The mouth of the Ob River. Situation on the map of Russia.

By the confluence of the waters of Katun and Biya, the mighty Ob river is born. The source and its mouth are located at a distance of 3650 kilometers from each other. If this distance is measured from the mouth of the Irtysh, the main tributary of the Ob, it will be 5410 kilometers. The indicators allow the Ob to be listed as the longest river in Russia. In Asia, it is in second place in length.

Geographical position of the river

Considering the conditions of feeding the reservoir, the nature of the river network, the water regime, the Ob are divided into three parts. From the source to the mouth, the upper, middle and lower parts of the river are conventionally distinguished.

The upper part of the Ob River begins from the place of the confluence of the Biya with Katun and ends at the mouth of the Tom River - the tributary of the Ob. Here the river often winds, changing the direction of its current, turning then to the north, then to the west.
The middle section of the Ob River comes from the confluence with it of Tom until the confluence of the Irtysh. From this place begins the lower part of the river, which extends to the Ob Bay. Here is the mouth of the Ob River.
Altai Territory, Tomsk and Novosibirsk Regions, Yamalo-Nenets and Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Districts are large industrial regions of Russia where the Ob river flows.
The source and mouth of the reservoir are located in different climatic zones due to the great distance from each other.

Origin of the name of the river

Scientists have different explanations for the origin of the name Obi. One of the versions indicates that it originated from the Russian word "both". The Ob originates from the confluence of two (two) rivers. The mouth of the Ob River was surveyed by Russian merchants before the conquests of Ermak. All the territories adjacent to the river were then called Obdorskys.

It is also possible that the word Ob, translated "water" in translation, came to us from the Iranian language. This is how the peoples who lived in antiquity on the territory of the south of Western Siberia could call the full-flowing river.

The peoples living in the mouth of the Ob River still call this river in their own way. Salya-Yam is a "river river". This is the name of the Ob Nenets. Khanty and Mansi call it As, which means "big river". From the Selkup language, the name translates as "a large river".

Feeding the river

The main source of replenishment of the water level in the Ob are precipitation. For this reason, high water is observed in spring, summer and autumn - these are periods of active melting of snow and rainfall.

In the upper reaches of the river, high water begins in early April, in the middle reaches in the second half of the month. In the lower part of the reservoir and the mouth of the river Ob, the rising of the water level begins at the end of April and lasts all May.
The period of high water caused by melting snow is replaced by a rain flood. In the lower reaches of the river, it can continue until freeze-up. Depending on the section of the river and the nature of weather conditions in the area, the Ob can be under ice for a year from 180 to 220 days.

Animal world of the reservoir

In the waters of the Ob are found a large number of various species of fish that are of commercial importance. The most valuable of them - peled, sturgeon, whitefish, sterlet, muxun, nelma. Some of these species spawn at the mouth of the river. Their catch is regulated by special laws and government regulations.
In industrial quantities, fish such as pike perch, bream, crucian carp, perch, pike, burbot, ide are caught.

The mouth of the Ob River, whose coordinates coincide with the northern polar circle, is the habitat of many species of waterfowl. Some of them are listed in the Red Book and are protected by the state.

Cities and Ports of Ob

Long since the river attracted people. It was not only a source of fresh water, but also provided a person with food. On its banks and to this day there are not one hundred settlements. Among them there are large industrial cities, where modern river ports are equipped. Shipping on the Ob and its tributaries began to develop in the XVIII century.

The cities located at the mouth of the Ob River and the entire lower part of its current are considered the most promising in their development. This includes Salekhard, Labytnangi, Nizhnevartovsk, Megion, Nefteyugansk, Langepas.
In Surgut, a bridge has been built across the river, it gives an opportunity to cross the Ob to road and rail transport at any time of the year. In all, about two dozen bridges have been built on different sections of the Ob River, which greatly facilitate the communication between towns and cities on the right and left banks of the river.

Gulf of Ob Bay and the mouth of the Ob River

Today it is reliably known that the mouth of the Ob River is the beginning of one of the most extensive bays of the Kara Sea - the Ob Bay. The first scientific descriptions of these territories date back to the end of the 19th century, they were made thanks to the heroic actions of Arctic researchers. The immediate study of the region began long before the appearance of these descriptions.
The length of the bay from north to south is about 800 kilometers. Its width varies from several meters to tens of kilometers, the depth of the gulf is also not the same. The salinity of the coastal waters is very low due to the large volumes of fresh water that the Ob and other smaller rivers bring.
From the place where the Irtysh flow into the village, the Peregrebnoe River flows in one deep channel. Downstream, the riverbed becomes smaller and divides into two branches, forming the Great and Lesser Ob.
At the mouth of the Ob River there are a large number of islands, dissected by a multitude of channels. The slow flow of the river in this area is associated with a small slope of the land surface. The answer to the question of whether the mouth of the Ob River lies to the north or south of the Arctic Circle, provides an opportunity to get an idea of the weather conditions of the region. Considering the fact that the coordinates of the mouth of the river are at the 66th parallel, you can accurately describe the climate of the region. Long winter with low air temperatures, short summers with changeable weather, short vegetation period make the region stern, unsuitable for people to live.