River
South Nahanni River
540 km from source to mouth · Canada.
CanadaFlows into Liard River
In numbers
Length
540km
Average flow
400m³/s
Basin
31,100km²
Drop
1,008m
from 1,179 m to 171 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
540 km of river and 3 stops on the way: 0 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 1,179 m
- 93 kmLittle Nahanni Rivertributary
- 213 kmRabbitkettle Lake0.6 km²
- 318 kmVirginia Falls96 m
- 540 kmLiard Riverat 171 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in the Northwest Territories, Canada
At the mouth it carries 404 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 6.2 seconds. It drops from 1,179 m to 171 m, 1.9 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 31,100 km², about the size of BE. Highest water, with the snowmelt: from May to July; lowest: from January to April. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.
Where to start
- Nahanni ButteA town on its banks
- Fort Simpson Airport (YFS)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 140 km from the cityCar hire at YYE airport (Fort Nelson)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- Kayak and canoe1 put-ins and rapids mapped (OpenStreetMap)
- JulyThe best months to visit
South Nahanni River, month by month
Highest water: from May to July
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 29 m³/s in the lowest month to 1,800 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
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The basin
South Nahanni River: the basin in numbers
36,690 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 55people live in the basin
- 1,237maverage altitude of the basin
- 506mmof rain a year (basin average)
- -6.6°Caverage air temperature
- 84%protected areas
- 0.2%covered by lakes
- 68%permafrost
What covers the basin
- 21% 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
South Nahanni River: what you find on the way
- 2WaterfallsVirginia Falls
- 1Rapids
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.1 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
South Nahanni 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.
1waterfall on the riverCascadyas
1lake on its wayLakeyas
1mountain at the sourcePeakyas
Waterfalls (1)
On the river, by Cascadyas
- Virginia Fallskm 30596m
Cascadyas is coming soonOpen Cascadyas ↗
Lakes and reservoirs (1)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Rabbitkettle Lakekm 2040.6km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
Mountains at the source (1)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Mount Christie3.3 km away2,101m
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
South Nahanni River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
It flows into
Liard RiverCanada1,115 km2,400 m³/sTributaries (2)
Also: Little Nahanni River, Flat River
In the same basin
Canada1,738 km10,700 m³/sPeace RiverCanada1,923 km2,100 m³/sAthabasca RiverCanada1,231 km620 m³/sSlave RiverCanada434 km3,500 m³/sFinlay RiverCanada420 km600 m³/sPeel RiverCanada684 km700 m³/sHay RiverCanada702 km130 m³/sSmoky RiverCanada492 km340 m³/sGreat Bear RiverCanada113 km530 m³/sWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q1535066) · 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 | Cascadyas, 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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