River
Ahja River
104 km from source to mouth · Estonia.
EstoniaFlows into Emajõgi9th longest in Estonia
In numbers
Length
104km
Average flow
72m³/s
Basin
1,074km²
Drop
25m
from 56 m to 31 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
104 km of river and 7 stops on the way: 2 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmLake Erastvereat 56 m
- 0 kmValgjärv0.7 km²
- 9 kmLake Nõuni0.7 km²
- 24 kmElva5,616 people
- 34 kmKarijärv0.8 km²
- 37 kmLake Keeri1.2 km²
- 70 kmTartu91,407 people
- 104 kmLake Koosa2.5 km²
- 104 kmEmajõgiat 31 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in Estonia
At the mouth it carries 72 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 35 seconds. It drops from 56 m to 31 m, 0.2 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 1,074 km², about the size of HK. 249,000 people live in it. Highest water: from April to June; lowest: from January to March. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.
Where to start
- TartuLargest city on its banks · 91,407 people
- Tartu Airport (TAY)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 8 km from the cityCar hire at TAY airport (Tartu)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water19 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From June to AugustThe best months to visit
Ahja River, month by month
Highest water: from April to June
Lowest water: from January to March. Freezing months (average below −4 °C): from December to February. Best months to visit: from June to August.
From about 44 m³/s in the lowest month to 170 m³/s in the highest. An estimate: the monthly flow is modelled from the lowest and highest months of WaterGAP (RiverATLAS, 1971–2000) and the rain and snow along the river (WorldClim). Dams change the real rhythm. The chip is the average air temperature; below it, the month's rain.
Plan the trip
Plan the trip: boat trips, a bed by the river, a car
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
The basin
Ahja River: the basin in numbers
8,769 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 249,000people live in the basin
- 29/km²people per km²
- 75maverage altitude of the basin
- 621mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 5.0°Caverage air temperature
- 16%protected areas
- 3.5%covered by lakes
What covers the basin
- 30% Forest
- 29% Cropland
- 4% Pasture
- 1% Towns and cities
RiverATLAS (HydroATLAS v1.0, CC BY 4.0): land cover, people, protected areas, glaciers and dams over the whole basin upstream of the mouth.
Along the river
Ahja River: what you find on the way
- 1Weirs
- 9Boat rampsLuunja jõesadama slipp, Ürgoru paadisadama slipp, Saaga sadama slipp and 6 more
- 10MarinasMarket Marina, Väike-Turu Marina, Jõe River Marina and 7 more
- 16River beachesLake Nõuni beach, Vaikse järve beach, Elva basin beach and 13 more
From OpenStreetMap, within 1.8 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Ahja River in our other atlases
What our sister atlases know about the waterfalls on this river, the lakes it flows through, the beaches at its mouth, the mountains where it rises and the islands off its mouth.
5lakes on its wayLakeyas
Lakes and reservoirs (5)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Valgjärvkm 00.7km²
- Lake Nõunikm 100.7km²
- Karijärvkm 380.8km²
- Lake Keerikm 401.2km²
- Lake Koosakm 1142.5km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
From space
The source and the mouth, seen from orbit
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX IT Services GmbH (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2016), CC BY 4.0. The glowing line is the river as drawn by RiverATLAS.
Photos
Ahja River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
It flows into
EmajõgiEstonia100 km70 m³/sTributaries (3)
Also: Orajõgi, Lutsu River, Hilba Stream
Nearby
Rivers nearby
Estonia165 km11 m³/s38 km awayPedja RiverEstonia125 km11 m³/s48 km awayVelikaya
Russia430 km130 m³/s79 km awayPõltsamaa RiverEstonia136 km16 m³/s49 km awayPiusa RiverEstonia109 km5.1 m³/s63 km awayNarvaEstonia74 km400 m³/s126 km awayNavesti RiverEstonia102 km280 m³/s135 km awayPärnu RiverEstonia145 km48 m³/s157 km awayWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q400301) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Course, profile, basin | RiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed from the source to the mouth given by Wikidata |
| Flow | WaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate along the river | WorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Towns, bridges, dams | Wikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0 |
| Along the river | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Our other atlases | Lakeyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; HydroLAKES · CC BY 4.0; NOAA OISST |
Every source and licence is on the data sources page.
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.
beaches
Find your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit lakes
Every lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit 
mountains
Every summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit 
waterfalls
Every waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit 
islands
Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Coming soonVisit 
rivers
Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
canyons
Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit