Aare

The title of this article is ambiguous. Further meanings are listed under Aare (disambiguation) .

Aare
Course of the Aare with its catchment area.
Data
Water code	CH : 37, DE : 22
location	Bernese Alps Urner Alps Prealps Mittelland Jura Switzerland Canton Bern Canton of Solothurn Kanton Aargau
River system	Rhine
Drain over	Rhine  → North Sea
origin	on the Unteraar Glacier in the Grimsel area 46 ° 33 ′ 58 ″  N , 8 ° 14 ′ 33 ″  E
Source height	1977  m above sea level M.  ( Unteraar Glacier )
muzzle	near Koblenz in the Rhine Coordinates: 47 ° 36 '21 "  N , 8 ° 13' 25"  E ; CH1903:  659 023  /  273 089 47 ° 36 '21 "  N , 8 ° 13' 25"  O
Mouth height	312  m above sea level M.
Height difference	1665 m
Bottom slope	5.7 ‰
length	291.5 km
Catchment area	17,709 km²
Discharge at the Bern gauge , Schönau A Eo : 2941 km²	NNQ (1944) MNQ 1935–2016 MQ 1935–2016 Mq 1935–2016 MHQ 1935–2016 HHQ (1999)	28.9 m³ / s 90.4 m³ / s 122 m³ / s 41.5 l / (s km²) 157 m³ / s 613 m³ / s
Discharge at the Brugg A Eo gauge: 11,681 km² Location: 18.9 km above the mouth	NNQ (1969) MNQ 1935–2016 MQ 1935–2016 Mq 1935–2016 MHQ 1935–2016 HHQ (2007)	93.4 m³ / s 190 m³ / s 314 m³ / s 26.9 l / (s km²) 407 m³ / s 1387 m³ / s
Discharge at the Untersiggenthal gauge , Stilli A Eo : 17,553 km² Location: 12.5 km above the mouth	NNQ (1963) MNQ 1935–2016 MQ 1935–2016 Mq 1935–2016 MHQ 1935–2016 HHQ (2007)	138 m³ / s 351 m³ / s 558 m³ / s 31.8 l / (s km²) 735 m³ / s 2656 m³ / s
Left tributaries	Lütschine (Brienzersee), Kander (Thunersee), Gürbe , Saane , Zihl (Bielersee), Suze (Bielersee), Dünnern
Right tributaries	Gadmerwasser , Zulg , Emme , Murg , Wigger , Suhre , Aabach , Reuss , Limmat , Surb
Flowing lakes	Brienzersee , Thunersee , Bielersee
Reservoirs flowed through	Oberaarsee , Grimselsee , Räterichsbodensee , Wohlensee , Niederried Reservoir , Klingnauer Reservoir
Big cities	Bern
Medium-sized cities	Thun , Biel / Bienne , Aarau
Small towns	Interlaken , Münsingen , Solothurn , Olten , Brugg
Navigable	Nidau ​​- Solothurn
The Aare in Bern with the Bern Minster and Nydegg Bridge

The Aare ( French Aar / Arole ; Latin Arula / Arola / Araris ) is the longest river that runs entirely within Switzerland . Its total length is 288 km, the gradient 1665 m, its catchment area 17,709 km² and the mean runoff 560 m³ / s. The Aare is the most water-rich tributary of the Rhine , even before the Maas and the High Rhine itself, and it brings more water than the Moselle and Main together.

The Aare rises in the two Aar glaciers in the eastern Bernese Alps on the Finsteraarhorn , west of the Grimsel Pass in central southern Switzerland. Your run leads through the cantons of Bern , Solothurn and Aargau . First it passes the Aare Gorge, cut into a high rock, and then reaches the plain between Meiringen and the glacial Lake Brienz . Shortly before entering Lake Thun near Interlaken , it is channeled and leaves it northwest into the wide Aare valley . In the area of Bern it flows around the medieval town center and reaches the Wohlensee in a westerly direction . At Aarberg , it is directed over the Hagneck Canal into Lake Biel and, after exiting, follows the course of the Jura Mountains to the northeast . Below Brugg , it takes in the Reuss and Limmat , before flowing into the Rhine at Koblenz (CH).

In the course of geological development, the Aare was successively the upper reaches of the Danube , the Rhone and the Rhine .

geography

course

Renatured Alte Aare

The Aar flows from the two Aargletschern ( Oberaar- and Unteraargletscher ) in Grimsel region few kilometers south of Guttannen in Haslital and flows in a northerly direction through the long, partially steep valley to Innertkirchen . Then it passes the Aare Gorge, cut into a high rock, and then reaches the plain between Meiringen and Lake Brienz .

In Brienz Aare flows into the Lake of Brienz . At its western end it then crosses the so-called Bödeli , the wide alluvial plain of the Lütschine near Interlaken , before flowing past the village of Unterseen to Lake Thun . The Kander has flowed into the lake since the river was corrected in the 18th century , and since then its fluctuations in discharge no longer directly affect the middle course of the Aare.

The Aare leaves Lake Thun near the city of Thun and flows through the wide Aare valley between Münsingen and Belpberg to Bern . At Unteraar, the Giesse (also called “Giessen”) comes as a small stream from the hills to the left of the Aare and then flows parallel to it for about ten kilometers, as the bed of the Aare is slightly higher due to sediments from the high mountains. The Giesse absorbs the water of the Aare-Aue and flows in the north of the Belpmoos into the Gürbe , which comes from the edge of the Alps and has sufficient gradient to flow into the Aare.

In the area of ​​the city of Bern, the Aare runs in a deep valley around the old town, which was built in the Middle Ages on a spur of the terrain. With a barrage that has existed for centuries, the threshold, a short commercial canal, the Tych , is derived. A little further downstream, the Aare flows around the Engeh peninsula in another bend in the valley before it reaches the Wohlensee in a westerly direction . This lake was created as a reservoir with the construction of the dam for the Mühleberg hydropower plant.

After the confluence of the Saane near Oltigen south of Aarberg , the Aare flows through the Hagneck Canal, which was built during the first correction of the Jura waters, and into Lake Biel at Hagneck . It leaves Lake Biel near Nidau and flows through the Nidau-Büren Canal . Shortly before Büren it reaches its old river bed again. The stretch of the original course of the river between Aarberg and Büren an der Aare, the so-called Alte Aare , forms a wide, natural area, which is supplemented north of the canal by the wide old course in the so-called Häftli, which was cut off during the river correction .

Confluence of the Aare (from right) and Hochrhein (from right back to left back) between Waldshut (back left) and Koblenz train station (right)

From Büren an der Aare, the Aare flows in a wide plain, which was created by the silting up of the so-called Solothurn Lake at the end of the last glacial period , along the southern foot of the Jura in a north-easterly direction through Solothurn to Luterbach , where the Emme flows. It flows past Wangen an der Aare , Bannwil , Aarwangen , Wolfwil , Murgenthal , Aarburg , Olten and Aarau and in a gorge- like gorge through Brugg . Then she records the Reuss and Limmat in quick succession . This area is called the water castle of Switzerland , because three of the most water-rich rivers in Switzerland meet there. The landscape to the right of the Aare between Thun and Aarwangen has belonged to the Landgraviate of Burgundy since the Middle Ages . Around 2005, 60 municipalities in the agglomerations of Aarau, Olten and Zofingen formed a regional partnership called Aareland around the network city of Aarau / Olten / Zofingen.

From Brugg onwards, the Aare flows northwards through a wide gorge in the Jura near Stilli . Between the Felsenau district of the municipality of Leuggern and Koblenz (CH) opposite Waldshut (DE) it flows into the Rhine at Rhine km 102,200 .

At 560 m³ / s, the Aare is the richer river (Rhine: 439 m³ / s); From a hydrological point of view, the Rhine is a tributary of the Aare, not the other way around. For the route from Biel to Koblenz, the Aare needs a flow time of around two days at medium water levels.

The water temperature in Bern shows a typical course of the day. It increases by one degree during the day. This reflects the warming on the route from Lake Thun to Bern. Jumps in temperature of more than 5 ° C are rarely observed over a few hours. Presumably they depend on the wind conditions at Lake Thun, which means that deep water is transported from the lake to the outflow.

• Impressions
• 

  Aare before Guttannen

• 

  Aare near Innertkirchen

• 

  Aare in Thun

• 

  Kirchenfeld Bridge in Bern

• 

  The Aare near Unterdettigen, just before the Wohlensee

• 

  Alte Aare near Aarberg

source muzzle

Source and mouth of the Aare

River system

The Aare and its tributaries have two special features compared to the rest of the Rhine system:

• They flow through numerous natural lakes.
• Several of the bodies of water do not arise from a single source, but rather begin with an original glacier.

River history

In its stretched northeast-facing lower section, the Aare traces the drainage line of the foreland depression in the north of the emerging Alps, which has been verifiable for around 30 million years . After the eventful replenishment and eventual lifting of the former narrow Helvetmeeres the area drained alternately west or east until the Pliocene before 3 to 4 million years ago, the upper river system of the ancient Danube emerged. For a while its main source river was even the upper Rhone . In the later Pliocene this Aare-Danube broke out towards the Burgundian Gate and, as the Aare-Sundgau River , formed the main strand of the Ur-Rhone. At the end of the Pliocene, the valley watershed across today's Upper Rhine Graben near the former Kaiserstuhl volcano had sunk so far that the current broke out again and became the main strand of the rapidly expanding Rhine system . It was only around 800,000 years ago that the Alpine Rhine, at that time the main strand of the remaining Danube, was diverted to the west towards today's High Rhine Valley, probably with the contribution of the first large Pleistocene glaciations of the Alpine foothills , but also tectonic changes: Today the mean water of the Danube is in Neu-Ulm 466 , 68 m above sea level NHN , that of Lake Constance at 395.3 m above sea level. NHN .

In the course of its history, the Aare was thus the top hydrological main strand of all three north Alpine river systems.

structure

The course of the Aare essentially consists of three parts:

• First of all, it is an alpine river that drains into two fjord lakes . The originally contiguous lake was divided by sediments from the Lütschine tributary . The catchment area of ​​this alpine section of the Aare largely corresponds to the Bernese Oberland .
• Then it flows northwest from the edge of the Alps to the foot of the Jura Mountains .
• There they followed, as did their einmündender of West Creek, which consists predominantly of the Neuchâtel existing Zihl , the foot of the Jura . East of Brugg it turns north and flows through a wide Jura river to the Rhine.

Catchment area of the Aare

The route from the Alps to the Swiss Plateau is similarly taken by its left tributary Saane and then the two large right tributaries Reuss (river) and Limmat , which reach the Aare close to each other at the foot of the Jura, 15 and 14 km respectively before its confluence with the Rhine . At 11,709 km², the catchment area of ​​the Aare above the mouth of the Reuss is roughly as large as that of Lake Constance (11,487 km², discharge 78.4 km above the mouth of the Aare). Below the mouth of the Limmat, the mean discharge of the Aare is greater than that of the Rhine before the mouth of the Aare.

Of the tributaries of the Aare in the Swiss Plateau, the southwestern ones gather in the Zihl. The others flow almost parallel to each other and flow into the Aare between Lake Biel and the Reuss.

The major tributaries from the Jura are shaped by the peculiarities of these limestone mountains: the Orbe flows between its upper reaches in a valley bordered on both sides by the catchment area of ​​the Rhone and the lower reaches through a sinkhole . The Areuse receives water from high valleys without surface drainage through two lateral karst springs . The Schüss rises in a karst area north of the Vue des Alpes pass and crosses various Jurassic clusters on its course. In the middle of its course, the Dünne river cuts a lump in the Jura rock and reaches the Mittelland near Oensingen .

River system board

→ Main article: River system board for the Aare

Tributaries

Diagrams

Tributaries with an average discharge greater than 40 m³ / s

Tributaries with a catchment area larger than 500 km²

Tributaries longer than 40 km

Direct tributaries

In the following, the tributaries of the Aare with a catchment area larger than 50 km² are listed in the order from the source to the mouth. The name, the river code number ( GKZ ), the orographic position of the mouth, the length in km, the size of the catchment area in km², the mean discharge (MQ) in m³ / s, the altitude of the mouth and the mouth is given. The parameters are based on the GIS of the Federal Office of Topography (Swisstopo).

Tributaries of the Aare> 50 km²

Surname	GKZ	location	Length in km	EZG in km²	MQ in m³ / s	Mouth	Mouth height in meters	Remarks
Ürbachwasser	580	Left0	018.7000	0068.4200	0004.9900	near Innertkirchen	63000000
Gadmerwasser over  rock water	569	right	021.6000	0168.8500	0011.5700	near Innertkirchen	62000000	The Gadmerwasser is 17.6 km long
Rychenbach	1874	Left0	012.0000	0052.5900	0002.8300	near Meiringen	59700000
Lütschine (with  Black Lütschine )	500	Left0	029.3000	0386.3800	0019.7200	at Interlaken	56400000	flows into Lake Brienz
Kander	430	Left0	060.7000	1094.1900	0042.6000	near Thun	55800000	flows into Lake Thun
Permit	548	right	023.3000	0088.1500	0002.4000	northwest of Thun	55000000
Glütschbach	8890	Left0	026.0000	0054.9900	0001.5400	at Uttigen	54400000
Chise	548	right	021.0000	0071.1800	0002.1000	west of the gravels	53500000
Gürbe	471	Left0	029.6000	0143.0000	0003.0800	shortly before Wabern near Bern	50500000
Worble	544	right	014.9000	0069.8000	0001.7000	at Worblaufen	48900000
Saane	227	Left0	125.9000	1892.8600	0053.3000	west of Bern	46100000
Count	207	Left0	119.6000	2728.0000	0053.5000	at Neuveville	43100000	flows into Lake Biel as the Zihl Canal
Bye	274	Left0	043.4000	0216.2700	0006.1500	in Brügg	42900000	flows into Lake Biel
Emme	468	right	082.0000	0975.8900	0019.1000	near Luterbach	42600000
Ösch	1354	right	028.0000	0084.5000	0002.1000	northeast of Burgdorf	41700000
Önz	524	right	024.8000	0087.3600	0001.6400	at ditch	41700000
Murg (with Langete )	497	right	034.0000	0184.8200	0003.4700	at Murgenthal	40000000
Wigger	507	right	041.0000	0380.2900	0007.3500	between Rothrist and Aarburg	39200000
Thinning	436	Left0	036.0000	0234.0000	0004.2800	near Olten	38900000
Suhre	495	right	034.0000	0368.2900	0006.4500	east of Aarau	36000000
Aabach (with Ron )	680	right	039.0000	0302.7000	0005.2100	in Wildegg	34800000
Reuss	38	right	164.0000	3425.9700	0140.0000	at Windisch	32900000
Limmat (with  Linth )	294	right	141.2000	2412.3800	0101.0000	at Gibstorf	32800000	The Limmat alone is 36 km long
Surb	696	right	020.0000	0066.8000	0000.8700	in Döttingen	32000000
Aare	37		291.5000	17,709.0000	0558.0000	at Koblenz AG	31200000	flows into the Rhine

Notes on the table

1. ↑ In Switzerland the GEWISS number
2. ↑ The length refers to the Gadamer water-rock water strand
3. ↑ string of names
4. ↑ Total length with the Black Lütschine , the Lütschine itself is 8.6 km long
5. ↑ Length: Orbe 63.5 km + Zihl 9.0 km + Lake Neuchâtel 38.3 km + Zihl Canal 8.8 km = 119.6 km
6. ↑ Total length with the Langete , the Murg itself is 2.4 km long
7. ↑ Overall length with the Ron
8. ↑ Total length with Linth and Lake Zurich , the Limmat itself is 36 km long
9. ↑ The Aare data for comparison

Flood

Flood June 2005, here in Olten with older high water marks

Flood probability

The mean annual flood of the Aare at the Untersiggenthal measuring point near Stilli is 1574 m³ / s, which means that it contributes 23.59% of the total MHQ of the Rhine (6670 m³ / s).

The highest annual peak measured so far was reached during the flood of the century in 2007 and amounted to 2656 m³ / s.

The flood probability table:

Probability of occurrence of annual high water values ​​( HQn ) Measurement
period 1904–2017 Measurement site
: Aare - Untersiggenthal, Stilli - 2205

Annuality (years)	2	5	20th	30th	50	100
Discharge (m³ / s)	1518			2221		2446
Note to HQN: the number corresponding to the high water flow (HQ =  H ochwasser q uantität) in m³ / s, which - repeated with the specified return period (n = number of years) - the average.

Historic flood of the Aare

The worst recorded flood in the Aare river basin occurred during the Magdalene flood of 1480 , which also affected other parts of the Rhine area , but not as extensive as the Magdalen flood of 1342 . After rainy May and June, a heat wave accelerated the snowmelt in the Alps. Then for days heavy rain fell in the foothills of the Alps. The damage in the cities along the Aare is well documented in the late medieval chronicles . In Solothurn, part of the city and the Aare bridge were flooded.

The Aare caused further extraordinary floods in 1651, 1852, 1876 and 1999.

Usage and cultural history

Early use

In the Middle Ages, the Aare was an important border river: it separated z. B. the tribal duchies of Burgundy and Alemannia, was the border section of the Carolingian divisions and also separated Hochburgund from the Roman-German Empire for a while . When the city of Bern was founded at the end of the 12th to the 13th century, the character of the Aare changed, because by the middle of the 13th century at the latest there were bridges over the river and coherent territories developed on both sides of the Aare.

The short border sections, which today deviate from the Aare bed in various places, can be traced back to the earlier natural meanders , which at that time still set the boundary and which have now fallen dry.

For a long time the Aare was important for logging . Wood from the Emmental was transported to the Rhine and up to its mouth in the North Sea. As a reminder of this tradition, there is the cultural and historical Flösserweg between Stilli and Laufenburg .

The Aare route from Nidau ​​to Solothurn is navigable, as is Lake Biel. The Aare has been used for shipping since ancient times, as can be seen from a stone inscription by the Roman sailors in Avenches . Long-distance traffic on the river only came to a standstill at the end of the 19th century after the construction of the railway lines and the first river power plants .

Todays use

Power plants

Hydropower

The water from the Aare is used to generate electricity in numerous hydropower plants . The power plant group of Kraftwerke Oberhasli (KWO) is located in the headwaters of the Grimsel . With its storage power stations and pumped storage power stations, it processes the water from the reservoirs Oberaar , Grimsel , Räterichsboden and Gelmer into peak energy , which plays an important role in network control. In the short term, a capacity of 1.3 GW can be called up, which roughly corresponds to the capacity of the Leibstadt nuclear power plant .

From Interlaken to the estuary, the Aare water is used to operate several low - pressure run-of-river power stations.

map

Brügg Schwa Ka Ba Beznau Felsenau Grimsel Handeck Hopflauenen Innertk Interlaken mat Tuna Klingnau Mü NiRdf Aarb Rupperswil Ruppoldingen Flu Wynau Hagneck Gö Wildegg-Brugg A. R.

List of hydropower plants on the Aare :

Name of the power plant	owner	Type of power plant	location	first commissioning acceptance	Flow rate m³ / s	Height dif m	turbine	Power MW	Energy per year GWh / a
Grimsel 1 Oberaarsee	KWO	Storage power plant	Chessitures, Guttannen	1954	8th	536	1 × double pelton	33.6	74
Grimsel 1, Grimselsee	KWO	Storage power plant	Chessitures, Guttannen	1974	20.2	142	1 × Francis	32.2	32.8
Grimsel 2	KWO	Circulation system	Chessitures, Guttannen	1981	100		4 horizontal machine groups consisting of Francis + motor / generator + single-stage pump, one group with frequency converter	388	600
Grimsel Nollen	KWO	small run-of- river power plant in the connecting tunnel Grimselsee - Gelmersee (supply turbine )	Spittelollen, Guttannen	2017	2.5		1 × Francis	1.1	5
Handeck 1	KWO	Storage power plant	Handegg, Guttannen	1932	10.5	680	2 × Pelton	45	168
Handeck 2 + 2a	KWO	Storage power plant	Handegg, Guttannen	1950		465	5 × vertical pelton	215	262
Handeck 3 ( Isogyre )	KWO	pumped storage power plant	Handegg, Guttannen	1976	14.3		1 × horizontal Isogyre pump turbine	55	39
Hopflauenen (Trift)	KWO	Storage power plant	Hopflauenen, Gadmen	1967	23.6	463	2 × double pelton	81.6	245
Innertkirchen 1 + 1a	KWO	Storage power plant	Innertkirchen	1943	69		6 × Pelton	394	720
Innertkirchen 2	KWO	Storage power plant	Innertkirchen	1967	29.5	242	2 × Francis	54.8	161
Interlaken	IBI	Run-of-river power plant small historical diversion power plant	Shipping Canal, Interlaken	1897	30th	3.6	3 × chaplain	0.82	5.1
Interlaken doping center	IBI	Endowment center (small power plant)	Aare weir, Interlaken	1996	15th			0.3	1.2
AAREwerk62	Energy Thun	Run-of-river power plant ( diversion power plant )	Tuna	1962	125		2 × vertical chaplain	6.32	32
AAREwerk94	Energy Thun	Run-of-river power plant (run-through power plant)	Tuna	1917	49.7		1 × S turbine	2.83	8.4
Tuna	RUAG	small run-of-river power plant of the munitions factory	Commercial Canal, Thun	1901	6th			0.44	2
mat	EWB	Run-of-river power plant ( diversion power plant )	Matte , Bern	1891	40	2-3	1 × S turbine	1.16	6.8
Engehalde endowment center	EWB	Endowment center (small power plant)	Weir power plant Felsenau , Felsenau , Bern	1998	16			0.44	2.6
Felsenau	EWB	Run-of-river power plant ( diversion power plant )	Felsenau, Bern	1909	100		1 × bulb turbine	11.5	73
Mühleberg	BKW	Run-of-river power plant at the Wohlensee (Run-through power plant)	Buttenried, Mühleberg	1919	291	20th	1 ×  chaplain 6 ×  Francis	45	160
Niederried-Radelfingen	BKW	Run-of-river power plant ( diversion power plant )	Niederried Radelfingen	1963	170		2 × chaplain	15th	81.2
Aarberg	BKW	Run-of-river power plant (run-through power plant)	Aarberg	1968	170		2 × chaplain	15th	90
Kallnach	BKW	Run-of-river power plant ( Diversion power plant )	Kallnach	1913	45		1 × bulb turbine	8.1	49
Hagneck (old)	Lake Biel Power plants	old run-of-river power plants used as a doping system	Hagneck Canal , Hagneck	1900	40		3 × propellers 2 × chaplain	3	11
Hagneck	Lake Biel Power plants	Run-of-river power plant (run-through power plant)	Hagneck Canal , Hagneck	2015	280		2 × bulb turbine	21st	99
Brügg	Lake Biel Power plants	Run-of-river power plant ( Bay power plant )	Nidau-Büren Canal , Brügg	1995	219		2 × bulb turbine	5.2	21.3
Flumenthal	Alpiq	Run-of-river power plant (run-through power plant)	Flumenthal	1970	395	6-8.5	3 × bulb turbine	23.4	147
Bannwil	BKW	Run-of-river power plant (run-through power plant)	Bannwil	1970	435		3 × bulb turbine	28.5	149
Wynau	onyx	Run-of-river power plant (run-through power plant)	Wynau	1996	220		1 × bulb turbine	12	51
Black houses	onyx	Run-of-river power plant (run-through power plant)	Black houses	1923	200		4 × propellers	8.2	41
Ruppoldingen	Alpiq	Run-of-river power plant (run-through power plant)	Boningen	2000	475	4-6.5	2 × bulb turbine	21.1	115
Gösgen	Alpiq	Run-of-river power plant ( Diversion power plant )	Niedergösgen	1917	380	13-17.4	5 × chaplain	48.5	300
Aarau city	Eniwa	Run-of-river power plant ( Diversion power plant )	Aarau	1893	394	5.3-7.4	9 × chaplain 2 × propellers 1 ×  Francis	16	102
Wicked	Axpo	Run-of-river power plant ( Diversion power plant )	Aarau	1929	360	3.3-3.5	4 × bulb turbine	9	54
Wicked	Axpo	Endowment center (small power plant)	Aarau	2014	40			1.2	8.1
Rupperswil-Auenstein	Axpo	Run-of-river power plant ( Diversion power plant )	Auenstein AG	1945	492		2 × chaplain	40	221
Rupperswil	Axpo	Endowment center (small power plant)	Rupperswil	1945	25th			1.7	10
Wildegg-Brugg	Axpo	Run-of-river power plant ( Diversion power plant )	Villnachern	1953	410		2 × chaplain	50	290
Wildegg-Brugg	Axpo	Endowment center (small power plant)	Schinznach village	1953	11.5			0.6	3.5
Beznau	Axpo	Defense power plant	Döttingen AG	2001	140		1 × chaplain	6th	36
Beznau	Axpo	Run-of-river power plant ( Diversion power plant )	Döttingen AG	1902	418		11 × propellers	20th	120
Klingnau	Axpo	Run-of-river power plant (run-through power plant)	Klingnau Gippingen	1935	810		3 × chaplain	38	230
Total								2501	4827

Nuclear power plants

The Swiss nuclear power plants Mühleberg , Gösgen and Beznau , whose cooling systems use water from the Aare, are located on the river.

traffic

Sewerage

Alte Aare and guided tour of the Aare through Lake Biel since 1878

The course of the river was changed in several sections by major construction works. Since the 18th century, the cantons of Bern and Solothurn have tried to secure the banks, which are endangered by erosion, in numerous places and have called in the Graubünden specialist Richard La Nicca . With the first correction of the Jura waters , one of the largest river engineering projects in Switzerland in the 19th century, the federal government and the cantons rehabilitated the boggy and frequent flooding of the Bernese Seeland by diverting the Aare and its sediments into Lake Biel. The Port Regulier weir has been controlling the water balance of the lakes and the Aare in the section at the southern foot of the Jura since 1939 . The water level of the Aare, which is decisive for regulation, is measured at the level station near Murgenthal , because the amount of water supplied by the Emme also has an effect there.

The second correction of the Jura waters improved the effectiveness of the water level regulation around 1960.

The working group for the protection of the Aare , founded in 1964 , campaigned against the expansion of the river road through the planned Transhelvetic Canal .

shipping

Today the Bielersee-Schifffahrts-Gesellschaft AG , which emerged in 1966 from a predecessor company and is based in Biel , operates the courses on Lake Biel and the Aare.

bridges

Numerous bridges cross the Aare. There are 18 in the city ​​of Bern alone. (→  List of the Aare bridges )

freetime and recreation

Water temperature of the Aare near Bern in July / August 2013

Many sections of the Aare are very important for sporting activities. Almost the entire course of the river below Meiringen can be navigated by boat. The river bank is not very rugged and easily accessible in many places, so that you can swim safely in the Aare in spite of the high currents in places. There are bathing beaches with direct access to the river near Thun, Münsingen, Muri, Bern, Solothurn, Wangen, Brugg and Olten.

The river landscape along the Aare is an important local recreation area and has well-marked hiking and cycling trails. The AareLand association supports various projects to coordinate leisure activities and promote sustainable development in the region.

See also

• Aarmassiv
• Working group for the protection of the Aare

literature

• Johannes Zürcher:  Aar correction between Thun and Uttigen (Part 1). In:  Allgemeine Bauzeitung , year 1876, pp. 65–67, with two sheets of drawings (online at ANNO ).
• Johannes Zürcher:  Aar correction between Thun and Uttigen (Part 2). In:  Allgemeine Bauzeitung , year 1876, pp. 79–83 (online at ANNO ).
• Erich Liechti, Jürg Meister, Josef Gwerder: The history of shipping on the Jura waters. Lake Neuchâtel - Lake Murten - Lake Biel - Aare. Meier, Schaffhausen 1982, ISBN 3-85801-035-9 .
• H. Juilard: The expansion of water power in the Oberhasli. In: Schweizerische Bauzeitung. Volume 70, 1952, pp. 707ff.
• Kurt Hasler: The former rafting company on the Aare . In: Oltner Neujahrsblätter. Volume 33, 1975, pp. 35-40.

Web links

Wiktionary: Aare  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Commons : Aare  - collection of images, videos and audio files

 Wikisource: Aare  - Article of the 4th edition of Meyers Konversations-Lexikon

• Hans von Rütte: Aare. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
• Aare (Solothurn) , Aare (Bern) and Aare (Aargau) on the ETHorama platform
• Aare temperature
• Navigability of the Aare
• Quiz on the Aare: An ode to Bern's lifeline 20 minutes, 23 June 2015
• Aare card: Thun-Bern route on aareschlauchboot.ch
• AareLand on aareland.ch
• 13 facts about the Aare

Individual evidence

1. ^ Border river between the Bernese and Uri Alps
2. ↑ Geographical names of the state survey (Federal Office for Topography swisstopo)
3. ↑ Geoserver of the Swiss Federal Administration ( information )
4. ↑ Hydrological Atlas of Switzerland: Object information on the lowest stretch of the Aare
5. ↑ Topographical catchment areas of Swiss waters: area outlets. Retrieved May 30, 2019 . 
6. ↑ Bern measuring station, Schönau 2016 (PDF) , Federal Office for the Environment FOEN
7. ↑ Measuring station Brugg 2016 (PDF) , Federal Office for the Environment FOEN
8. ↑ Untersiggenthal measuring station, Stilli 2016 (PDF) , Federal Office for the Environment FOEN
9. ^ Andres Kristol: Aarau AG (Aarau). In: Dictionnaire toponymique des communes suisses - Lexicon of Swiss municipality names - Dizionario toponomastico dei comuni svizzeri (DTS | LSG). Center de dialectologie, Université de Neuchâtel, Verlag Huber, Frauenfeld / Stuttgart / Vienna 2005, ISBN 3-7193-1308-5 and Éditions Payot, Lausanne 2005, ISBN 2-601-03336-3 , p. 73.
10. ↑ Brochure of the Working Group for the Protection of the Aare
11. ^ Flood news service Bavaria: Neu-Ulm gauge
12. ^ WSV: Constance gauge
13. ↑ Flood probabilities (annual flood), Aare - Untersiggenthal, Stilli. (PDF) Federal Office for the Environment FOEN, Hydrology Department, accessed on June 9, 2020 . 
14. ↑ Measuring point: Aare - Untersiggenthal, Stilli (2205), on FOEN hydrodata
15. ^ Christian Pfister and Oliver Wetter on the floods of 1480
16. ↑ CIL XIII 5096
17. ↑ Federal Office of Energy (Ed.): Statistics of the hydropower plants in Switzerland . January 1, 2020 ( admin.ch ).
18. ↑ Regulation of the lakes at the edge of the Jura during floods ( Memento from May 18, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
19. ↑ Eberle, Iwona. Rubber boat guide Switzerland. Thun: Werd Verlag, 2015, ISBN 978-3-85932-742-9 .
20. ↑ Ramajzl, Hans. DKV foreign guide 01: Austria / Switzerland (canoe guide for the waters of the Alpine region). Duisburg: DKV, 2009, ISBN 978-3-937743-19-6 .