Yenisei River
The
Yenisei (
Енисе́й) is the greatest
river system flowing to the
Arctic Ocean, and the fifth longest river in the world. It is slightly shorter but with 1.5 times the flow of the
Mississippi-
Missouri. Rising in
Mongolia, it follows a northerly course to the
Kara Sea, draining a large part of central
Siberia, the longest stream following the Yenisei-Angara-Selenga-Ider being about 5500 km. Its
watershed, which includes the world's largest (by volume) lake,
Lake Baikal, holds more water than any other river system.
The upper reaches, subject to rapids and flooding, pass through sparsely populated areas. The middle section is controlled by a series of massive hydroelectric dams fuelling significant Russian
primary industry. Partly built by
gulag labor in Soviet times, industrial contamination remains a serious problem in an area hard to police. Moving on through sparsely-populated
taiga, the Yenisei swells with numerous tributaries and finally reaches the Kara Sea in desolate
tundra where it is icebound for more than half the year. As with other Siberian rivers, the flow has increased recently, believed to be related to
global warming. A concern is that altered salinity in the Arctic may have a global impact on ocean currents.
The Yenisei rises in two major headstreams: the Bolshoi (greater) Yenisei also known as the Bii-Khem (Бии-Хем) rises in the
Tuva region on the S flank of the Eastern
Sayan Mountains and north of the
Tannu-Ola Mountains at ; the Malyy (lesser) Yenisei also known as the Kaa-Khem (Каа-Хем) rises in the Darhat (
rift) valley in
Mongolia. Recent research has shown that the narrow exit to the Darhat Valley has regularly been blocked by ice producing a lake as large as neighbouring
Lake Khuvsgul. When the glaciers retreated (the last time 9300 years BP) as much as 500 km³ of water would have escaped, possibly catastrophically.
These two headstreams flow west converging at
Kyzyl, and on meeting the east-flowing Khemchik River head north through a canyon in the Western Sayan mountains. The Yenisei emerges from the mountains onto an area of steppe where its first control is the 30m dam at Mayna. This section is around 700 km.
The 320 km (partly navigable) Upper Angara feeds into the northern end of
Lake Baikal from the
Buryat Republic but the largest inflow is from the
Selenga which forms a delta on the south-eastern side. The longest tributaries rise on the eastern slopes of central Mongolia's
Khangay mountains. Another tributary, the
Tuul passes through the Mongolian capital,
Ulaanbaatar while the
Egiin drains
Lake Khuvsgul.
[[image:khuvsgul.jpg|300px|thumb|This satellite image is 800 km across. The green area towards the top-left, containing several small lakes and bordered by the snow-capped Eastern Sayan Mountains to the north, is the source of the Bolshoi Yenisei in Tuva. The dry Darhat Valley just west of Lake Khuvsgul in the center of the image is the source of the Malyy Yenisei. These two streams can be followed to their confluence at Kyzyl at the left of the image.
Lake Baikal is at the right of the image and the Angara flowing north from Irkutsk can clearly be made out. It is already widening due to the dam at Bratsk 200 km further north. The Selenga, whose headwaters include Lake Khuvsgul, flows into Lake Baikal in a delta at the extreme edge of the image. The {{Lena}} River has its source in the top right of the image.]]
Just downstream from Mayna, the 242m Sayano-Shushenskaya dam at Sayansk powers Russia's largest hydroelectric plant completed in 1989 and producing 6400 MW for
aluminium production. This is the same height and five times the power of the
Hoover Dam. About 100 km downstream the Yenisei is swollen by the
Abakan river and passes
Abakan, capital of the
Khakassia region, on the west bank and
Minusinsk on the east bank. It passes within 10 km of the Chulym, a tributary of the
Ob before reaching
Krasnoyarsk after 300 km. This halt on the
Trans-Siberian railway is the Yenisei's largest city. Krasnoyarsk is a major port. Not far away from Krasnoyarsk is
Krasnoyarsk hydroelectric dam.
The
closed city of
Zheleznogorsk, 70km downstream, is a secret Soviet nuclear weapons and satellite facility missing from most maps. The exact state of the enormous nuclear waste dump is unclear, but some discharges continue to pollute the Yenisei. A further 200 km downstream comes the confluence with the Angara (whose final section is also known as the Upper [Verkhnyaya] Tunguska).
The
Angara (
Ангара́) river drains
Lake Baikal and runs 1840 km from the regional capital
Irkutsk to converge with the Yenisei at
Strelka (). It is dammed in four places to power local industry. The 44m dam at Irkutsk produces 650 MW.
Bratsk lies 500 km downstream, where the 124 m dam built in the 1960s produces 4500 MW. The resultant reservoir is nicknamed
Dragon Lake because of its outline. The tributary Oka and Iya rivers, which rise on the north slopes of the Eastern Sayan mountains, form the 'jaws' and 400 km of the Angara form the 'tail'. There are newer dams almost as large at Ust-Ilimsk 250 km downstream (also damming the tributary Ilim river) and Boguchany a further 400 km downstream (not operational). Further dams are planned but the environmental consequences of completely taming the Angara are leading to protests which may prevent funding.
Angarsk, the center of the expanding Eastern Siberian oil industry and site of a huge
Yukos-owned refinery, lies 50 km downstream of Irkutsk. A major pipeline takes oil west, and a new one is being built to carry oil east for supply to Japan from the
Sea of Japan port of
Nakhodka. The exact potential of Eastern Siberia is unknown, but two new major fields are the Kovyktinskoye field near Zhigalovo 200 km north of Irkutsk and the extremely remote Verkhnechonskoye field 500 km north of Irkutsk on the
Central Siberian Plateau.
The Great Kaz joins the Yenisei 300 km downstream of the Strelka. It is noteworthy for its connection to the
Ob via
Ob-Yenisei canal and Ket River. The river starts to widen, its bed being littered with islands as numerous rivers augment its flow, in particular 1800 km Stony (Podkamennaya) Tunguska, and the 3000 km Lower (Nizhnyaya) Tunguska at
Turukhansk draining the desolate central Siberian Plateau from the east. The remote Tunguska (Тунгуска) region is most famous for the
1908 meteorite impact, but is now being explored for oil. Beyond Turukhansk, the river enters
tundra.
The river is icebound for more than half the year, and if unchecked ice could dam the river causing major flooding. Explosives are used to keep the water flowing. The final town is
Dudinka which is connected to Krasnoyarsk by regular passenger boat. The river widens to a 50 km estuary for its final 250 km and the shipping lanes are kept open by icebreaker.
During the
ice age, the route to the arctic was blocked by ice. Though the exact details are unclear, the Yenisei is believed to have flowed into a huge lake filling much of western Siberia, eventually flowing into the
Black Sea.
The first team to navigate the Yenisei's entire length, including its violent upper
tributary in Mongolia, was an Australian-Canadian effort completed in September 2001.
Ben Kozel, Tim Cope,
Colin Angus and Remy Quinter were on this team. Both Kozel and Angus wrote books detailing this expedition, and a documenary was produced for National Geographic Television.
*
Information and a Map of the Yenisei's Watershed*
Bratsk Dam and Angara Photos*
Sayano-Shushenskaya Dam*
Krasnoyarsk Dam*
Yenisei Nature Photos (Krasnoyarsk Area)*
Krasnoyarsk Photos
