River
Yarlung Tsangpo River
2,840 km from source to mouth · China.
ChinaFlows into Ganges4th longest in China
In numbers
Length
2,840km
Average flow
2,900m³/s
Basin
241,485km²
Drop
4,644m
from 5,180 m to 536 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
2,840 km of river and 6 stops on the way: 2 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmPurang Countyat 5,180 m
- 0 kmZanangding Co4.0 km²
- 39 kmRabgyai Co7.5 km²
- 44 kmGuneijiao Cuo1.5 km²
- 1,489 kmQuxu41,851 people
- 1,662 kmLhoka353,700 people
- 2,387 kmParlung Tsangpotributary
- 2,840 kmGangesat 536 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
Longest river in Tibet
At the mouth it carries 2,899 m³/s on average: 1.2 Olympic pools every second. It drops from 5,180 m to 536 m, 1.6 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 241,485 km², about the size of GH. 1.6 million people live in it. Highest water: from August to September; lowest: from January to April. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.
Where to start
- LhokaLargest city on its banks · 353,700 people
- Lhasa Gonggar International Airport (LXA)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 84 km from the city
- On the water1 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From June to SeptemberThe best months to visit
Yarlung Tsangpo River, month by month
Highest water: from August to September
Lowest water: from January to April. Freezing months (average below −4 °C): January. Best months to visit: from June to September.
From about 590 m³/s in the lowest month to 6,300 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
Yarlung Tsangpo River: the basin in numbers
241,485 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 1.6millionpeople live in the basin
- 7/km²people per km²
- 4,779maverage altitude of the basin
- 362mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 0.0°Caverage air temperature
- 12%protected areas
- 0.7%covered by lakes
- 5%glaciers
- 29%permafrost
- 0.0km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 9% Forest
- 1% Cropland
- 54% 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.
Along the river
Yarlung Tsangpo River: what you find on the way
- 2Weirs
- 3Waterfalls
- 1Ferry piers
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.6 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Yarlung Tsangpo 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.
3lakes on its wayLakeyas
Lakes and reservoirs (3)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Zanangding Cokm 04.0km²
- Rabgyai Cokm 267.5km²
- Guneijiao Cuokm 301.5km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
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
Yarlung Tsangpo River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
It flows into
Ganges
India2,525 km12,000 m³/sTributaries (1)
Also: Parlung Tsangpo
In the same basin
India2,900 km19,500 m³/sYamunaIndia1,376 km3,500 m³/sPadma River
Bangladesh120 km32,000 m³/sGandaki RiverIndia630 km1,800 m³/sChambal RiverIndia960 km600 m³/sJamuna RiverBangladesh245 km20,100 m³/sGhaghara RiverIndia1,080 km3,300 m³/sTeesta RiverBangladesh470 km1,300 m³/sGomti RiverIndia900 km230 m³/sKosi RiverIndia729 km2,300 m³/s
BhutanWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q3244259) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Course, profile, basin | RiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed along the river network from the point 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 | Lakeyas — 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.
beaches
Find your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit lakes
Every lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit 
mountains
Every summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit 
waterfalls
Every waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit 
islands
Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Coming soonVisit 
rivers
Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
canyons
Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit