Destinations / The Longest Rivers in the World / The Yenisei River

Many people do not know much about cruising, and many of us have never been on the board of an ocean liner and maybe have this kind of rest a misconception. Market cruises today is so great that the proposal can be found on almost any budget. And the day in quite a comfortable cabin, sometimes costs even less than at the corresponding class on the shore, and the service, meals on the board can be much higher level. Although, if you are used to choose the most expensive options, you might be offered a prestigious multi room cabin with a balcony and a private deck overlooking the ocean or a suite with a jacuzzi, personal attendants and other pleasures of life exclusive to you, too, of course. In fact, cruises are a great way to see the world. Each year the routes are developed, new ports of departure, improved on-board service.

Life is beautiful enough to enjoy all of the most interesting directions. The Yenisei river is just wonderful for a cruise. The river provides spectacular, fantastic sights which will make your holiday the most memorable ever. Perhaps no river in the world has such diverse banks ! Snow covering the ridges of the Sayan Mountains and the steppes of Minusinsk depression, and the endless Turukhansk swamps, the wooded hills and the Yenisei Ridge, the bizarre Krasnoyarsk Pillars of black basalt rocks and the polar plateau Putorana, the Taimyr tundra and the pine forests of Angara ...How beautiful and how different from each other these places are! Each of them offers something special, peculiar only to it, tranquil leisurely on the Lower Tunguska and the furious Big Pete, the taiga and the dusky beauty Mans squishy Kay, the mighty Angara and the fast Khamsara - every river with its shape and its donors. Wonderful…

About the Yenisei river

The Yenisei River is a river in Siberia, its name "Ene-Sai" meaning the mother of a river, or from the Evenki "Ionessi" meaning big water. The river flows into the Arctic Ocean. It passes through: Mongolia, Russia, Tuva, the Krasnoyarsk Territory, Khakassia, the Irkutsk region, Buryatia and the Transbaikalia territory. This is one of the world's largest rivers: the length of the river from the confluence of the Big Yenisei and the Small Yenisei River is of 3487 km, from the origins of the Small Yenisei is of 4287 km and from the origins of the Big Yenisei is 4123 km. The confluence of the Big and the Small Yenisei at Kyzyl is the geographical center of Asia ( a memorial stele being mounted there). The average water flow at the mouth is of 19 800 m ³ / sec, the maximum may reach 190 000 m ³ / sec, before the construction of hydropower plants on the river and tributaries, the minimum flow rate fell during the winter months to 2 700 m ³ / sec. The magnitude of runoff (624 km ³) Yenisei is a place among the rivers of Russia. The area of the basin is of 2 580 thousand km ². Yenisei is on the second place among the rivers of Russia (after Obi) and the seventh among the world's rivers.

The length of the Yenisei

The Yenisei River is one of the major rivers of Russia. It is formed by the confluence of the two rivers : the Big Yenisei and the Kaa-Khem in the immediate vicinity of Kyzyl. It is from here where the actual Yenissei begins . Its length from the confluence and the mouth is of 3487 km, if we count from the origins of the Big Yenisei, it will be 4102 km.

The origins of the Yenisei River

The sources of the Yenisei River are Bii-Khem ( the Big Yenisei) and Kaa-Khem ( the Small Yenisei). Bii-Khem starts from an alpine lake Kara-Balik. Its length is of 605 km. The second source of the Yenisei River - Kaa-Khem, 563 km in length is formed by the confluence of the two rivers - the Hema and Balaktyg-Shishhid-goal, which originates on the territory of Mongolia.

The catchment area of the Yenisei River

The catchment area of the Yenisei river is 2580 sq km. It is the second after the Ob (nearly 3 million miles). The Yenisei basin is 2 times the Volga basin, 5 times - the Dnieper and 9 times - the Neva River. Its length from the north to the south is over 3,000 km and its width is of 1600 km.

