River
Ord River
650 km from source to mouth · Australia.
AustraliaFlows into Cambridge Gulf
In numbers
Length
650km
Average flow
360m³/s
Basin
55,100km²
Drop
515m
from 515 m to 0 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
650 km of river and 8 stops on the way: 1 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 515 m
- 167 kmPanton Rivertributary
- 192 kmNicholson Rivertributary
- 305 kmNegri Rivertributary
- 391 kmBow Rivertributary
- 465 kmLake Argyle829 km²
- 517 kmCrossing Falls
- 524 kmLake Kununurra0.5 km²
- 525 kmKununurra4,515 people
- 650 kmCambridge Gulfat 0 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in Kimberley region of Western Australia
At the mouth it carries 363 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 6.9 seconds. It drops from 515 m to 0 m, 0.8 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 55,100 km², about the size of HR. 7,590 people live in it. Highest water: from February to March; lowest: from July to October. It is heavily dammed: reservoirs can hold 94% of a year's flow.
Where to start
- KununurraLargest city on its banks · 4,515 people
- East Kimberley Regional (Kununurra) Airport (KNX)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 4 km from the cityCar hire at KNX airport (Kununurra)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water7 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From May to AugustThe best months to visit
Ord River, month by month
Highest water: from February to March
Lowest water: from July to October. Best months to visit: from May to August.
From about 44 m³/s in the lowest month to 1,000 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
Ord River: the basin in numbers
52,660 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 7,590people live in the basin
- 0/km²people per km²
- 302maverage altitude of the basin
- 623mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 27.1°Caverage air temperature
- 17%protected areas
- 1.6%covered by lakes
- 11km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 20% Forest
- 27% 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
Ord River: what you find on the way
- 5WaterfallsHomestead Falls, Middle Springs Waterfall, Black Rock Falls and 2 more
- 7Boat ramps
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.2 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Ord 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
2lakes on its wayLakeyas
3mountains at the sourcePeakyas
Waterfalls (1)
On the river, by Cascadyas
- Crossing Fallskm 448
Cascadyas is coming soonOpen Cascadyas ↗
Lakes and reservoirs (2)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Lake Argylekm 403829km²
- Lake Kununurrakm 4540.5km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
Mountains at the source (3)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Mount King12 km away
- Mount Bedford9.0 km away
- Mount Wells12 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
Ord River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (6)
Also: Negri River, Behn River, Dunham River, Panton River, Bow River, Nicholson River
Where these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q2028742) · 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 | Cascadyas, Lakeyas, 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
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