River
Tanana River
940 km from source to mouth · United States.
United StatesFlows into Yukon River
In numbers
Length
940km
Average flow
1.2m³/s
Basin
113,959km²
Drop
471m
from 467 m to -4 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
940 km of river and 19 stops on the way: 1 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 467 m
- 3 kmChisana Rivertributary
- 3 kmNabesna Rivertributary
- 43 kmPorcupine Grass Lake0.8 km²
- 239 kmBlack Lake1.8 km²
- 260 kmMoose Lake1.5 km²
- 325 kmGoodpaster Rivertributary
- 339 kmTanana Pipeline Bridge
- 339 kmTanana River Bridge
- 340 kmDelta Rivertributary
- 397 kmChisholm Lake0.4 km²
- 434 kmSalcha Rivertributary
- 484 kmBadger19,482 people
- 509 kmChena Rivertributary
- 591 kmMears Memorial Bridge
- 593 kmNenana Rivertributary
- 668 kmTolovana Rivertributary
- 702 kmKantishna Rivertributary
- 802 kmCosna Rivertributary
- 814 kmChitanana Rivertributary
- 940 kmYukon Riverat -4 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
Left tributary of Yukon River in Alaska
At the mouth it carries 1.2 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 2,111 seconds. It drops from 467 m to -4 m, 0.5 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 113,959 km², about the size of BJ. 108,000 people live in it. Highest water, with the snowmelt: from July to August; lowest: from January to April. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.
Where to start
- BadgerLargest city on its banks · 19,482 people
- Fairbanks International Airport (FAI)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 15 km from the cityCar hire at FAI airport (Fairbanks)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water11 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- Kayak and canoe1 put-ins and rapids mapped (OpenStreetMap)
- From June to AugustThe best months to visit
Tanana River, month by month
Highest water: from July to August
Lowest water: from January to April. Freezing months (average below −4 °C): from October to March. Melting snow makes up much of its water. Best months to visit: from June to August.
From about 350 m³/s in the lowest month to 1,800 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
Tanana River: the basin in numbers
113,818 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 108,000people live in the basin
- 1/km²people per km²
- 697maverage altitude of the basin
- 339mmof rain a year (basin average)
- -5.2°Caverage air temperature
- 24%protected areas
- 0.8%covered by lakes
- 3%glaciers
- 44%permafrost
What covers the basin
- 31% Forest
- 3% 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
Tanana River: what you find on the way
- 1RapidsCathedral Rapids
- 11Boat rampsTanana River Boat Launch, Nenana River Boat Launch and 9 more
- 1River beachesSwim Beach
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.4 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Tanana 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.
4lakes on its wayLakeyas
1mountain at the sourcePeakyas
Lakes and reservoirs (4)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Porcupine Grass Lakekm 370.8km²
- Black Lakekm 2041.8km²
- Moose Lakekm 2221.5km²
- Chisholm Lakekm 3380.4km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
Mountains at the source (1)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Cheneathda Hill7.2 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
Tanana River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
It flows into
Yukon River
Canada3,190 km6,400 m³/sTributaries (20)
Also: Nenana River, Chena River, Delta River, Nabesna River, Salcha River, Kantishna River, Cosna River, Chisana River, Goodpaster River, Tolovana River, Johnson River, Chitanana River, Tetlin River, Robertson River, Tok River, Gerstle River, Little Delta River, Wood River, Tatlanika Creek, Totatlanika River
Where these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q393769) · 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 | 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
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?
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Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit