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River

River Somme

245 km from source to mouth · France.

FranceFranceFlows into Baie de Somme

Follow the riverMonth by month

SourceMouthAmiens
The river and every tributary in its basin, drawn from RiverATLAS (CC BY 4.0).

In numbers

Length

245km

Average flow

35m³/s

Basin

6,550km²

Drop

74m

from 74 m to 0 m

Country

1

The journey

From source to mouth

245 km of river and 67 stops on the way: 58 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

74 m0 m
Fonsommeat 74 m0 km
Ham4,378 people38 km
Omignontributary64 km
Péronne7,090 people73 km
Bray-sur-Somme1,184 people104 km
La Neuville-lès-Bray263 people105 km
Ancretributary140 km
Amiens136,449 people158 km
Nièvretributary188 km
Abbeville26,461 people218 km
Baie de Sommeat 0 m245 km
050100150200245 km
  1. 0 kmFonsommeat 74 m
  2. 0 kmRemaucourt265 people
  3. 0 kmFonsomme518 people
  4. 0 kmEssigny-le-Petit345 people
  5. 0 kmLesdins790 people
  6. 2 kmMorcourt544 people
  7. 5 kmRouvroy506 people
  8. 8 kmPont d'Isle, Saint-Quentin
  9. 9 kmSaint-Quentin52,813 people
  10. 10 kmGauchy5,183 people
  11. 14 kmGrugies1,280 people
  12. 14 kmDallon424 people
  13. 17 kmCastres246 people
  14. 18 kmFontaine-lès-Clercs232 people
  15. 19 kmContescourt61 people
  16. 21 kmSeraucourt-le-Grand706 people
  17. 23 kmHappencourt179 people
  18. 24 kmArtemps361 people
  19. 28 kmTugny-et-Pont282 people
  20. 28 kmSaint-Simon593 people
  21. 32 kmDury191 people
  22. 33 kmSommette-Eaucourt178 people
  23. 35 kmPithon78 people
  24. 38 kmHam4,378 people
  25. 40 kmEppeville1,704 people
  26. 43 kmSancourt269 people
  27. 45 kmOffoy196 people
  28. 48 kmVoyennes595 people
  29. 52 kmBéthencourt-sur-Somme124 people
  30. 53 kmVillecourt46 people
  31. 56 kmPargny198 people
  32. 56 kmFalvy163 people
  33. 59 kmÉpénancourt129 people
  34. 61 kmCizancourt30 people
  35. 63 kmSaint-Christ-Briost425 people
  36. 64 kmOmignontributary
  37. 66 kmBrie350 people
  38. 66 kmVillers-Carbonnel294 people
  39. 68 kmÉterpigny166 people
  40. 72 kmDoingt1,389 people
  41. 73 kmPéronne7,090 people
  42. 73 kmColognetributary
  43. 75 kmBiaches386 people
  44. 80 kmCléry-sur-Somme516 people
  45. 84 kmFeuillères155 people
  46. 84 kmSomme Viaduct
  47. 85 kmHem-Monacu137 people
  48. 88 kmCurlu152 people
  49. 92 kmÉclusier-Vaux85 people
  50. 93 kmFrise176 people
  51. 98 kmSuzanne190 people
  52. 101 kmCappy546 people
  53. 104 kmBray-sur-Somme1,184 people
  54. 105 kmLa Neuville-lès-Bray263 people
  55. 132 kmCorbie6,486 people
  56. 140 kmAncretributary
  57. 149 kmJules Verne Viaduct
  58. 151 kmLongueau5,180 people
  59. 152 kmAvretributary
  60. 153 kmCamon4,359 people
  61. 155 kmRivery3,454 people
  62. 158 kmAmiens136,449 people
  63. 160 kmSelletributary
  64. 170 kmAilly-sur-Somme3,360 people
  65. 188 kmNièvretributary
  66. 189 kmFlixecourt3,104 people
  67. 218 kmAbbeville26,461 people
  68. 243 kmLe Hourdel102 people
  69. 245 kmBaie de Sommeat 0 m

Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.

