Churchill River (Atlantic)

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Churchill River
Fleuve Churchill
Mishta-shipu
Churchill River at Happy Valley-Goose Bay

Churchill River at Happy Valley-Goose Bay

Data
location Labrador in Newfoundland and Labrador (Canada)
River system Churchill River
origin Smallwood Reservoir
53 ° 38 '53 "  N , 64 ° 23' 38"  W.
Source height 471  m
muzzle Lake Melville Coordinates: 53 ° 21 ′ 37 "  N , 60 ° 10 ′ 15"  W 53 ° 21 ′ 37 "  N , 60 ° 10 ′ 15"  W
Mouth height 3.5  m
Height difference 467.5 m
Bottom slope 1.3 ‰
length 373 km  (including the source Ashuanipi River 856 km)
Catchment area 93,415 km²
Discharge at the gauge above Muskrat Falls
A Eo : 92,500 km²
Location: 49 km above the mouth 		MQ 1990/2015
Mq 1990/2015
 		1746 m³ / s
18.9 l / (s km²)
Left tributaries Metchin River , Cache River , Pinus River
Right tributaries Unknown River , Elizabeth River , Fig River , Shoal River , Minipi River , Traverspine River , Dominion Lake outflow
Flowing lakes Winokapau Lake
Reservoirs flowed through Muskrat Falls Dam (under construction), Gull Island Dam (planned)
Small towns Happy Valley-Goose Bay
Communities Churchill Falls
largely dry riverbed of the Churchill River near Churchill Falls

largely dry riverbed of the Churchill River near Churchill Falls

Location of the Churchill River

Location of the Churchill River

Churchill Falls (October 2008)

Waterfall Churchill Falls (October 2008)

The Churchill River (French alternative name: Fleuve Churchill ; Montagnais name: Mishta-shipu ) is a 373 km long river in the southeast of the Labrador Peninsula in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador . Including the headwaters of the Ashuanipi River , the total length of the river is 856 km.

River course

The upper reaches of the Churchill River has been dammed up to the 471  m high Smallwood Reservoir since 1971 . The 40 km long section of the river with the 76 m high Churchill Falls below the dam structures has largely fallen dry. At river kilometer 333, the water from the Churchill Falls hydropower plant flows into the river. The Churchill River flows east-southeast for the first 150 miles. The Minipi River flows from the south at river kilometer 135 in the Churchill River. This then turns towards east-northeast. At river kilometer 48 are the 8 m high Muskrat Falls , which prevent fish migration into the upstream river system. The Churchill River eventually flows into the southwest end of the inland bay, Lake Melville . The small town of Happy Valley-Goose Bay is on the north bank of the river, 15 km above the estuary.

Hydrology

The catchment area of ​​the Churchill River covers 93,415 km². This includes an area with an area of ​​almost 12,000 km², which originally belonged to the catchment areas of the upper Naskaupi River and the Kanairiktok River and was separated from these due to the construction of dams of the Smallwood Reservoir. The catchment area above Churchill Falls covers 69,266 km². This is equivalent to 24 percent of the land area of ​​Labrador. The mean discharge (1990-2015) at the gauge above the Muskrat Falls at river kilometer 49 is 1746 m³ / s. In May, when the snowmelts , the Churchill River usually carries the greatest amount of water. The monthly average is 2635 m³ / s.

Fish fauna

The following fish are found in the Churchill River:

Use of hydropower

The Churchill Falls hydropower plant near the waterfalls of the same name is a hydropower plant on the Churchill River with a design capacity of 5428  MW (equivalent to the output of about six nuclear power plants). Further power plants are expected to generate a total of 9200 MW.

The development of Churchill Falls has created tension between the provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador and Québec . The operating company Hydro-Québec , which provided the majority of the financing and arranges the connection to the North American power grid, is accused of taking an unjustifiably high share of the profit. Hydro-Québec bills the energy of the Churchill Falls power station at the prices agreed in 1969.

Two hydropower projects are under construction or in planning on the lower reaches of the Churchill River: Muskrat Falls (824 MW) and Gull Island (2250 MW).

history

The river was originally known as Mishta-shipu ("Great River") by the Labrador Innu and Naskapi , but the upper course was called Patshishetshuanau-shipu by the Eastern Innu , as the Churchill Falls, which were called Patshishetshuanau , were located here. In 1839 John MacLean named it "Hamilton River" after Sir Charles Hamilton , who was Governor of Newfoundland from 1818 to 1825 . From February 1, 1965, it was renamed in honor of the former British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill .

In 2012, Canadian salvage divers encountered a shipwreck in the river. It is still uncertain whether this is a German submarine from the Second World War .

Web links

Commons : Churchill River  - Collection of Pictures, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Government of Canada: Historical Hydrometric Data Search Results: Station 03PD001
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g TC Anderson: The Rivers of Labrador (PDF, 9.5 MB) Canadian Special Publication of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 81. p. 163. 1985. Accessed September 5, 2018.
  3. ^ A b c Government of Canada: Historical Hydrometric Data Search Results: Station 03OE001
  4. ^ Natural Resources Canada
  5. ↑ Water Quality Station Profile, Station #: NF03OE0001, CHURCHILL RIVER ABOVE UPPER MUSKRAT FALLS . Environment and Conservation, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador - Canada. Retrieved November 28, 2018.
  6. ↑ http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/u-boat-search-in-labrador-river-remains-murky-1.1164732
  7. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.paherald.sk.ca