Lena River

A map of the Lena River.

The Lena River is a river in Siberia, flowing into the Arctic Ocean. With a length of 2,779 miles (4,472 km), it is the 10th longest river in the world. With a watershed size of 965,255 square miles (2,500,000 square kilometers), it has the 9th largest watershed.

The Lena begins in the Baikal Mountains, a mountain range in central Siberia, at a point 7 miles (11 km) west of Lake Baikal. The Lena flows northeast. Some of its major tributaries are the Kirenga, Vitim, Oylokma, Aldan, and Vilyuy rivers. It empties into the Laptev Sea, a branch of the Arctic Ocean.

The name "Lena" comes from a word, Elyu-Ene, meaning "The Large River". The word comes from the Evenks, a people of Northern Asia.

Photos

The mouth of the Lena River.