River
Branco River
584 km from source to mouth · Brazil.
BrazilFlows into Rio Negro
In numbers
Length
584km
Average flow
25,600m³/s
Basin
195,000km²
Drop
52m
from 64 m to 12 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
584 km of river and 10 stops on the way: 2 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 64 m
- 1 kmTakutu Rivertributary
- 4 kmUraricoera Rivertributary
- 32 kmBoa Vista419,652 people
- 85 kmMucajaí Rivertributary
- 146 kmCachoeira Caracaraí
- 171 kmCaracaraí20,957 people
- 272 kmAnauá Rivertributary
- 286 kmLago do Fonseca2.6 km²
- 294 kmLago Beira Verde0.4 km²
- 463 kmLagoa do Caretare0.5 km²
- 584 kmRio Negroat 12 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
Principal affluent of the Rio Negro
At the mouth it carries 25,595 m³/s on average: 10 Olympic pools every second. It drops from 64 m to 12 m, 0.1 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 195,000 km², about the size of SN. 611,000 people live in it. Highest water: from June to August; lowest: from December to March. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.
Where to start
- Boa VistaLargest city on its banks · 419,652 people
- Atlas Brasil Cantanhede International Airport (BVB)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 4 km from the cityCar hire at BVB airport (Boa Vista)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water19 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From October to FebruaryThe best months to visit
Branco River, month by month
Highest water: from June to August
Lowest water: from December to March. Best months to visit: from October to February.
From about 15,900 m³/s in the lowest month to 40,600 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
Branco River: the basin in numbers
594,476 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 611,000people live in the basin
- 1/km²people per km²
- 188maverage altitude of the basin
- 2,568mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 26.1°Caverage air temperature
- 59%protected areas
What covers the basin
- 83% Forest
- 4% Pasture
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
Branco River: what you find on the way
- 1WaterfallsCachoeira Véu de Noiva
- 5Boat rampsIate Clube, Marina Meu Caso and 3 more
- 13Ferry piersBoa Vista, Estação de Transbordo de Carga, Santa Mª do Boiaçu and 10 more
- 1MarinasRio Branco
- 4River beachesPraia da Balsa, Praia do Caçarí, Praia da Polar and 1 more
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.9 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Branco 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.
1waterfall on the riverCascadyas
3lakes on its wayLakeyas
Waterfalls (1)
On the river, by Cascadyas
- Cachoeira Caracaraíkm 148
Cascadyas is coming soonOpen Cascadyas ↗
Lakes and reservoirs (3)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Lago do Fonsecakm 2892.6km²
- Lago Beira Verdekm 2970.4km²
- Lagoa do Caretarekm 4680.5km²
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
Branco River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
It flows into
Rio NegroBrazil2,250 km30,000 m³/sTributaries (11)
Also: Takutu River, Uraricoera River, Mucajaí River, Anauá River, Ajarani River, Catrimani River, Cauamé River, Quitauau River, Itapará River, Água Boa do Univini River, Xeriuini River
In the same basin
Brazil6,400 km209,000 m³/sMadeira RiverBrazil1,450 km31,200 m³/sMarañón River
Peru1,737 km16,700 m³/sUcayali RiverPeru1,460 km12,600 m³/sJapurá RiverBrazil2,820 km13,900 m³/sXingu RiverBrazil1,640 km9,700 m³/sMamoré RiverBrazil1,930 km11,600 m³/sJuruá RiverBrazil3,100 km4,800 m³/sTapajós RiverBrazil1,930 km13,000 m³/sPutumayo RiverBrazil1,610 km7,000 m³/sNearby
Rivers nearby
Where these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q1165761) · 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 |
| Our other atlases | Cascadyas, 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.
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Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
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