River
Arun River
530 km from source to mouth · China.
ChinaFlows into Sun Kosi
In numbers
Length
530km
Average flow
1,300m³/s
Basin
33,578km²
Drop
4,515m
from 4,644 m to 129 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
530 km of river and 2 stops on the way: 1 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmShishapangmaat 4,644 m
- 388 kmBarun Rivertributary
- 453 kmKhā̃dbāri̇̄22,903 people
- 530 kmSun Kosiat 129 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
Watercourse in Nepal and Tibet
At the mouth it carries 1,347 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 1.9 seconds. It drops from 4,644 m to 129 m, 8.5 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 33,578 km², about the size of MD. 2.3 million people live in it. Highest water: from August to September; lowest: from December to March. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.
Where to start
- Khā̃dbāri̇̄Largest city on its banks · 22,903 people
- Taplejung Airport (TPJ)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 48 km from the cityCar hire at PBH airport (Paro)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- From May to June and SeptemberThe best months to visit
Arun River, month by month
Highest water: from August to September
Lowest water: from December to March. Best months to visit: from May to June and September.
From about 110 m³/s in the lowest month to 4,200 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
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The basin
Arun River: the basin in numbers
48,264 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 2.3millionpeople live in the basin
- 49/km²people per km²
- 3,920maverage altitude of the basin
- 791mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 4.3°Caverage air temperature
- 58%protected areas
- 0.2%covered by lakes
- 8%glaciers
- 28%permafrost
What covers the basin
- 21% Forest
- 6% Cropland
- 33% Pasture
- 1% Towns and cities
- 8% 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
Arun River: what you find on the way
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.2 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
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
Arun River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (2)
Also: Barun River, Sabha River
In the same basin
India2,525 km12,000 m³/sBrahmaputra RiverIndia2,900 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/sNearby
Rivers nearby
Nepal138 km180 m³/s76 km awayKosi RiverIndia729 km2,300 m³/s167 km awayGandaki RiverIndia630 km1,800 m³/s243 km awaySon RiverIndia780 km1,200 m³/s262 km awayGhaghara RiverIndia1,080 km3,300 m³/s281 km awayTeesta RiverBangladesh470 km1,300 m³/s299 km awaySankosh RiverIndia320 km5,400 m³/s285 km awayParo Chhu
Bhutan80 km32 m³/s239 km awayWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q1111197) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Course, profile, basin | RiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed from the source to the mouth 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 |
Every source and licence is on the data sources page.
The family
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