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River

Tuul River

704 km from source to mouth · Mongolia.

MongoliaMongoliaFlows into Orkhon River4th longest in Mongolia

Follow the riverMonth by month

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

In numbers

Length

704km

Average flow

37m³/s

Basin

49,840km²

Drop

999m

from 1,781 m to 782 m

Country

1

The journey

From source to mouth

704 km of river and 5 stops on the way: 1 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

1,781 m782 m
Khentii Mountainsat 1,781 m0 km
Zaisan Bridge167 km
Ulan Bator844,818 people169 km
Orkhon Riverat 782 m704 km
0200400600704 km
  1. 0 kmKhentii Mountainsat 1,781 m
  2. 164 kmMarshall Bridge
  3. 167 kmZaisan Bridge
  4. 169 kmUlan Bator844,818 people
  5. 170 kmYarmag Bridge
  6. 178 kmSonsgolon Bridge
  7. 704 kmOrkhon Riverat 782 m

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

River in Mongolia

At the mouth it carries 37 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 67 seconds. It drops from 1,781 m to 782 m, 1.4 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 49,840 km², about the size of SK. 1.0 million people live in it. Highest water: August; 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

  • Ulan BatorLargest city on its banks · 844,818 people
  • Ulaanbaatar Chinggis Khaan International Airport (UBN)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 29 km from the city
  • From June to AugustThe best months to visit

Tuul River, month by month

Highest water: August

Lowest water: from December to March. Freezing months (average below −4 °C): from November to March. Best months to visit: from June to August.

2.7
-20°2 mmJan
2.7
-17°2 mmFeb
2.7
-8°3 mmMar
20
2°7 mmApr
24
10°16 mmMay
55
16°48 mmJun
96
18°70 mmJul
120
16°56 mmAug
100
10°28 mmSep
57
1°7 mmOct
21
-10°4 mmNov
5.1
-18°3 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 2.7 m³/s in the lowest month to 120 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

Tuul River: the basin in numbers

49,995 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.
  • 1.0millionpeople live in the basin
  • 20/km²people per km²
  • 1,375maverage altitude of the basin
  • 258mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • -0.5°Caverage air temperature
  • 12%protected areas
  • 8%permafrost

What covers the basin

  • 5% Forest
  • 2% Cropland
  • 79% Pasture

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

Tuul 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.

  • 2mountains at the sourcePeakyas

Mountains at the source (2)

Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas

  1. Hiidiin Sarĭdag14 km away
  2. Alag Baavgayt Uul11 km away

Open Peakyas ↗

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

Tuul River: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
Tuul River: satellite view of the mouth
The mouth30 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

Tuul River in pictures

Tuul River Mongolia
Vidor at English Wikipedia · Public domain
20250308 Spring in Mongolia Tuul river1
Orgio89 · CC0
20250308 Spring in Mongolia Tuul river2
Orgio89 · CC0
Der Fluss Tuul im Gorchi-Tereldsch-Nationalpark
GerritR · CC BY-SA 4.0

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q643058) · CC0
Course, profile, basinRiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed along the river network from the point 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 atlasesPeakyas — 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