Lena (river)

The Lena is a river in the Russian Far East and is the easternmost river of the three, great rivers of Siberia, including the River Ob and the River Yenisey, which flow into the Arctic Ocean. The Lena river is 4,294 km (2,668 mi) long and has a capacious drainage basin of 2,490,000 km² (960,000 sq mi); thus the Lena is the eleventh-longest river in the world and the longest river entirely within Russia. Geographically, permafrost is the type of soil that underlies most of the Lena river's catchment, twenty per cent (20%) of which is continuous.

Lena
The Lena Pillars along the river near Yakutsk
Lena watershed
Native name	Лена (Russian) Өлүөнэ (Yakut) Елюенэ (Evenki) Зүлхэ (Buryat) Зүлгэ (Mongolian)
Location
Country	Russia
Physical characteristics
Source	Baikal Mountains
• location	Kachugsky District, Irkutsk Oblast
• coordinates	53°58′3″N 107°52′56″E (approximately)
• elevation	1,640 m (5,380 ft)
Mouth	Lena Delta
• location	Arctic Ocean, Laptev Sea
• coordinates	72.4087°N 126.6847°E / 72.4087; 126.6847
• elevation	0 m (0 ft)
Length	4,294 km (2,668 mi)
Basin size	2,460,742 km2 (950,098 sq mi) to 2,490,000 km2 (960,000 sq mi)
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) Tabaga, Yakutsk (Basin size: 987,000 km2 (381,000 sq mi) (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

Course

The Lena river originates at 1,640 meters (5,381 ft) of elevation in the Baikal Mountains, 7 kilometres (4 mi) west of Lake Baikal, south of the Central Siberian Plateau. The Lena river flows north-east and traverses the Lena-Angara Plateau, then is joined by three tributary rivers: (i) the Kirenga river, (ii) the Vitim river, and (iii) the Olyokma river. From Yakutsk, the Lena river enters the Central Yakutian Lowland and flows north until joined by the eastern tributary, the Aldan river, and the western tributary, the Vilyuy river. Afterwards, the Lena bends westwards and northwards, flowing between the mountains of the Kharaulakh Range to the east (part of the Verkhoyansk Range) and the mountains of the Chekanovsky Ridge to the west. Travelling approximately due north, the Lena river widens into a great river delta that merges into the Laptev Sea, a marginal region of the Arctic Ocean, south-west of the New Siberian Islands. The Lena Delta is 30,000 square kilometres (12,000 sq mi) in area, being traversed by seven main branches, the most important being the Bykovsky channel, farthest east.

The lower course of the Lena river in Siberia.

The upper course of the Lena river in Siberia.

The Lena is navigable over a length of 3540 kilometres. The annual navigation period, when ice is minimally present or absent, lasts about 70 days in the estuarine region and 125 days elsewhere.

Basin

The area of the Lena river basin is calculated at 2,490,000 square kilometres (960,000 sq mi) and the mean annual discharge is 489 cubic kilometers per year. Gold is washed out of the sands of the Vitim and the Olyokma, and mammoth tusks have been dug out of the delta. There are numerous lakes in the floodplain of the river. Lakes Nedzheli and Ulakhan-Kyuel are the largest in the basin of the Lena.

Tributaries

The Kirenga flows north between the upper Lena River and Lake Baikal. The Vitim drains the area northeast of Lake Baikal. The Olyokma flows north. The Amga makes a long curve southeast and parallel to the Lena and flows into the Aldan. The Aldan also curves roughly parallel to the Lena until it turns east and flows into the Lena north of Yakutsk. The Maya, a tributary of the Aldan, drains an area almost to the Sea of Okhotsk. The T-shaped Chona-Vilyuy system drains most of the area to the west.

The main tributaries of the Lena are, from source to mouth:

• Tutura (right)
• Ilga (left)
• Kuta (left)
• Tayura (right)
• Kirenga (right)
• Pilyuda (left)
• Chechuy (right)
• Ichera (left)
• Chaya (right)
• Chuya (right)
• Vitim (right)
• Peleduy (left)
• Nyuya (left)
• Derba (left)
• Ura (left)
• Bolshoy Patom (right)
• Cherendey (left)
• Biryuk (left)
• Olyokma (right)
  • Chara
• Markha (left)
• Markhachan (left)
• Tuolba (right)
• Sinyaya (left)
• Buotama (right)
• Menda (right)
• Myla (right)
• Tamma (right)
• Lyutenge (right)
• Suola (right)
• Aldan (right)
• Batamay (right)
• Belyanka (right)
  • Munni
• Lyapiske (right)
• Tympylykan (left)
• Dyanyshka (right)
• Tyugyuene (left)
• Sitte (left)
• Khanchaly (left)
• Kenkeme (left)
• Lungkha (left)
• Namana (left)
• Vilyuy (left)
  • Chona
• Linde (left)
• Undyulyung (right)
• Nuora (left)
• Begidyan (right)
• Khoruongka (left)
• Sobolokh-Mayan (right)
• Kyuelenke (left)
• Muna (left)
• Menkere (right)
• Motorchuna (left)
• Molodo (left)
  • Syungyude
• Natara (right)
• Uel-Siktyakh (right)
• Kuranakh-Siktyakh (right)
• Byosyuke (right)
• Tikyan (right)
• Eyekit (left)
• Bulkur (left)

History

Lena River from a source to Kachug
unnamed lake Tyrka Uhta 2nd Uhta 1st Pankukcha Shevukan Negnedai Anai River Anai Alilei Chanchur River Chanchur Kurungui Ilikta Kurungui River Maliy Tarel Birulka Ice bridge Birulka River Ushina Zhuya Bolshoi Kosogol Manzurka Khalsk R 148 Bolshiye Goly Iset R 148

It is commonly believed that the Lena derives its name from the original Even-Evenk name Elyu-Ene, which means "the Large River".

