View source for Lena River

{{short description|River in Russia}}
{{Infobox river
| name = Lena
| native_name = {{native name list |tag1=ru|name1=Лена |tag2=sah|name2=Өлүөнэ |tag3=evn|name3=Елюенэ |tag4=bua|name4=Зүлхэ |tag5=mn|name5=Зүлгэ}}
| name_other = 
| name_etymology = <!---------------------- IMAGE & MAP -->
| image = Lone-maiden-formation.jpg
| image_size = 
| image_caption = The [[Lena Pillars]] along the river near [[Yakutsk]]
| map = Lena River basin.png
| map_size = 
| map_caption = Lena watershed
| pushpin_map = 
| pushpin_map_size = 
| pushpin_map_caption = 
| mapframe           = yes
| mapframe-zoom      = 2
<!---------------------- LOCATION -->
| subdivision_type1 = Country
| subdivision_name1 = [[Russia]]
| subdivision_type2 = 
| subdivision_name2 = 
| subdivision_type3 = 
| subdivision_name3 = 
| subdivision_type4 = 
| subdivision_name4 = 
| subdivision_type5 = 
| subdivision_name5 = <!---------------------- PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS -->
| length = {{convert|4,294|km|abbr=on}}
| width_min = 
| width_avg = 
| width_max = {{convert|10,000|m|abbr=on}}
| depth_min = 
| depth_avg = 
| depth_max = {{convert|28|m|abbr=on}}
| discharge1_location = [[Kyusyur]], [[Russia]] Basin size: {{convert|2,440,000|km2|abbr=on}} to {{convert|2,418,974|km2|abbr=on}}<ref name="Changing freshwater contributions to the Arctic">{{cite journal |last1=Stadnyk |first1=Tricia A. |last2=Tefs |first2=A. |last3=Broesky |first3=M. |last4=Déry |first4=S. J. |last5=Myers |first5=P. G. |last6=Ridenour |first6=N. A. |last7=Koenig |first7=K. |last8=Vonderbank |first8=L. |last9=Gustafsson |first9=D. |title=Changing freshwater contributions to the Arctic |journal=Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene |date=28 May 2021 |volume=9 |issue=1 |page=00098 |doi=10.1525/elementa.2020.00098 |bibcode=2021EleSA...9...98S |s2cid=236682638 |doi-access=free |url=https://smhi.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1582747/FULLTEXT01 }}</ref>
| discharge1_min = {{convert|366|m3/s|cuft/s|abbr=on}}
| discharge1_avg = (Period of data: 1971–2015){{convert|17,773|m3/s|cuft/s|abbr=on}}<ref name="Changing freshwater contributions to the Arctic"/>
(Period of data: 1970–1999){{convert|17,067|m3/s|cuft/s|abbr=on}}<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.iwp.ru/upload/medialibrary/6a1/6a16cca9b59251ad80a7945d9acb5ef6.pdf|title=Variations of the Present-Day Annual and Seasonal Runoff in the Far East and Siberia with the Use of Regional Hydrological and Global Climate Models|year=2018}}</ref>
{{convert|15,500|m3/s|cuft/s|abbr=on}}<ref>http://www.abratsev.narod.ru/biblio/sokolov/p1ch23b.html, Sokolov, Eastern Siberia // Hydrography of USSR. (in russian)</ref>
| discharge1_max = {{convert|241,000|m3/s|cuft/s|abbr=on}}

[[Lena Delta]], [[Laptev Sea]], [[Russia]]
(Period of data: 1984–2018){{convert|577|km3/year|m3/s|abbr=on}}<ref name="Changing freshwater contributions to the Arctic"/>
(Period of data: 1940–2019) {{convert|545.7|km3/year|m3/s|abbr=on}}<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.arctic.noaa.gov/Report-Card/Report-Card-2018/ArtMID/7878/ArticleID/786/Riser-Discharge |title=River Discharge |work=Arctic Program |access-date=2021-10-09 |archive-date=2021-09-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210921152947/https://www.arctic.noaa.gov/Report-Card/Report-Card-2018/ArtMID/7878/ArticleID/786/Riser-Discharge |url-status=dead }}</ref>
| discharge5_location = [[Kirensk]]
| discharge5_min = 
| discharge5_avg = {{convert|480|m3/s|cuft/s|abbr=on}}
| discharge5_max = 
| discharge4_location = [[Vitim]]
| discharge4_min = 
| discharge4_avg = {{convert|1,700|m3/s|cuft/s|abbr=on}}
| discharge4_max = 
| discharge3_location = [[Olyokminsk]]
| discharge3_min = 
| discharge3_avg = {{convert|4,500|m3/s|cuft/s|abbr=on}}
| discharge3_max = 
| discharge2_location = [[Vilyuy]]
| discharge2_avg = {{convert|12,100|m3/s|cuft/s|abbr=on}}

[[Tabaga]], [[Yakutsk]] (Basin size: {{convert|987,000|km2|mi2|abbr=on}}
(Period of data: 1967–2017) {{convert|7,453.2|m3/s|cuft/s|abbr=on}}<ref name="HAL">{{cite journal |last1=Gautier |first1=Emmanuèle |last2=Dépret |first2=Thomas |last3=Cavero |first3=Julien |last4=Costard |first4=François |last5=Virmoux |first5=Clément |last6=Fedorov |first6=Alexander |last7=Konstantinov |first7=Pavel |last8=Jammet |first8=Maël |last9=Brunstein |first9=Daniel |title=Fifty-year dynamics of the Lena River islands (Russia): Spatio-temporal pattern of large periglacial anabranching river and influence of climate change |journal=Science of the Total Environment |date=August 2021 |volume=783 |article-number=147020 |doi=10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.147020 |pmid=34088165 |s2cid=234836524 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2021ScTEn.78347020G |url=https://hal.science/hal-03353117/file/Lena_Version_Pub.pdf }}</ref> (max. {{convert|51,600|m3/s|cuft/s|abbr=on}})<ref name="HAL"/>
| source1 = [[Baikal Mountains]]
| source1_location = [[Kachugsky District]], [[Irkutsk Oblast]]
| source1_coordinates = {{coord|53|59|40|N|107|52|33|E|}} (approximately)
| source1_elevation = {{convert|1,640|m|abbr=on}}
| mouth = [[Lena Delta]]
| mouth_location = Arctic Ocean, [[Laptev Sea]]
| mouth_coordinates = {{coord|72.4087|126.6847|display=it}}
| mouth_elevation = {{Convert|0|m|ft|abbr=on}}
| progression = 
| river_system = 
| basin_size = {{convert|2,460,742|km2|mi2|abbr=on}} to {{convert|2,490,000|km2|mi2|abbr=on}}
| tributaries_left = [[Vilyuy]]
| tributaries_right = [[Kirenga]], [[Vitim (river)|Vitim]], [[Olyokma]], [[Aldan (river)|Aldan]]
| custom_label = 
| custom_data = 
| extra = 
}}

The '''Lena'''{{NoteTag|{{langx|ru|Ле́на}}, {{IPA|ru|ˈlʲɛnə|IPA}}; {{langx|evn|Елюенэ}}, ''Eljujene''; {{langx|sah|Өлүөнэ}}, ''Ölüöne''; {{langx|bua|Зүлхэ}}, ''Zülkhe''; {{langx|mn|Зүлгэ}}, ''Zülge''}} is a [[river]] in the [[Russian Far East]] and is the easternmost river of the three great rivers of [[Siberia]] which flow into the [[Arctic Ocean]], the others being [[Ob (river)|Ob]] and [[Yenisey]]. The Lena River is {{cvt|4,294|km|mi}} long and has a capacious [[drainage basin]] of {{cvt|2,490,000|km2|mi2}}; thus the Lena is the [[list of rivers by length|eleventh-longest]] river in the world and the longest river entirely within [[Russia]].<ref name=gvr>{{GVR|253823|Река Лена}}</ref> Geographically, [[permafrost]] underlies all the Lena River's [[catchment]] and it is continuous in over 75 percent of the basin.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Hiyama Tetsuya |author2=Park Hotaek |author3=Kobayashi Kota |last4=Lebedeva |first4=Liudmila |last5=Gustafsson |first5=David |title= Contribution of summer net precipitation to winter river discharge in permafrost zone of the Lena River basin |journal=Journal of Hydrology |date=January 2023 |volume=616|article-number=128797 |doi=10.1016/j.jhydrol.2022.128797 |bibcode=2023JHyd..61628797H |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022169422013671}}</ref>

==Course==
The Lena originates at {{convert|1640|meters|ft|0}} of elevation in the [[Baikal Mountains]], {{convert|7|km|mi|0}} west of [[Lake Baikal]], south of the [[Central Siberian Plateau]]. The Lena flows north-east and traverses the [[Lena-Angara Plateau]], then is joined by three tributary rivers: (i) the [[Kirenga]], (ii) the [[Vitim (river)|Vitim]], and (iii) the [[Olyokma]]. From [[Yakutsk]], the Lena River enters the [[Central Yakutian Lowland]] and flows north until joined by the eastern tributary, the [[Aldan (river)|Aldan River]], and the western tributary, the [[Vilyuy|Vilyuy River]]. Afterwards, the Lena bends westwards and northwards, flowing between the mountains of the [[Kharaulakh Range]] to the east (part of the [[Verkhoyansk Range]]) and the mountains of the [[Chekanovsky Ridge]] to the west. Travelling approximately due north, the Lena widens into a great [[river delta]] that merges into the [[Laptev Sea]], a marginal region of the Arctic Ocean, south-west of the [[New Siberian Islands]]. The [[Lena Delta]] is {{convert|30000|km2|sqmi}} in area,<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.panda.com.br/about_wwf/where_we_work/ecoregions/lena_river_delta.cfm|title= Lena River Delta - A Global Ecoregion|access-date= 2008-05-23|date= 2006-07-06|publisher= [[World Wide Fund for Nature]]|url-status= dead|archive-url= https://archive.today/20070630031228/http://www.panda.com.br/about_wwf/where_we_work/ecoregions/lena_river_delta.cfm|archive-date= 2007-06-30}}</ref> being traversed by seven main branches, the most important being the Bykovsky channel, farthest east.
[[File:Operational Navigation Chart C-6, 3rd edition.jpg|right|thumb|The lower course of the Lena River in Siberia.]]
[[File:Operational Navigation Chart D-7, 6th edition.jpg|right|thumb|The upper course of the Lena River in Siberia.]]
The Lena is navigable over a length of 3540 kilometres. The annual navigation period, when ice is minimally present or absent, lasts about 70 days in the estuarine region and 125 days elsewhere.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kim |first1=Yu-Na |last2=Krasilnikova |first2=Niurgustana |last3=Choi |first3=Young-Seo |last4=Yeo |first4=Gi-Tae |title=Structural analysis of factors for revitalizing Lena River logistics using ISM method |journal=The Asian Journal of Shipping and Logistics |date=June 2023 |volume=39 |issue=2 |pages=46–51 |doi=10.1016/j.ajsl.2023.02.001 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

==Basin==
The area of the Lena River basin is calculated at {{convert|2490000|km2|sqmi}} and the mean annual discharge is 489 cubic kilometers per year. [[Gold]] is washed out of the sands of the Vitim and the Olyokma, and [[mammoth]] tusks have been dug out of the delta. There are numerous lakes in the floodplain of the river. Lakes [[Nedzheli]] and [[Ulakhan-Kyuel]] are the largest in the basin of the Lena.

===Tributaries===
The [[Kirenga]] flows north between the upper Lena River and Lake Baikal. The [[Vitim (river)|Vitim]] drains the area northeast of Lake Baikal. The [[Olyokma]] flows north. The [[Amga (river)|Amga]] makes a long curve southeast and parallel to the Lena and flows into the Aldan. The [[Aldan (river)|Aldan]] also curves roughly parallel to the Lena until it turns east and flows into the Lena north of Yakutsk. The [[Maya (Aldan)|Maya]], a tributary of the Aldan, drains an area almost to the Sea of Okhotsk. The T-shaped [[Chona]]-[[Vilyuy]] system drains most of the area to the west.

The main tributaries of the Lena are, from source to mouth:
{{div col|colwidth=15em}}
* [[Tutura]] (right)
* [[Ilga (river)|Ilga]] (left)
* [[Kuta (river)|Kuta]] (left)
* [[Tayura]] (right)
* [[Kirenga]] (right)
* [[Pilyuda]] (left)
* [[Chechuy]] (right)
* [[Ichera]] (left)
* [[Chaya (river)|Chaya]] (right)
* [[Chuya (Lena)|Chuya]] (right)
* [[Vitim (river)|Vitim]] (right)
* [[Peleduy (river)|Peleduy]] (left)
* [[Nyuya (river)|Nyuya]] (left)
* [[Derba]] (left)
* [[Ura (Lena)|Ura]] (left)
* [[Bolshoy Patom]] (right)
* [[Cherendey (river)|Cherendey]] (left)
* [[Biryuk (river)|Biryuk]] (left)
* [[Olyokma]] (right)
**[[Chara (river)|Chara]]
* [[Markha (Lena)|Markha]] (left)
* [[Markhachan]] (left)
* [[Tuolba]] (right)
* [[Sinyaya (Lena)|Sinyaya]] (left)
* [[Buotama]] (right)
* [[Menda (river)|Menda]] (right)
* [[Myla (river)|Myla]] (right)
* [[Tamma]] (right)
* [[Lyutenge]] (right)
* [[Suola (river)|Suola]] (right)
* [[Aldan (river)|Aldan]] (right)
* [[Batamay (river)|Batamay]] (right)
* [[Belyanka (river)|Belyanka]] (right)
** [[Munni]]
* [[Lyapiske]] (right)
* [[Tympylykan]] (left)
* [[Dyanyshka]] (right)
* [[Tyugyuene]] (left)
* [[Sitte (river)|Sitte]] (left)
* [[Khanchaly]] (left)
* [[Kenkeme]] (left)
* [[Lungkha]] (left)
* [[Namana]] (left)
* [[Vilyuy]] (left)
** [[Chona]]
* [[Linde (Lena)|Linde]] (left)
* [[Undyulyung]] (right)
* [[Nuora (Lena)|Nuora]] (left)
* [[Begidyan]] (right)
* [[Khoruongka]] (left)
* [[Sobolokh-Mayan]] (right)
* [[Kyuelenke]] (left)
* [[Muna (Lena)|Muna]] (left)
* [[Menkere]] (right)
* [[Motorchuna]] (left)
* [[Molodo (river)|Molodo]] (left)
**[[Syungyude]]
* [[Natara]] (right)
* [[Uel-Siktyakh]] (right)
* [[Kuranakh-Siktyakh]] (right)
* [[Byosyuke]] (right)
* [[Tikyan]] (right)
* [[Eyekit]] (left)
* [[Bulkur]] (left)
{{div col end}}

==History==
{{Lena River from a source to Kachug|collapse=yes}}

It is commonly believed that the Lena derives its name from the original [[Evenks|Even-Evenk]] name ''Elyu-Ene'', which means "the Large River".
[[File:Parokhod na Lene.jpg|thumb|right|The river around 1890]]
According to folktales related a century later, in the years 1620–1623 a party of Russian fur hunters under the leadership of [[Demid Pyanda]] sailed up [[Nizhnyaya Tunguska]], discovered the Lena, and either carried their boats there or built new ones. In 1623 Pyanda explored some {{convert|2400|km|mi}} of the river from its upper reaches to the central [[Sakha Republic|Yakutia]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.randewy.ru/karta/geogr24.html|title=Открытие русскими Средней и Восточной Сибири|website=www.randewy.ru|access-date=4 April 2018}}</ref> In 1628 Vasily Bugor and 10 men reached the Lena, collected '[[yasak]]' (tribute) from the 'natives' and then founded [[Kirinsk]] in 1632. In 1631 the ''[[Voivode|voyevoda]]'' of [[Yeniseysk]] sent [[Pyotr Beketov]] and 20 men to construct a fortress at [[Yakutsk]] (founded in 1632). From Yakutsk other expeditions spread out to the south and east. The Lena delta was reached in 1655.

Two of the three groups of survivors of the ill-fated [[Jeannette expedition]] reached Lena Delta in September, 1881. The one led by engineer [[George W. Melville]] was rescued by native [[Tungusic peoples|Tungus]] huntsmen. Of the group led by [[George W. De Long|Captain George W. De Long]], only two of the men survived; the others died of [[starvation]].

[[Baron Eduard Von Toll]], accompanied by [[Alexander Bunge|Alexander von Bunge]], led an expedition that explored the Lena delta and the islands of [[New Siberia]] on behalf of the [[Imperial Academy of Sciences|Russian Imperial Academy of Sciences]] in 1885. In 1886 they investigated the New Siberian Islands and the [[Yana River]] and its tributaries. During one year and two days the expedition covered {{convert|25000|km|mi}}, of which {{convert|4200|km|mi}} were up rivers, carrying out [[geodesic]] surveys en route.

The [[Lena massacre]] was the name given to the 1912 shooting-down of striking goldminers and local citizens who protested at the working conditions in the mine near [[Bodaybo]] in northern Irkutsk. The incident was reported in the Duma (parliament) by [[Alexander Kerensky|Kerensky]] and is credited with stimulating revolutionary feeling in Russia.

[[Vladimir Lenin|Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov]], when he was exiled to the [[Central Siberian Plateau]], may have taken his alias, ''Lenin'', from the Lena River.

==Delta==
[[File:Lena River Delta IMG 20140908 201936.jpg|thumb|left|Lena River Delta in Autumn 2014]]
[[File:Lena River Delta - Landsat 2000.jpg|thumb|Lena river Delta by Landsat, February 2000]]
At the end of the Lena River there is a large [[River delta|delta]] that extends {{convert|100|km}} into the Laptev Sea and is about {{convert|400|km|mi|abbr=on}} wide. The delta is frozen [[tundra]] for about seven months of the year, but in May the region is transformed into a lush [[wetland]] for a few months. Part of the area is protected as the [[Lena Delta Wildlife Reserve]]. [[Fyodor Matisen]] mapped the delta.

The Lena Delta divides into a multitude of flat islands. The most important are (from west to east): Chychas Aryta, Petrushka, Sagastyr, Samakh Ary Diyete, Turkan Bel'keydere, Sasyllakh Ary, Kolkhoztakh Bel'keydere, Grigoriy Diyelyakh Bel'kee (Grigoriy Islands), Nerpa Uolun Aryta, Misha Bel'keydere, Atakhtay Bel'kedere, Arangastakh, Urdiuk Pastakh Bel'key, Agys Past' Aryta, Dallalakh Island, Otto Ary, Ullakhan Ary and Orto Ues Aryta.

Turukannakh-Kumaga is a long and narrow island off the Lena Delta's western shore.

