River
Ounasjoki
300 km from source to mouth · Finland.
FinlandFlows into Kemijoki3rd longest in Finland
In numbers
Length
300km
Average flow
160m³/s
Basin
13,968km²
Drop
226m
from 268 m to 42 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
300 km of river and 20 stops on the way: 6 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmOunasjärviat 268 m
- 14 kmOunasjärvi6.7 km²
- 28 kmUllajärvi0.5 km²
- 28 kmPeriläjärvi0.6 km²
- 38 kmKäkkälöjokitributary
- 46 kmKetojärvi5.5 km²
- 53 kmSuasjärvi0.8 km²
- 63 kmRaattama160 people
- 64 kmSaivojärvi0.6 km²
- 111 kmMunajärvi2.5 km²
- 112 kmKöngäs190 people
- 117 kmJänkkäjärvi0.3 km²
- 117 kmLevijärvi1.4 km²
- 129 kmNälkäjärvi0.3 km²
- 137 kmKittilä6,658 people
- 149 kmKuusanjärvi0.4 km²
- 160 kmKaukonen350 people
- 244 kmMeltausjokitributary
- 271 kmSinettä510 people
- 275 kmViiksjärvi5.2 km²
- 292 kmSaarenkylä9,000 people
- 300 kmKemijokiat 42 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
Tributary of Kemijoki river in Lapland region, Finland
At the mouth it carries 163 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 15 seconds. It drops from 268 m to 42 m, 0.8 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 13,968 km², about the size of BS. 29,000 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
- SaarenkyläLargest city on its banks · 9,000 people
- Rovaniemi Airport (RVN)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 6 km from the cityCar hire at RVN airport (Rovaniemi)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water18 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- Kayak and canoe12 put-ins and rapids mapped (OpenStreetMap)
- JulyThe best months to visit
Ounasjoki, 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 47 m³/s in the lowest month to 360 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
Ounasjoki: the basin in numbers
14,431 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 29,000people live in the basin
- 2/km²people per km²
- 242maverage altitude of the basin
- 494mmof rain a year (basin average)
- -1.5°Caverage air temperature
- 20%protected areas
- 2.3%covered by lakes
- 6%permafrost
What covers the basin
- 77% 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
Ounasjoki: what you find on the way
- 2Weirs
- 12RapidsRovakoski, Mertakoski, Telaniva and 9 more
- 14Boat rampsPorokari and 13 more
- 1Ferry piers
- 3MarinasHetan venesatama, Lainaanrannan venesatama
- 5River beachesSinetän uimaranta, Ylikylän uimaranta, Ounaspaviljongin uimaranta and 2 more
From OpenStreetMap, within 1.9 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Ounasjoki 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.
12lakes on its wayLakeyas
4mountains at the sourcePeakyas
Lakes and reservoirs (12)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Ounasjärvikm 146.7km²
- Periläjärvikm 280.6km²
- Ketojärvikm 46 · 13 m deep5.5km²
- Suasjärvikm 520.8km²
- Saivojärvikm 640.6km²
- Munajärvikm 1102.5km²
- Nälkäjärvikm 1280.3km²
- Viiksjärvikm 274 · 10 m deep5.2km²
4 more on LakeyasLakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
Mountains at the source (4)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Siosvaara12 km away511m
- Pyhäkero7.9 km away
- Mukavaara12 km away
- Karontakasenvaara7.7 km away
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
Ounasjoki in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
It flows into
KemijokiFinland550 km560 m³/sTributaries (6)
Also: Käkkälöjoki, Meltausjoki, Loukinen, Vuontisjoki, Aakenusjoki, Marrasjoki
In the same basin
Nearby
Rivers nearby
Sweden470 km380 m³/s106 km awayMuonio RiverSweden230 km160 m³/s120 km awayKitinenFinland235 km64 m³/s101 km awayKalix RiverSweden461 km290 m³/s141 km awayIijokiFinland370 km200 m³/s135 km awayOulujokiFinland107 km250 m³/s167 km awayPite RiverSweden400 km160 m³/s238 km awaySkellefte RiverSweden410 km160 m³/s295 km awayWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q476153) · 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, 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?
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