A distinctive feature of the Yenisei River Basin

The Yenisei basin is asymmetric: the area stretching from the river on the right is 5 times greater than the left. Its largest tributaries : the Angara, the Lower Tunguska and the Stony Tunguska River, which provide over half of all run to the right bank of the Yenisei. The left bank tributaries are few and small. The largest are : Abakan, Shim, Eloguy and Turukhan.

The Maximum depth

Yenisei is rightly considered the deepest river in the country. Its large depth allows ships up the Yenisei to nearly 1000 km. For more than 2,000 km from the mouth of the Yenisei retains considerable depth, which ranges from 9 m in the channel (near the confluence of the Angara) to 49 m in the bay. The maximum depth recorded in the pits at Osinovskaya thresholds is of 66 m and in the delta is of 65-70 m.

The Maximum width

To the mouth of the Angara for nearly 1400 km, the width of the Yenisei does not exceed 500-700 m. After the merger with the Angara, which is almost 3 times as wide as the Yenisei river the width is increased immediately to 2.5 km. All of the following tributaries - Stony first, then the Lower Tunguska and after Turukhan and Kurejka expand the channel of the Yenisei to 3-5 km. The largest tributary the Lower Tunguska River, originates on the northern slope of the Upper Tunguska hill, near the Lena River. Its length is of 2989 km.

The largest lake of the Krasnoyarsk Territory

The largest lake in the basin of the Yenisei River is Khantai. Its area is of 822 km. The lake system of the Yenisei is related to the basin of the Lower Tunguska. Of these, the most prominent areas are: Vivi (229 km), Lower Agatha (127), Nyagshinda (84.2), Upper Agatha (53.7 km2). The number of rivers and the lakes in the basin of the Yenisei River There are more than 184 thousand lakes with a total area of 32 438 km, more than 20 thousand rivers with a total length of 337 thousand km in the basin of the Yenissei river. The total fund of the river and the lake of the river is up to 10 km and 1 km to the lake (100 hectares) make up the vast majority (90%). Thus, only 66 lakes are larger than 1,000 hectares (10 km) and 20 rivers with the length of over 500 km each.

The duration of ice cover on the Yenisei

The formation of the ice in the Upper and the Middle Yenisei happens in the second half of November and at the end of April and early in May. The frost keeps 150-170 days here. The spring break is accompanied by congestion and ice conglomerations that destroy the coast.

The rate of the flow

Yenisei is a fast rapids river. It is characterized by high rates of the flow due to the large slope of the bed. The upper reaches of the river are particularly high in summer and are 2-2.5 m / sec. Near the Kazachinsky threshold, the river narrows to a mile, the flow velocity reaches the speed of a mountain stream - 5-7 m / sec. As we move towards the mouth of the flow the velocity decreased. After the adoption of the Lower Tunguska width of the Yenisei rises to 3-5 km. The slope of the channel is small, so the flow here is smooth and does not exceed 0,24-0,25 m / sec. In the delta and the bay , the flow rate continues to fall and reduces to a minimum. Moreover, under the influence of the strong winds and surges especially during the tidal flow, opposite directions take place here. The maximum flow rate is observed in the flood, and the minimum in winter, during the ice period.

The Ground rocks that make up the bottom of the Yenisei

Up to 95% of the total area of the bottom of the river from the upper reaches of Angara (the upper and the middle reaches)are occupied by rocky and pebble bottoms. In the section of the Angara River to the Lower Tunguska large areas consist of sand and gravel and sandy soils. From the mouth of the Lower Tunguska to Ust-Port (the Lower Yenisei) areas are replaced by silty, silty-sandy deposits which occupy large areas in the Delta, in the Bay and the Gulf. Net sand soils remain mostly in the coastal shallows and in the elevated sections of the bottom.

The Water clarity in the Yenisei

The water clarity in the Yenisei varies widely and depends on the season, on the depth, on the flow velocity, soil and other factors. In the spring, it is the smallest (0.3-0.5 m), then gradually increases and in late autumn and winter peaks it is of 3 m and more. It should be noted that the transparency of the water in the upper reaches of the river is less than in the lower reaches, due to the high content of suspended particles in it that are associated with a significant flow velocity.

The power sources of the Yenisei

The most significant sources of supply are the Yenisei rain and the melted snow water. Less important is the water from the melting glaciers in the mountains. The groundwater as a source of power plays a secondary role. The causes of the low water temperature in the region of Krasnoyarsk The formation of the low-temperature regime of the river is affected by the cold waters of the Krasnoyarsk reservoir. The discharge of water from the reservoir through the window of the dam is located at a depth of 25-40 m. At this depth the water even during the hottest time of year is not heated above 10 ° C. And in discharges the currents involved the entire thickness of the water dam zone, up to a maximum depth (80 m), where the water temperature does not exceed 1-2 ° C. In addition, the temperature of the water in the river is influenced by numerous fast, small in length and semi-mountainous tributaries of the type that carry cold water in the Yenisei. The main power of these rivers is due to the melting of the mountain snows. The fast flow does not allow to warm up the cold water, and practically until the autumn, it remains colder than the air.

The role of permafrost in the formation of hydro-chemical regime of the Yenisei

The permafrost limits drainage of the soil, preventing leaching of mineral salts, reduces the groundwater feeding the river, while the low temperatures slow down the decomposition and the mineralization of organic matter, thus creating special conditions for the saturation of the water with salt. Therefore, the water of the Yenisei is of an extremely low mineral content of no more than a summer 100 mg / liter. For comparison, the rivers in European countries it is higher by 4-5 times. Species of fish inhabiting the waters of the Yenisei basin The waters of the Yenisei basin are currently home to representatives of 14 families comprising 46 species and subspecies of fish and one species of fish-like. The proposed classification includes fish living in waters of the Yenisei basin within the boundaries of the Krasnoyarsk Territory. The list of species doesn’t include fish, which are permanent inhabitants of saline and brackish waters of the Yenisei Gulf.

Course

Actually, the Yenisei begins in Kyzyl at the confluence of Bii-Khem and Kaa-Khem. In Tuva, the Yenisei flows to the west, gradually making the turn to the north, it flows in Tuva in Shagonar city. In the Krasnoyarsk region, notably loop flows north. Then, it proceeds from the Sayan-Shushenskoye reservoir, and then divides the Krasnoyarsk Territory and Khakassia, flowing through the Sayanogorsk, Abakan. Then again the Yenisei flows in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, the Krasnoyarsk reservoir through Divnogorsk, Krasnoyarsk, Lesosibirsk, Yeniseisk. Further the Yenisei flows north through a continuous taiga. After the Arctic Circle it passes the Igarka Yenisei flowing through the Taimyr Autonomous District. After Dudinka , the river markedly widens (up to 20 km) and flows through an even wider gulf and near the Yenisei located on the right side of the village Dixon, it runs into the Kara Sea. Towns on the Yenisei River (downstream): Kyzyl, Shagonar, Sayanogorsk, Minusinsk, Abakan, Divnogorsk, Krasnoyarsk, Lesosibirsk, Yeniseisk, Turukhansk Igarka and Dudinka. At the end of the XIX century the Ob-Yenisei Canal was built, which connects the Ob with the Yenisei. Currently, the channel is not used.

In many works of literature Yenisei stands as a symbol of the mysterious edge, the edge of penal servitude and exile.The Yenisei River served as a great motif and inspirational source for many Russian poets and writers. The river had unprecedented power. Anton Chekhov, "From Siberia. IX wrote:

"... The nature of that worship aliens, fugitives and respect our time which will serve as an inexhaustible gold mine for the Siberian poets, the nature of the original, majestic and beautiful only begins with the Yenisei. Without offense the jealous fans of the Volga, in my life I do not saw the magnificent river Yenisei. Let the Volga elegant, modest, melancholy beauty, but the mighty Yenisei, violent hero who does not know what to do with his strength and youth. ... "

Others The Longest Rivers in the World .

Maps of The Yenisei River