Desna
Desna is a mapped river in the YearMaps hydrographic index. River courses organise settlement, agriculture and frontier-making more durably than any political boundary, and this reach is indexed against the dams, lakes and cities within its catchment.
- Feature Class
- River
- Coordinates
- 51.84°, 33.09°
About Desna
The Desna (Russian and Ukrainian: Десна) is a river in Russia and Ukraine, a major left-tributary of the Dnieper. Its name in Old East Slavic: деснъ means lit. "right hand". It has a length of 1,130 km (702 mi), and its drainage basin covers 88,900 km2 (34,324 sq mi).
In Ukraine, the river's width ranges from 60 to 250 metres (200 to 820 ft), with its average depth being 3 m (10 ft). The mean annual discharge at its mouth is 360 m3/s (13,000 cu ft/s). The river freezes over from early December to early April, and is navigable from Novhorod-Siverskyi to its mouth, a length of about 535 km (332 mi).
The water level of the river reached its lowest recorded point in 140 years in June 2020. This water level was 5 m (16 ft) below normal for that time of year.
Encyclopedic summary adapted from Wikipedia: Desna (river) (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Desna in Depth
Geography
The Desna originates in the Smolensk Heights of Smolensk Oblast, Russia. The river's source lies in Yelninsky District, east-southeast from the city of Smolensk and not far from Yelnya in a forest near the village of Naleti. The Desna then flows south through a low and swampy valley toward the city of Bryansk, where the river's right bank rises.
After its confluence with the Seym near the Russian-Ukrainian border, the river then widens, splitting into numerous smaller branches. Its right bank declines again near the city of Chernihiv, and again near one of its tributaries, the Oster, where the Desna continues its course through a low, muddy plain until it finally reaches its mouth near Kyiv at the Dnieper River.
Sections adapted from Wikipedia: Desna (river) (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Desna: Key Facts
| Length | 1,130 km |
|---|---|
| Average discharge | 360 m³/s |
| Drainage basin | 88,900 km² |
| Source | Golubev Mokh |
| Mouth | Dnieper |
| Drainage system | Desna basin |
| Tributaries | Bolva, Nerussa, Oster River, Shostka, Snov, Sudost, Ubid, Seym |
Facts from Wikidata Q202796 (CC0).
Major River Dossiers
Hand-written studies of the great river systems of history.
Connected Reaches
Nearby watercourses in the same drainage network.
Water Bodies in the Catchment
Settlements Along the Reach
Hydraulic Infrastructure Nearby
Surrounding Terrain
Desna: Quick Answers
- Where is Desna?
- Desna is located in Ukraine and Russia, at 51.8355° N, 33.0886° E.
- Are there dams on the Desna?
- No dam on the Desna is recorded in the YearMaps dam index, which covers major structures only.