One of the Lena delta islands, Ostrov Amerika-Kuba-Aryta or Ostrov Kuba-Aryta, was perhaps named after the island of [[Cuba]] during Soviet times. It is on the northern edge of the delta.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.google.com/maps/search/Ostrov+Amerika-Kuba-Aryta,+Bulunsky+District,+Sakha,+Russia/@73.5025,127.736389,13z/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en&dg=dbrw&newdg=1|title=Google Maps|website=Google Maps|access-date=4 April 2018}}</ref>{{failed verification|date=July 2025}} If named before the Soviet times, it is possible that the islands were named after the [[tundra swan|American Swan]], found in the area (Kuba being the Yakut term for 'swan').

==Fish==
As Lena is located at remote and undeveloped regions of the Russian Far East, its fish resource is very well preserved. Some of the species found in the river include: [[Hucho taimen|Siberian taimen]], [[Siberian sturgeon]], [[Upper Yenisei grayling]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Rose-Innes |first1=Keith |title=The Taimen of Russia's Tugur River |url=https://www.flyfisherman.com/editorial/tugur-taimen-exploring-the-vast-wilderness-rivers-of-siberia/376219 |access-date=22 March 2024 |work=Fly Fisherman |date=12 May 2020 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kirillov |first1=A. F. |last2=Knizhin |first2=I. B. |title=Ichthyofauna of the Lena River (Laptev Sea Basin): Modern composition and historical formation |journal=Journal of Ichthyology |date=August 2014 |volume=54 |issue=7 |pages=433–445 |doi=10.1134/S0032945214040031 |bibcode=2014JIch...54..433K }}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Lena Cheeks]]
* [[Lena Pillars]]
* [[Lena Plateau]]
* [[List of rivers of Russia]]
* [[List of longest undammed rivers]]
* [[Tukulan]]
* [[William Barr (Arctic historian)|William Barr]], writer of ''The First Soviet Convoy to the Mouth of the Lena''.
* {{portal-inline|Siberia}}

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book |doi=10.1002/9781119412632.ch11 |chapter=The Lena: A Large River in a Deep Permafrost Zone |title=Large Rivers |date=2022 |last1=Gautier |first1=Emmanuèle |last2=Costard |first2=François |last3=Fedorov |first3=Alexander |pages=320–334 |isbn=978-1-119-41260-1 }}
*[[Alexander von Bunge]] & [[Eduard von Toll]] (1887), ''The Expedition to the New Siberian Islands and the Yana country, equipped by the Imperial Academy of Sciences''.
*[[Jeffrey Tayler]] (2006), ''River of No Reprieve: Descending Siberia's Waterway of Exile, Death, and Destiny''
* {{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Lena|volume=16|page=417}}

==External links==
*{{commons category-inline}}
* [https://arcticgreatrivers.org/ Arctic Great Rivers Observatory (ArcticGRO)]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080922200657/http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=4895 NASA Earth Observatory page on flooding on the Lena River]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050905170100/http://earthtrends.wri.org/maps_spatial/maps_detail_static.cfm?map_select=360&theme=2 Information and a map of the Lena's watershed]
* [http://www.geo.uio.no/IPA/FG23.pdf Permafrost in the Lena Delta]
* Alfred Wegner institute (AWI) Publications, [https://web.archive.org/web/20080920072325/http://epic.awi.de/epic/Main?list&page=report4polar&type=reports+on+polar+and+marine+research&awi=yes Berichte zur Polar- und Meeresforschung (Reports on polar and marine research)] - free, downloadable research reports on the biology, geology, oceanography, hydrology, paleontology, paleoclimatology, fauna, flora, soils, cryology, and so forth of the Lena Delta, Laptev Sea, and other parts of the Arctic Circle.

{{Laptev Sea Islands}}
{{Rivers of Russia}}
{{Shipbuilding and shipping on the Lena River}}
{{Regions of the world}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Lena River| ]]
[[Category:Lena basin| ]]
[[Category:Rivers of Irkutsk Oblast]]
[[Category:Rivers of the Sakha Republic]]