Regime of the Niger River: characteristic features

Niger is a West African river flowing through the territory of five states. In the world rating, it occupies the 14th position along the length of about 4180 km. This watercourse is unique and quite interesting, which is why it is important to know what the regime of the Niger River is. This will be discussed in the article.

On the African continent, the Niger River is second only to the Congo and the Nile. Its waterway is unusual in its shape. Boomerang she carries her water from the Guinea Highlands to the Gulf of the same name. The place of confluence - the mouth - is the Atlantic Ocean. At the very beginning, Niger is called Joliboy and flows to the north-east, changing its direction to the east in the Timbuktu area and turning to the southeast in the town of Burem. There are several versions of the name of the river. One, the most reliable, can be considered a translation from the Tuaregian, which literally means "river, running water".

River Regime

The regime of the Niger River largely depends on the location of its riverbed. The upper and lower current of the watercourse is in the subequatorial regions. They are characterized by an abundance of summer monsoons. The middle of the Niger is located in the dry semi-desert regions of the equatorial belt. The regime of the river has a typical tropical character. It is also called the Sudanese type.

How does the regime of the Niger River depend on the climate?

In summer and autumn the water level is high, in winter and in spring it is low. From June to September in the upper course comes flooding. It depends on the season of summer rains, but its peak falls on November. Occurring, it moves downstream, causing the rising of the middle course. There is a flood of the river. Numerous sleeves and dried up beds are filled with water. In the middle course, a considerable part of the moisture evaporates. In the lower part, the regime of the Niger River is characterized by weakened floods, which "cover" these places only by January. On the local territory, the water flow also has its own, the so-called second flood. It comes as a result of local torrential rains.

Delta

In the estuary delta of the river, the tide causes a tidal wave. Moving against the current, the river flow rises to 2 meters in height and is observed for 100 km. In addition to the estuary delta, the river has an internal delta. It is a heavily waterlogged valley, 425 km long and 87 km in average width. The place is called El-Jof. In ancient times, it is believed that it formed the bottom of a huge pond. The valley consists of many lakes, river branches. At the end of these small reservoirs again form a single riverbed.

Features of currents

In the middle reaches the Niger is a flat river. The rapids are often found in the upper and lower parts of it, where the path runs along the slopes of the Guinean Upland. Taking its beginning in the northern side of the mountains, the water flow flows through rough terrain, has several waterfalls. This affects the nature and regime of the Niger River. Here the watercourse is full and quick. Starting from Saleh, the current of the river slows down. It moves in a northeasterly direction along the inner delta. The faster flow of the river becomes, bypassing Timbuktu. Here the watercourse changes the direction of its movement. The waters of smaller rivers flowing into the basin of the lower reaches again saturate the Niger, making it full of water. Among the many tributaries, the main ones are Benue, Bani, Kaduna, Milano, Sokoto.

River transport

The regime of the river Niger allows you to use the riverbed for passage of ships. In the lower reaches the stream is navigable all year round, in the upper and middle - depending on the high water. Its peculiarity is that in different areas everything is different. For example, the water area of the river from Bamako to Timbuktu is navigable only from July to January. From June to October, a section between Gabba and Lokoji is available for passage of ships.

Nutrition regime of the Niger River and water flow

Like most other African rivers, the Niger has rain fed. The basin of the catchment area is more than 2,117 thousand square meters. Km. At the mouth of the river, water is consumed in a volume approximately equal to 8630 cubic meters per second. Water discharge during floods increases significantly and reaches about 30-35 thousand cubic meters. meters per second. More than half of the loss of moisture occurs by evaporation and filtration. The most arid area is between Sego and Timbuktu. These losses are not compensated even by the infusion of the waters of the Bani River, near the town of Mopti. For the year the river carries about 378 cu. Km of water.