River
Mezen
966 km from source to mouth · Russia.
RussiaFlows into Mezen Bay
In numbers
Length
966km
Average flow
870m³/s
Basin
78,000km²
Drop
220m
from 202 m to -18 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
966 km of river and 47 stops on the way: 1 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmTiman Ridgeat 202 m
- 75 kmTydtributary
- 89 kmNizhnyaya Puzlatributary
- 136 kmYuzhnaya Pesyutributary
- 157 kmYolva-Mezenskayatributary
- 176 kmLupttributary
- 210 kmBolshaya Sevkatributary
- 218 kmMalaya Sevkatributary
- 242 kmUvyutributary
- 259 kmYirvatributary
- 278 kmMalaya Loptyugatributary
- 288 kmBolshaya Loptyugatributary
- 298 kmBolshoy Irychtributary
- 304 kmMaly Irychtributary
- 327 kmPezhyutributary
- 359 kmVoysasyutributary
- 401 kmKeryutributary
- 407 kmMudzyutributary
- 424 kmUipyutributary
- 454 kmPyssatributary
- 457 kmBarmatributary
- 461 kmLatyugatributary
- 476 kmBolshaya Viskatributary
- 476 kmKurmyshtributary
- 484 kmVyozatributary
- 514 kmMezenskaya Pizhmatributary
- 540 kmVybortributary
- 540 kmKuzigatributary
- 556 kmNizmatributary
- 565 kmKyssatributary
- 585 kmNen'gatributary
- 585 kmSelzyatributary
- 602 kmKymatributary
- 602 kmMutasyatributary
- 624 kmTsebyugatributary
- 650 kmKochtributary
- 673 kmKomatributary
- 703 kmIrasatributary
- 722 kmEdomatributary
- 726 kmVashkatributary
- 734 kmEzhugatributary
- 756 kmErchematributary
- 780 kmKopylskaya Rochugatributary
- 854 kmKimzhatributary
- 860 kmPyozatributary
- 907 kmMezen'2,797 people
- 913 kmPyyatributary
- 913 kmTovatributary
- 966 kmMezen Bayat -18 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in Arkhangelsk Oblast and Komi, Russia
At the mouth it carries 866 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 2.9 seconds. It drops from 202 m to -18 m, 0.2 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 78,000 km², about the size of PA. 34,000 people live in it. 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
- Mezen'Largest city on its banks · 2,797 people
- On the water17 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- JulyThe best months to visit
Mezen, 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 350 m³/s in the lowest month to 1,700 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
Mezen: the basin in numbers
76,753 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 34,000people live in the basin
- 0/km²people per km²
- 123maverage altitude of the basin
- 576mmof rain a year (basin average)
- -0.8°Caverage air temperature
- 6%protected areas
- 0.1%covered by lakes
- 4%permafrost
What covers the basin
- 85% 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
Mezen: what you find on the way
- 2Weirs
- 1Boat ramps
- 15Ferry piers
- 1Marinas
- 1River beaches
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.3 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Mezen 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.
1mountain at the sourcePeakyas
Mountains at the source (1)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Gora Chetlasskiy Kamen'3.8 km away421m
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
Mezen in pictures

Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (85)
Also: Vashka, Pyoza, Mezenskaya Pizhma, Kyma, Kimzha, Sula, Yirva, Bolshaya Loptyuga, Pyssa, Us, Nizma, Yolva-Mezenskaya, Irasa, Kolmogorskaya Kur'ya, Koma, Koch, Kurmysh, Mutasya, Popyuga, Pyya, Pylema, Kyssa, Noba, Bolshaya Viska
Where these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q79106) · 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 | Peakyas — 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.