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River

Oulujoki

107 km from source to mouth · Finland.

FinlandFinlandFlows into Bothnian Bay7th longest in Finland

Follow the riverMonth by month

SourceMouth
The river and every tributary in its basin, drawn from RiverATLAS (CC BY 4.0).

In numbers

Length

107km

Average flow

250m³/s

Basin

22,853km²

Drop

95m

from 100 m to 5 m

Country

1

The journey

From source to mouth

107 km of river and 54 stops on the way: 33 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

100 m5 m
Oulujärviat 100 m0 km
Pyteränlampi1.2 km²7 km
Kurtinlampi0.8 km²25 km
Utajärvi Church39 km
Sotkajärvi1.8 km²47 km
Montalampi0.9 km²63 km
Muhoslampi0.7 km²64 km
Päivärinne Sanatorium79 km
Sanginjokitributary89 km
Bothnian Bayat 5 m107 km
0255075107 km
  1. 0 kmOulujärviat 100 m
  2. 0 kmNimisjärvi1.5 km²
  3. 1 kmOulujärvi890 km²
  4. 3 kmVaalankurkku railway bridge
  5. 3 kmVaala2,567 people
  6. 7 kmPyteränlampi1.2 km²
  7. 11 kmNuojuanlampi0.5 km²
  8. 25 kmKurtinlampi0.8 km²
  9. 36 kmUtosjokitributary
  10. 36 kmOilinginojatributary
  11. 39 kmUtajärvi2,447 people
  12. 39 kmUtajärvi Church
  13. 47 kmSotkajärvi1.8 km²
  14. 63 kmMontalampi0.9 km²
  15. 64 kmMontta power plant
  16. 64 kmMuhoslampi0.7 km²
  17. 65 kmMuhos Church
  18. 66 kmMuhos8,827 people
  19. 73 kmLaukka Bridge
  20. 79 kmPäivärinne Sanatorium
  21. 89 kmSanginjokitributary
  22. 90 kmTurkansaari Open Air Museum
  23. 92 kmSanki Bridge
  24. 95 kmHeikkilänkangas1,395 people
  25. 99 kmKaakkuri6,559 people
  26. 99 kmMaikkula3,478 people
  27. 100 kmSaarela1,255 people
  28. 101 kmKiviniemi1,550 people
  29. 101 kmHiironen2,056 people
  30. 101 kmMäntylä1,951 people
  31. 101 kmKaukovainio4,809 people
  32. 102 kmErkkola Bridge
  33. 102 kmHintta921 people
  34. 102 kmOulunsuu4,292 people
  35. 102 kmVärttö1,354 people
  36. 102 kmMyllyoja2,345 people
  37. 102 kmPeltola1,679 people
  38. 103 kmHöyhtyä2,426 people
  39. 104 kmKarjasilta3,838 people
  40. 104 kmRaksila1,770 people
  41. 105 kmLaanila1,500 people
  42. 105 kmRautasilta
  43. 105 kmVaara2,980 people
  44. 105 kmIntiö2,485 people
  45. 105 kmMyllytulli3,067 people
  46. 105 kmOulu217,469 people
  47. 105 kmPokkinen2,484 people
  48. 105 kmVanhatulli5,095 people
  49. 106 kmLeveri2,711 people
  50. 106 kmLimingantulli1,939 people
  51. 106 kmHollihaka2,716 people
  52. 107 kmTuira7,805 people
  53. 107 kmToppila7,656 people
  54. 107 kmAlppila2,587 people
  55. 107 kmVälivainio3,053 people
  56. 107 kmBothnian Bayat 5 m

Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.

River of Finland

At the mouth it carries 250 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 10.0 seconds. It drops from 100 m to 5 m, 0.9 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 22,853 km², about the size of BZ. 170,000 people live in it. Highest water, with the snowmelt: from May to June; lowest: from December to March. Dams and reservoirs hold back a large share of its water (26% of a year's flow).

Read more on Wikipedia

Where to start

Oulujoki, month by month

Highest water: from May to June

Lowest water: from December to March. Freezing months (average below −4 °C): from December to March. Melting snow makes up much of its water. Best months to visit: from June to August.

210
-11°31 mmJan
210
-11°24 mmFeb
210
-6°26 mmMar
230
0°24 mmApr
320
7°34 mmMay
320
13°51 mmJun
300
15°63 mmJul
260
13°71 mmAug
270
8°54 mmSep
270
2°47 mmOct
240
-4°39 mmNov
220
-9°33 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 210 m³/s in the lowest month to 320 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

Car hire at OUL airport (Oulu / Oulunsalo)Discover CarsSee 

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

Oulujoki: the basin in numbers

25,804 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.

