River
Copiapó River
292 km from source to mouth · Chile.
ChileFlows into Pacific Ocean3rd longest in Chile
In numbers
Length
292km
Average flow
5.0m³/s
Basin
18,800km²
Drop
3,546m
from 3,550 m to 4 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
292 km of river and 5 stops on the way: 2 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmJorquera Riverat 3,550 m
- 125 kmPulido Rivertributary
- 127 kmManflas Rivertributary
- 127 kmJorquera Rivertributary
- 204 kmTierra Amarilla12,898 people
- 218 kmCopiapó129,280 people
- 292 kmPacific Oceanat 4 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in Chile
At the mouth it carries 5.0 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 501 seconds. It drops from 3,550 m to 4 m, 12 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 18,800 km², about the size of FJ. 86,000 people live in it. Highest water: from July 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
- CopiapóLargest city on its banks · 129,280 people
- Desierto de Atacama Airport (CPO)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 46 km from the cityCar hire at CPO airport (Copiapo)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- From November to MarchThe best months to visit
Copiapó River, month by month
Highest water: from July to August
Lowest water: from December to March. Best months to visit: from November to March.
From about 0.1 m³/s in the lowest month to 18 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
Copiapó River: the basin in numbers
18,467 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 86,000people live in the basin
- 5/km²people per km²
- 2,728maverage altitude of the basin
- 46mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 8.2°Caverage air temperature
- 3%permafrost
What covers the basin
- 3% Pasture
- 1% Towns and cities
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
Copiapó River: what you find on the way
- 2River beachesPlaya Blanca, Playa Las Salinas
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.0 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Copiapó 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.
6beaches at the mouth and on the banksCoastya
3mountains at the sourcePeakyas
Beaches (6)
At the mouth (25 km) and on the banks, by Coastya
- Playa Blanca6.0 km away19.2°C
- Caleta Corral de Los Burros7.7 km away · cove19.2°C
- Caleta Caballo Muerto19 km away · cove19.2°C
- Caleta Bajo Blanco23 km away · cove19.0°C
- Caleta Turenne8.5 km away · cove19.5°C
- Caleta Barranquillas22 km away · cove19.0°C
Mountains at the source (3)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Cerro de Monardes13 km away
- Cerro Santa Rosa6.3 km away
- Cerro Tronquitos7.1 km away
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
Copiapó River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (5)
Also: Pulido River, Manflas River, Jorquera River, Quebrada Paipote, Quebrada Carrizalillo (Copiapo)
Where these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q738357) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Course, profile, basin | RiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed along the river network from the point 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 | Coastya, Peakyas — 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 summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit 
waterfalls
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islands
Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Coming soonVisit 
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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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Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit