River
Copper River
460 km from source to mouth · United States.
United StatesFlows into Gulf of Alaska
In numbers
Length
460km
Average flow
1,000m³/s
Basin
62,500km²
Drop
1,013m
from 1,019 m to 6 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
460 km of river and 13 stops on the way: 0 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmCopper Glacierat 1,019 m
- 35 kmCopper Lake7.2 km²
- 80 kmSlana Rivertributary
- 81 kmCobb Lakes1.1 km²
- 118 kmChistochina Rivertributary
- 175 kmGakona Rivertributary
- 190 kmGulkana Rivertributary
- 203 kmTazlina Rivertributary
- 215 kmKlutina Rivertributary
- 269 kmTonsina Rivertributary
- 297 kmChitina Rivertributary
- 400 kmBremner Rivertributary
- 427 kmMiles Lake36 km²
- 427 kmMillion Dollar Bridge
- 460 kmGulf of Alaskaat 6 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in Alaska
At the mouth it carries 1,000 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 2.5 seconds. It drops from 1,019 m to 6 m, 2.2 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 62,500 km², about the size of LV. Highest water, with the snowmelt: from May to June; lowest: from January to April. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.
Where to start
- CordovaLargest city on its banks · 2,196 people
- Merle K (Mudhole) Smith Airport (CDV)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 16 km from the cityCar hire at ANC airport (Anchorage)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water3 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- Kayak and canoe1 put-ins and rapids mapped (OpenStreetMap)
- JulyThe best months to visit
Copper River, month by month
Highest water: from May to June
Lowest water: from January to April. Freezing months (average below −4 °C): from November to March. Melting snow makes up much of its water. Best months to visit: July.
From about 170 m³/s in the lowest month to 4,100 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
Copper River: the basin in numbers
65,703 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 49people live in the basin
- 1,249maverage altitude of the basin
- 662mmof rain a year (basin average)
- -4.9°Caverage air temperature
- 56%protected areas
- 1.3%covered by lakes
- 10%glaciers
- 47%permafrost
What covers the basin
- 10% Forest
- 10% Ice
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
Copper River: what you find on the way
- 2WaterfallsLiberty Falls, Whiting Falls
- 1RapidsAbercrombie Rapids
- 3Boat ramps
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.3 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Copper 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.
3lakes on its wayLakeyas
Lakes and reservoirs (3)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Copper Lakekm 347.2km²
- Cobb Lakeskm 791.1km²
- Miles Lakekm 41536km²
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
Copper River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (12)
Also: Gulkana River, Klutina River, Chitina River, Gakona River, Bremner River, Tazlina River, Martin River, Slana River, Chistochina River, Tonsina River, Tiekel River, Wernicke River
CanadaWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q1131444) · 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?
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waterfalls
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islands
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Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit