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Location: 62N 125E (Siberian Russia); length: 5500 kilometres (3400 miles); drainage basin: 2.5 million square kilometres (1 million square miles). The Yenisei, which covers an area of Siberia almost equivalent to the drainage basin of the Mississippi in the United States, is the main river in Eastern Siberia. Its main tributary, the Angara, empties the waters from the world's deepest lake, Lake Baykal. From here the river flows north through vast coniferous forests, then through tundra to the Arctic Ocean. The Yenisei itself has a length of about 4000 kilometres (2500 miles) while the Angara is 1800 kilometres (1100 miles) long. Combined, they make one of the world's longest, yet least known, rivers. The Angara flows down a steep course, and it has been harnessed for hydroelectric power and the once torrential river is now a long series of reservoirs. From the confluence of the Yenisei with the Angara, the Yenisei is a wide, deep, sluggish river, in places over 40 kilometres (25 miles) between banks. The high latitude and continental location of much of the river means that the entire basin is frozen throughout the winter and the most northerly reaches are frozen for eight months each year. Spring floods are common and, as the waters cannot easily escape through the frozen channel, severe flooding is common each year. The deep waters and slow flow of the lower Yenisei make it navigable, but as the area is so remote and little inhabited, there is little traffic except for shipping timber. A canal joins the Yenisei with the Ob to the west. |