River
Kobuk River
451 km from source to mouth · United States.
United StatesFlows into Chukchi Sea
In numbers
Length
451km
Average flow
280m³/s
Basin
31,850km²
Drop
216m
from 181 m to -35 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
451 km of river and 11 stops on the way: 0 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 181 m
- 9 kmWalker Lake38 km²
- 59 kmReed Rivertributary
- 107 kmPah Rivertributary
- 143 kmKogoluktuk Rivertributary
- 170 kmTekeaksakrak Lake2.5 km²
- 219 kmAmbler Rivertributary
- 260 kmAkillik Rivertributary
- 273 kmAhnewetut Creektributary
- 307 kmSalmon Rivertributary
- 355 kmSquirrel Rivertributary
- 423 kmSelawik Lake1,058 km²
- 451 kmChukchi Seaat -35 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
Watercourse in the United States of America
At the mouth it carries 283 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 8.8 seconds. It drops from 181 m to -35 m, 0.5 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 31,850 km², about the size of BE. 1,721 people live in it. Highest water, with the snowmelt: May; lowest: from January to April. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.
Where to start
- KotzebueLargest city on its banks · 3,277 people
- Ralph Wien Memorial Airport (OTZ)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 2 km from the cityCar hire at ANC airport (Anchorage)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water1 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- JulyThe best months to visit
Kobuk River, month by month
Highest water: May
Lowest water: from January to April. Freezing months (average below −4 °C): from October to April. Melting snow makes up much of its water. Best months to visit: July.
From about 290 m³/s in the lowest month to 520 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
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The basin
Kobuk River: the basin in numbers
30,059 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 1,721people live in the basin
- 0/km²people per km²
- 343maverage altitude of the basin
- 280mmof rain a year (basin average)
- -8.5°Caverage air temperature
- 43%protected areas
- 1.1%covered by lakes
- 86%permafrost
What covers the basin
- 5% Forest
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
Kobuk River: what you find on the way
- 1Boat ramps
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.1 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Kobuk 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
- Walker Lakekm 1038km²
- Tekeaksakrak Lakekm 1802.5km²
- Selawik Lakekm 4481,058km²
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
Kobuk River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (13)
Also: Akillik River, Ambler River, Salmon River, Squirrel River, Tutuksuk River, Kogoluktuk River, Pah River, Reed River, Ahnewetut Creek, Mauneluk River, Beaver Creek, Kallarichuk River, Kaliguricheark River
CanadaWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q1778017) · 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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islands
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