The river around 1890

According to folktales related a century later, in the years 1620–1623 a party of Russian fur hunters under the leadership of Demid Pyanda sailed up Nizhnyaya Tunguska, discovered the Lena, and either carried their boats there or built new ones. In 1623 Pyanda explored some 2,400 kilometres (1,500 mi) of the river from its upper reaches to the central Yakutia. In 1628 Vasily Bugor and 10 men reached the Lena, collected 'yasak' (tribute) from the 'natives' and then founded Kirinsk in 1632. In 1631 the voyevoda of Yeniseysk sent Pyotr Beketov and 20 men to construct a fortress at Yakutsk (founded in 1632). From Yakutsk other expeditions spread out to the south and east. The Lena delta was reached in 1655.

Two of the three groups of survivors of the ill-fated Jeannette expedition reached Lena Delta in September, 1881. The one led by engineer George W. Melville was rescued by native Tungus huntsmen. Of the group led by Captain George W. De Long, only two of the men survived; the others died of starvation.

Baron Eduard Von Toll, accompanied by Alexander von Bunge, led an expedition that explored the Lena delta and the islands of New Siberia on behalf of the Russian Imperial Academy of Sciences in 1885. In 1886 they investigated the New Siberian Islands and the Yana River and its tributaries. During one year and two days the expedition covered 25,000 kilometres (16,000 mi), of which 4,200 kilometres (2,600 mi) were up rivers, carrying out geodesic surveys en route.

The Lena massacre was the name given to the 1912 shooting-down of striking goldminers and local citizens who protested at the working conditions in the mine near Bodaybo in northern Irkutsk. The incident was reported in the Duma (parliament) by Kerensky and is credited with stimulating revolutionary feeling in Russia.

Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov may have taken his alias, Lenin, from the river Lena, when he was exiled to the Central Siberian Plateau.

Delta

Lena River Delta in Autumn 2014

Lena river Delta by Landsat, February 2000

See also: Fyodor Matisen

At the end of the Lena River there is a large delta that extends 100 kilometres (62 mi) into the Laptev Sea and is about 400 km (250 mi) wide. The delta is frozen tundra for about seven months of the year, but in May the region is transformed into a lush wetland for a few months. Part of the area is protected as the Lena Delta Wildlife Reserve.

The Lena delta divides into a multitude of flat islands. The most important are (from west to east): Chychas Aryta, Petrushka, Sagastyr, Samakh Ary Diyete, Turkan Bel'keydere, Sasyllakh Ary, Kolkhoztakh Bel'keydere, Grigoriy Diyelyakh Bel'kee (Grigoriy Islands), Nerpa Uolun Aryta, Misha Bel'keydere, Atakhtay Bel'kedere, Arangastakh, Urdiuk Pastakh Bel'key, Agys Past' Aryta, Dallalakh Island, Otto Ary, Ullakhan Ary and Orto Ues Aryta.

Turukannakh-Kumaga is a long and narrow island off the Lena delta's western shore.

One of the Lena delta islands, Ostrov Amerika-Kuba-Aryta or Ostrov Kuba-Aryta, was named after the island of Cuba during Soviet times. It is on the northern edge of the delta.

Fish

As Lena is located at remote and undeveloped regions of the Russian Far East, its fish resource is very well preserved. Some of the species found in the river include: Siberian taimen, Siberian sturgeon, Upper Yenisei grayling.

Further reading

• Gautier, Emmanuèle; Costard, François; Fedorov, Alexander (2022). "The Lena: A Large River in a Deep Permafrost Zone". Large Rivers. pp. 320–334. doi:10.1002/9781119412632.ch11. ISBN 978-1-119-41260-1.
• Alexander von Bunge & Eduard von Toll (1887), The Expedition to the New Siberian Islands and the Yana country, equipped by the Imperial Academy of Sciences.
• Jeffrey Tayler (2006), River of No Reprieve: Descending Siberia's Waterway of Exile, Death, and Destiny

See also

• Lena Cheeks
• Lena Pillars
• Lena Plateau
• List of rivers of Russia
• List of longest undammed rivers
• Tukulan
• William Barr, writer of The First Soviet Convoy to the Mouth of the Lena.
• Siberia portal

References

• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Lena". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 16 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

External links

• Media related to Lena (river) at Wikimedia Commons
• Arctic Great Rivers Observatory (ArcticGRO)
• NASA Earth Observatory page on flooding on the Lena River
• Information and a map of the Lena's watershed
• Permafrost in the Lena Delta
• Alfred Wegner institute (AWI) Publications, Berichte zur Polar- und Meeresforschung (Reports on polar and marine research) - free, downloadable research reports on the biology, geology, oceanography, hydrology, paleontology, paleoclimatology, fauna, flora, soils, cryology, and so forth of the Lena Delta, Laptev Sea, and other parts of the Arctic Circle.