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River

Seym

696 km from source to mouth · Ukraine and Russia.

UkraineRussiaUkraine and RussiaFlows into Desna7th longest in Ukraine

Follow the riverMonth by month

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

In numbers

Length

696km

Average flow

100m³/s

Basin

27,500km²

Drop

72m

from 184 m to 112 m

Countries

2

The journey

From source to mouth

696 km of river and 22 stops on the way: 8 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

184 m112 m
Chernihiv Oblastat 184 m0 km
Donetskaya Seymitsatributary66 km
Bol'shaya Kuritsatributary182 km
Kursk Reservoir19 km²209 km
Fitizh0.4 km²277 km
Svapatributary301 km
Krepnatributary374 km
Virtributary464 km
Kleventributary548 km
Desnaat 112 m696 km
0200400600696 km
  1. 0 kmChernihiv Oblastat 184 m
  2. 66 kmDonetskaya Seymitsatributary
  3. 74 kmSolntsevo4,374 people
  4. 128 kmRat'tributary
  5. 150 kmTuskartributary
  6. 168 kmVoroshnëvo3,244 people
  7. 177 kmPryamitsyno5,120 people
  8. 182 kmBol'shaya Kuritsatributary
  9. 209 kmKursk Reservoir19 km²
  10. 219 kmReuttributary
  11. 232 kmImeni Karla Libknekhta7,773 people
  12. 277 kmFitizh0.4 km²
  13. 301 kmSvapatributary
  14. 337 kmRyl’sk17,007 people
  15. 374 kmKrepnatributary
  16. 386 kmSnagosttributary
  17. 392 kmGlushkovo5,618 people
  18. 448 kmTëtkino3,852 people
  19. 464 kmVirtributary
  20. 505 kmPutyvl14,886 people
  21. 548 kmKleventributary
  22. 598 kmYezuchtributary
  23. 599 kmKukilkatributary
  24. 696 kmDesnaat 112 m

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

River in Russia and Ukraine

At the mouth it carries 100 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 25 seconds. It drops from 184 m to 112 m, 0.1 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 27,500 km², about the size of HT. 1.3 million people live in it. Highest water: from April to June; lowest: from December to March. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.

Read more on Wikipedia

Where to start

  • Ryl’skLargest city on its banks · 17,007 people
  • On the water5 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
  • From May to SeptemberThe best months to visit

Seym, month by month

Highest water: from April to June

Lowest water: from December to March. Freezing months (average below −4 °C): from December to February. Best months to visit: from May to September.

110
-8°42 mmJan
76
-7°33 mmFeb
76
-2°35 mmMar
320
8°41 mmApr
310
15°48 mmMay
310
18°69 mmJun
180
19°78 mmJul
180
18°61 mmAug
170
13°51 mmSep
170
7°44 mmOct
180
0°48 mmNov
150
-4°50 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 76 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

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

Seym: the basin in numbers

27,894 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.
  • 1.3millionpeople live in the basin
  • 48/km²people per km²
  • 190maverage altitude of the basin
  • 608mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • 6.1°Caverage air temperature
  • 8%protected areas
  • 0.4%covered by lakes

What covers the basin

  • 4% Forest
  • 61% Cropland
  • 16% Pasture
  • 2% 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

Seym: what you find on the way

  • 2Dams
  • 7Weirs
  • 2Waterfalls
  • 2Ferry piers
  • 1Marinas
  • 2Boat rentals
  • 10River beaches

From OpenStreetMap, within 2.1 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.

Cross-checked with our atlases

Seym 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. Kursk Reservoirkm 16019km²
  2. Fitizhkm 2130.4km²

Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

Seym: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
Seym: satellite view of the mouth
The mouth23 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

Seym in pictures

Seim 2 2000
Olegandros · CC BY-SA 4.0
Sejm in bupel
ru:User:Grebenkov · CC BY 3.0
Rylsk. Seym River P5080397 2475
Alexxx1979 · CC BY-SA 4.0
Seim 12.08.2002
Olegandros · CC BY-SA 4.0

Tributaries

Where it flows, and what flows into it

Tributaries (29)

Also: Svapa, Kleven, Tuskar, Vir, Rogozna, Yezuch, Bol'shaya Kuritsa, Reut, Rat', Kukilka, Chasha, Amon'ka, Snagost, Leshchinka, Donetskaya Seymitsa, Prutishche, Mlodat, Krepna, Tolpinka, Schemlya, Byk, Polnaya, Rylo, Rzhava

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q738986) · 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