Formed as a result of the merger of two Altai rivers - Biya and Katun, the Ob river actually continues Katun. At the junction of these fairly powerful water bodies, an even more turbulent flow is formed. Each river has its own color. Biya has a white or dirty gray shade, and the Katun is greenish. Combined into one common stream, the water is not mixed for some time, resulting in a multicolored striped water jet. This phenomenon is especially good in summer and autumn. Falling into the Kara Sea, the Ob forms a large bay, which is about 800 kilometers long, called Obskaya Bay.
Together with its tributary Irtysh, the Ob River is on the first place along the length in Russia (5,410 km.) And on the second - in Asia. The area of its basin is almost 3 million square meters. Km. By the way the nature of the river network changes, the food conditions and the water regime of the river are formed, the Ob can be roughly divided into three large areas: the upper one (from the source to the mouth of the Tom River), the middle (up to the mouth of the Irtysh River) and the lower one (up to the Obskaya Bay). Filling the river with water is mainly due to melting snow, with the bulk of the runoff occurring during the spring-summer high water. In the upper reaches, floods usually occur in early April, on average in the middle of the month, and in the lower reaches in late April or early May. The rise of the water level begins even at ice-freezing. When the river is opened, intensive short-term water level increases are possible as a result of ice congestion. It is even possible to change the direction of the flow in some tributaries of the Ob. In the upper reaches, the high water can last until July, the summer low water is characterized by instability, and in September-October rainwater floods occur. The decline of the flood in the middle and lower reaches can continue until freeze-up. Obi has many large (Irtysh, Charysh, Anuy, Alei, Chumysh, Berd, Chulym, Tom, etc.) and small tributaries.
The origin of the name of this reservoir is several versions. So, from the Komi language, the word "ob" is translated as "snow" or "snow drift". Another version says that the river received its name from the Persian "about" ("water"). There is also a version that the Russian word "both" is based on the name, because the source of the Ob river is formed by the merger of two reservoirs. Every theory has a right to exist.
The Ob river is of great importance for the entire West Siberian region. It is used as a natural transport route, especially for summer deliveries of fuel and food to the northern regions, which can only be reached by the river. In the southern part there is the Novosibirsk Reservoir (also called the Ob Sea), which was built in 1950-1961. Dam of the Novosibirsk Hydroelectric Power Station. In the Ob waters, there are about fifty different species and subspecies of fish, almost half of which are objects of fishing (mostly pike-fish, burbot, bream, pike-perch, ide, roach, etc.). Also in the river are sturgeon, sturgeon, nelma, muxun and others. The Ob river, especially in its upper reaches, has traditionally been used as a resting place. There are many sanatoriums and tourist centers (especially in the Novosibirsk reservoir area), known not only in the country, but also beyond.