Earth Observations Data Set Index". NASA. 30 January 2016. Archived from the original on 10 May 2020. Retrieved 3 January 2019.
  5. ^ "NASA Earth Observations: Rainfall (1 month - TRMM)". NASA/Tropical Rainfall Monitoring Mission. 30 January 2016. Archived from the original on 11 May 2020. Retrieved 3 January 2019.