Heavily regulatedReservoirs can hold 26% of a year's flow: dams shape its seasons.
  • 170,000people live in the basin
  • 7/km²people per km²
  • 177maverage altitude of the basin
  • 574mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • 0.8°Caverage air temperature
  • 5%protected areas
  • 10.4%covered by lakes
  • 2.3km³held in reservoirs

What covers the basin

  • 86% Forest
  • 1% Cropland

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

Oulujoki: what you find on the way

  • 8Dams
  • 7Weirs
  • 23Boat ramps
  • 3Ferry piersM/S Alexandra lähtölaituri
  • 13MarinasJuurusojan venesatama, Saarelan venesatama, Hollihaan venesatama and 10 more
  • 10River beachesSahanranta, Järvikylän uimaranta, Junninojan uimaranta and 7 more

From OpenStreetMap, within 2.0 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.

Cross-checked with our atlases

Oulujoki 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.

  • 9lakes on its wayLakeyas
  • 29beaches at the mouth and on the banksCoastya
  • 19islands off the mouthIslandyas

Lakes and reservoirs (9)

Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas

  1. Nimisjärvikm 01.5km²
  2. Oulujärvikm 2 · 38 m deep890km²
  3. Pyteränlampikm 81.2km²
  4. Kurtinlampikm 260.8km²
  5. Utajärvikm 371.3km²
  6. Sotkajärvikm 491.8km²
  7. Montalampikm 660.9km²
  8. Muhoslampikm 670.7km²

1 more on LakeyasLakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗

Beaches (29)

At the mouth (25 km) and on the banks, by Coastya

  1. Nallikari beach2.7 km away15.5°C
  2. Onganranta11 km away15.5°C
  3. Koppana13 km away15.3°C
  4. Mäntyranta13 km away15.5°C
  5. Sannanlahti19 km away · cove15.3°C
  6. Martinlahti24 km away · cove15.5°C
  7. Kaukoperä9.2 km away · cove15.5°C
  8. Ukonkaivos19 km away · cove15.5°C

21 more on CoastyaOpen Coastya ↗

Islands off the mouth (19)

Within 30 km of the mouth, by Islandyas

  1. Kraaseli10 km away5.0km²
  2. Kiikeli0.2 km away0.0km²
  3. Kahvankari6.9 km away0.0km²
  4. Kropsu19 km away0.3km²
  5. Hevossaari0.8 km away0.1km²
  6. Satakari30 km away0.8km²
  7. Varjakansaari7.4 km away0.6km²
  8. Iso-Miehikkä21 km away

11 more on IslandyasIslandyas is coming soonOpen Islandyas ↗

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

Oulujoki: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
Oulujoki: satellite view of the mouth
The mouth22 km across

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

Oulujoki in pictures

Oulujoki river at Laanila, Oulu
TeVe · Public domain
Pokkinen Oulu 20111218
Estormiz · CC0
KIrkkokatu Bridge Oulu 20110624
Estormiz · CC0
Oulu city hall - Facade
Carlo.benini · CC BY-SA 4.0

Tributaries

Where it flows, and what flows into it

Tributaries (5)

Also: Muhosjoki, Sanginjoki, Oilinginoja, Kutujoki, Utosjoki

Nearby

Rivers nearby

IijokiFinlandFinland370 km200 m³/s34 km awayKemijokiFinlandFinland550 km560 m³/s96 km awayTorne RiverSwedenSweden470 km380 m³/s107 km awayKalix RiverSwedenSweden461 km290 m³/s146 km awayOunasjokiFinlandFinland300 km160 m³/s167 km awayPite RiverSwedenSweden400 km160 m³/s198 km awaySkellefte RiverSwedenSweden410 km160 m³/s209 km awayMuonio RiverSwedenSweden230 km160 m³/s254 km away

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q736575) · CC0
Course, profile, basinRiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed from the source to the mouth given by Wikidata
FlowWaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0
Climate along the riverWorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0
Towns, bridges, damsWikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0
Along the river© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Our other atlasesLakeyas, Coastya, Islandyas — 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.

beachesCoastyaFind your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit
lakesLakeyasEvery lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit
mountainsPeakyasEvery summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit
waterfallsCascadyasEvery waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit
islandsIslandyasEvery island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Coming soonVisit
riversRiveryasEvery river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
canyonsCanyonyasEvery canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit