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River

River Aire

114 km from source to mouth · United Kingdom.

United KingdomUnited KingdomFlows into River Ouse

Follow the riverMonth by month

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

In numbers

Length

114km

Average flow

36m³/s

Basin

1,004km²

Drop

172m

from 172 m to 0 m

Country

1

The journey

From source to mouth

114 km of river and 44 stops on the way: 22 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

172 m0 m
Malham Tarnat 172 m0 km
Addingham3,730 people24 km
Ilkley14,809 people29 km
Lindley Wood Reservoir0.3 km²41 km
Leeds536,280 people48 km
Collingham3,033 people62 km
Wetherby13,572 people65 km
Tadcaster6,480 people77 km
Cawood1,409 people90 km
Selby24,859 people100 km
River Ouseat 0 m114 km
0255075100114 km
  1. 0 kmMalham Tarnat 172 m
  2. 4 kmGrassington1,792 people
  3. 5 kmConiston Bridge and causeway to east
  4. 5 kmGargrave Bridge
  5. 24 kmAddingham3,730 people
  6. 28 kmIreland Bridge
  7. 29 kmIlkley14,809 people
  8. 36 kmBurley in Wharfedale5,996 people
  9. 37 kmMenston4,764 people
  10. 38 kmBradford Becktributary
  11. 38 kmApperley Viaducts
  12. 39 kmWoodhouse Bridge
  13. 39 kmOtley14,668 people
  14. 41 kmLindley Wood Reservoir0.3 km²
  15. 42 kmBridge Over River Aire
  16. 45 kmStainburn1,666 people
  17. 46 kmPool1,935 people
  18. 47 kmKirkstall Bridge
  19. 47 kmBramhope3,382 people
  20. 48 kmDavid Oluwale Bridge
  21. 48 kmMonk Bridge
  22. 48 kmMonk Bridge Viaduct
  23. 48 kmKirkstall Road Viaduct
  24. 48 kmVictoria Bridge
  25. 48 kmLeeds536,280 people
  26. 48 kmLeeds Bridge
  27. 48 kmMeanwood Becktributary
  28. 51 kmPipeline bridge at Knostrop Cut
  29. 51 kmCrown Point Bridge
  30. 51 kmLeeds Dock
  31. 59 kmBardsey2,876 people
  32. 59 kmEast Keswick1,224 people
  33. 62 kmCollingham3,033 people
  34. 65 kmWetherby13,572 people
  35. 69 kmBoston Spa6,052 people
  36. 72 kmThorp Arch1,505 people
  37. 77 kmTadcaster6,480 people
  38. 83 kmAire bridge
  39. 90 kmCawood1,409 people
  40. 95 kmRiccall2,216 people
  41. 98 kmBarlby3,860 people
  42. 100 kmSelby24,859 people
  43. 100 kmPipeline bridge over the River Aire, Knottingley
  44. 106 kmHemingbrough2,483 people
  45. 110 kmpipeline bridge near East Cowick
  46. 114 kmRiver Ouseat 0 m

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

River in Yorkshire, England, UK

At the mouth it carries 36 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 70 seconds. It drops from 172 m to 0 m, 1.5 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 1,004 km², about the size of HK. 755,000 people live in it. Highest water: from December to January. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.

Read more on Wikipedia

Where to start

River Aire, month by month

Highest water: from December to January

Best months to visit: from June to September.

190
4°52 mmJan
150
4°38 mmFeb
120
6°46 mmMar
89
8°44 mmApr
80
11°49 mmMay
64
14°50 mmJun
55
16°49 mmJul
70
16°60 mmAug
89
14°55 mmSep
110
10°50 mmOct
140
6°55 mmNov
170
4°54 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 55 m³/s in the lowest month to 190 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 LBA airport (Leeds, West Yorkshire)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

River Aire: the basin in numbers

6,820 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.

Free-flowingDams upstream can hold only 1.0% of a year's flow: the river still keeps its natural rhythm.
  • 755,000people live in the basin
  • 111/km²people per km²
  • 155maverage altitude of the basin
  • 806mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • 8.6°Caverage air temperature
  • 41%protected areas
  • 0.1%covered by lakes
  • 0.0km³held in reservoirs

What covers the basin

  • 1% Forest
  • 43% Cropland
  • 32% Pasture
  • 5% Towns and cities

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

River Aire: what you find on the way

  • 18DamsSkyreholme Dam, Otley Weir and 16 more
  • 38Weirs
  • 6LocksSelby Canal, River Derwent and 4 more
  • 13WaterfallsMill Scar Lash, Linton Falls, Scale Haw Force and 10 more
  • 3Boat ramps
  • 2Ferry piers
  • 1MarinasOtley Sailing Club
  • 1Boat rentalsOtley Boats

From OpenStreetMap, within 1.7 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.

Cross-checked with our atlases

River Aire 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.

  • 1lake on its wayLakeyas
  • 7mountains at the sourcePeakyas

Lakes and reservoirs (1)

Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas

  1. Lindley Wood Reservoirkm 400.3km²

Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗

Mountains at the source (7)

Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas

  1. Pen-y-ghent13 km away · prominence 306 m694m
  2. Fountains Fell10 km away · prominence 243 m668m
  3. Plover Hill14 km away · prominence 59 m680m
  4. Birks Fell14 km away610m
  5. Thorpe Fell Top11 km away506m
  6. Sharp Haw8.9 km away · prominence 168 m357m
  7. Barden Moor13 km away

Open Peakyas ↗

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

River Aire: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
River Aire: satellite view of the mouth
The mouth11 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

River Aire in pictures

Dock on the River Aire (10th of May 2010)
Mtaylor848 · CC BY-SA 3.0
Cricket by the River Aire (7262816492)
Tim Green from Bradford · CC BY 2.0
Cricket pavilion and River Aire, Saltaire (24723474129)
Tim Green from Bradford · CC BY 2.0
River Aire at Airmyn
Mhoulden · CC BY-SA 4.0

Tributaries

Where it flows, and what flows into it

It flows into

River OuseUnited KingdomUnited Kingdom90 km50 m³/s

Tributaries (6)

Also: River Calder, Meanwood Beck, Bradford Beck, River Worth, Eller Beck, Harden Beck

Nearby

Rivers nearby

River TrentUnited KingdomUnited Kingdom298 km95 m³/s15 km awayRiver TeesUnited KingdomUnited Kingdom137 km34 m³/s99 km awayRiver DerwentUnited KingdomUnited Kingdom80 km29 m³/s99 km awayRiver Great OuseUnited KingdomUnited Kingdom240 km66 m³/s135 km awayRiver TyneUnited KingdomUnited Kingdom100 km63 m³/s147 km awayRiver NeneUnited KingdomUnited Kingdom146 km20 m³/s125 km awayRiver WearUnited KingdomUnited Kingdom96 km21 m³/s136 km awayRiver DeeUnited KingdomUnited Kingdom110 km30 m³/s154 km away

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q408636) · 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, 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.

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