River in Picardy, France

At the mouth it carries 35 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 71 seconds. It drops from 74 m to 0 m, 0.3 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 6,550 km², about the size of PS. 638,000 people live in it. Highest water: from November to January. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.

Read more on Wikipedia

Where to start

  • AmiensLargest city on its banks · 136,449 people
  • Beauvais-Tillé airport (BVA)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 50 km from the cityCar hire at BVA airport (Beauvais)Discover Cars · Affiliate link
  • On the water22 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
  • Kayak and canoe2 put-ins and rapids mapped (OpenStreetMap)
  • From May to SeptemberThe best months to visit

River Somme, month by month

Highest water: from November to January

Best months to visit: from May to September.

150
3°55 mmJan
110
4°45 mmFeb
87
7°46 mmMar
53
10°41 mmApr
42
13°51 mmMay
32
16°51 mmJun
32
18°53 mmJul
30
18°53 mmAug
47
15°59 mmSep
77
11°62 mmOct
130
7°70 mmNov
150
4°57 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 30 m³/s in the lowest month to 150 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

River Somme: the basin in numbers

6,194 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.

Free-flowingDams upstream can hold only 0.0% of a year's flow: the river still keeps its natural rhythm.
  • 638,000people live in the basin
  • 103/km²people per km²
  • 97maverage altitude of the basin
  • 659mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • 10.0°Caverage air temperature
  • 0.2%covered by lakes

What covers the basin

  • 69% Cropland
  • 9% Pasture
  • 3% 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

River Somme: what you find on the way

  • 9Dams
  • 14WeirsBarrage de Long Supérieur, Barrage Inférieur and 12 more
  • 129LocksCanal de Saint-Quentin, La Somme Canalisée, Canal du Nord and 126 more
  • 1Waterfalls
  • 2Canoe put-ins
  • 11Boat ramps
  • 5MarinasHalte nautique de Cappy, Corbie Mooring, Port à Fumier and 2 more
  • 6Boat rentalsHappy Cappy, Les locations du canal, La canoterie - Excursions Kayak and 3 more
  • 1River beachesPlage d'Isle

From OpenStreetMap, within 1.7 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.

Cross-checked with our atlases

River Somme 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.

  • 1beach at the mouth or on the banksCoastya

Beaches (1)

At the mouth (25 km) and on the banks, by Coastya

  1. Plage de Fort-Mahon17 km away18.1°C

Open Coastya ↗

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

River Somme: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
River Somme: satellite view of the mouth
The mouth11 km across

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

River Somme in pictures

Somme
en:User:Donarreiskoffer · CC BY-SA 3.0
Lakes along the Somme
Donar Reiskoffer · CC BY 3.0
Mouth of the River Somme
Kim Traynor · CC BY-SA 3.0
Alphonse Legros, Banks of the Somme near Amiens (Bord de la Somme pres d'Amiens), NGA 43472
Alphonse Legros · CC0

Tributaries

Where it flows, and what flows into it

Tributaries (18)

Also: Avre, Ancre, Nièvre, Selle, Hallue, Omignon, Cologne, Dien, Scardon, Airaines, Allemagne, Amboise, Germaine, Saint-Landon, Sommette, Tortille, Trie, Beine

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q37646) · CC0
Course, profile, basinRiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed along the river network from the point given by Wikidata
FlowWaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0
Climate along the riverWorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0
Towns, bridges, damsWikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0
Along the river© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Our other atlasesCoastya — 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.

beachesCoastyaFind your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit
lakesLakeyasEvery lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit
mountainsPeakyasEvery summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit
waterfallsCascadyasEvery waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit
islandsIslandyasEvery island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Coming soonVisit
riversRiveryasEvery river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
canyonsCanyonyasEvery canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit