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River

Pamir River

118 km from source to mouth · Afghanistan and Tajikistan.

AfghanistanTajikistanAfghanistan and TajikistanFlows into Panj River7th longest in Afghanistan

Follow the riverMonth by month

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

In numbers

Length

118km

Average flow

13m³/s

Basin

4,549km²

Drop

1,314m

from 4,111 m to 2,797 m

Countries

2

The journey

From source to mouth

118 km of river and 2 stops on the way: 0 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

4,111 m2,797 m
Zorkulat 4,111 m0 km
Chakan Kōl5.0 km²15 km
Panj Riverat 2,797 m118 km
0255075100118 km
  1. 0 kmZorkulat 4,111 m
  2. 0 kmZorkul36 km²
  3. 15 kmChakan Kōl5.0 km²
  4. 118 kmPanj Riverat 2,797 m

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

River in Tajikistan and Afghanistan

At the mouth it carries 13 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 196 seconds. It drops from 4,111 m to 2,797 m, 11 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 4,549 km², about the size of TT. 9,385 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.

Read more on Wikipedia

Where to start

  • KhandūdLargest city on its banks · 5,521 people
  • Chitral Airport (CJL)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 127 km from the city
  • From July to AugustThe best months to visit

Pamir River, month by month

Highest water: May

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: from July to August.

1.8
-16°22 mmJan
1.8
-14°24 mmFeb
1.8
-8°34 mmMar
1.8
-1°38 mmApr
56
3°36 mmMay
30
8°16 mmJun
12
12°13 mmJul
2.8
12°9 mmAug
2.6
7°8 mmSep
3.8
1°13 mmOct
2.7
-6°10 mmNov
2.0
-12°21 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 1.8 m³/s in the lowest month to 56 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

Pamir River: the basin in numbers

4,549 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.

Free-flowingDams upstream can hold only 0.0% of a year's flow: the river still keeps its natural rhythm.
  • 9,385people live in the basin
  • 2/km²people per km²
  • 4,528maverage altitude of the basin
  • 298mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • -4.7°Caverage air temperature
  • 19%protected areas
  • 1.3%covered by lakes
  • 5%glaciers
  • 66%permafrost

What covers the basin

  • 1% Cropland
  • 9% Pasture
  • 5% 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.

Cross-checked with our atlases

Pamir 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.

  • 2lakes on its wayLakeyas

Lakes and reservoirs (2)

Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas

  1. Zorkulkm 036km²
  2. Chakan Kōlkm 155.0km²

Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

Pamir River: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
Pamir River: satellite view of the mouth
The mouth10 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

Pamir River in pictures

Pamir River before Wakhan Confluence
Kondephy · CC BY-SA 4.0
Brücke über den Pamir bei Langar
Jboenisch · CC BY-SA 4.0

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q8550) · 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 — 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