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The Digul River (Dutch: Digoel) is a major river in South Papua province, Indonesia, on the island of New Guinea. It is the fourth longest river in New Guinea after the Sepik River, Mamberamo River, and Fly River. With a total length of 853 km (530 mi) and a drainage basin of 45,900 km2 (17,700 sq mi).[6]

History

The swamplands upstream were known by the name "Boven-Digoel" (Above the Digul, in Dutch) and hosted a penal colony at Tanahmerah (Red Earth) in the early 20th century, when Indonesia was a colony of Holland. As a result of the abortive 1926 revolt by the Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI), the Dutch exiled 823 of the most troublesome revolutionaries here.[7]

Hydrology

Rising on the southern slopes of the Maoke Mountains, the Digul flows first south and then west to empty into the Arafura Sea. For much of its length, it travels across a low region of extensive swamps and creates a delta near Dolak (Yos Sudarso Island, formerly Frederik Hendrik) Island. The river has a length of 853 km (530 mi) and is navigable as far as Tanahmerah.

Geography

The river flows in the southern area of Papua with predominantly tropical monsoon climate (designated as Am in the Köppen-Geiger climate classification).[9] The annual average temperature in the area is 22 °C. The warmest month is April, when the average temperature is around 24 °C, and the coldest is June, at 20 °C.[8] The average annual rainfall is 3,072 mm. The wettest month is January, with an average of 464 mm rainfall, and the driest is July, with 28 mm rainfall.[10] The average rainfall for the whole catchment area between 2002 and 2011 was 3,522 mm.[11]

Discharge

Digul River discharge
Period Average discharge Ref
Digul delta
3,867.2 m3/s (136,570 cu ft/s)* [4]
1971–2000 3,332.7 m3/s (117,690 cu ft/s) [1]
2002–2011 2,760 m3/s (97,000 cu ft/s) [11]
2015–2019 3,027.89 m3/s (106,929 cu ft/s) [2]
Before delta
1971–2000 2,443.9 m3/s (86,310 cu ft/s) [1]
1979–2015 69.42 km3/a (2,200 m3/s) [5]
1996–2005 68.251 km3/a (2,162.7 m3/s) [12]
2002–2011 2,127 m3/s (75,100 cu ft/s) [11]
2003–2015 82.6 km3/a (2,620 m3/s) [13]
2015–2019 1,999.09 m3/s (70,597 cu ft/s)* [2]
Tanah Merah
1971–2000 1,140.7 m3/s (40,280 cu ft/s) [1]

*Monthly flow (m3/s):

Month Before

delta[2]

Delta[4]
JAN 2,066.8 4,077.8
FEB 2,401.4 5,137.5
MAR 2,463.6 5,072.1
APR 2,378.9 4,862.5
MAY 2,255.1 4,367.8
JUN 1,793.9 3,244.1
JUL 1,243 1,903.1
AUG 1,149.5 1,766.9
SEP 1,479.3 2,321.5
OCT 1,902.6 3,404.3
NOV 2,426.9 4,944.6
DEC 2,488.2 5,304
Avg. 1,999.1 3,867.2

Tributaries

The main tributaries from the mouth:[1][3]

Left

tributary

Right

tributary

Length

(km)

Basin size

(km2)

Average discharge

(m3/s)*

Digul 853 42,142.6 3,332.7
Uwamba 1,268.3 98.8
Mappi 524.98 9,581.7 540.7
Ederah 170 2,277.4 113.2
Kia 1,272.3 68.7
Uwimmerah 6,437.4 777.4
Mandobo 1,397.6 118.9
Anggarap 562.2 55.5
Murup 440.7 50.9
Takum 543.3 60.3
Arup 1,077.8 104.2
Digul Timur 196.06 3,166 541.2

*Period: 1971–2000

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Bulaka".
  2. ^ a b c d e PENGELOLAAN SUMBER DAYA AIR WILAYAH SUNGAI EINLANDEN-DIGUL-BIKUMA (PDF). 2021.
  3. ^ a b c d "Pemerintah Provinsi Papua".
  4. ^ a b c d e Firmansyah, Rendy. "Grafik Neraca Air Pulau Papua".
  5. ^ a b "GEF TWAP - Transboundary Waters Assessment Programme — GEF TWAP".
  6. ^ Sungai Digul - Geonames.org.
  7. ^ Brackman, A.C., Indonesian Communism: A History, 1963, Praeger Press
  8. ^ a b "NASA Earth Observations Data Set Index". NASA. 30 January 2016. Archived from the original on 7 April 2019. Retrieved 29 November 2018.
  9. ^ Peel, M C; Finlayson, B L; McMahon, T A (2007). "Updated world map of the Köppen-Geiger climate classification". Hydrology and Earth System Sciences. 11 (5): 1633–1644. Bibcode:2007HESS...11.1633P. doi:10.5194/hess-11-1633-2007.
  10. ^ "NASA Earth Observations: Rainfall (1 month - TRMM)". NASA/Tropical Rainfall Monitoring Mission. 30 January 2016. Archived from the original on 11 May 2020. Retrieved 29 November 2018.
  11. ^ a b c van Beek, E.; Bons, K.; Brinkman, J. (2013). "Final report Einlanden-Digul-Bikuma basin IWRM case study".
  12. ^ A.Y., Hoekstra; M.M., Mekonnen (Sep 2011). "GLOBAL WATER SCARCITY: THE MONTHLY BLUE WATER FOOTPRINT COMPARED TO BLUE WATER AVAILABILITY FOR THE WORLD'S MAJOR RIVER BASINS-VALUE OF WATER RESEARCH REPORT SERIES NO.53" (PDF).
  13. ^ Radhika, Radhika; Firmansyah, Rendy; Hatmoko, Waluyo (Nov 2017). "Computation of surface water availability in Indonesia based on satellite data". Jurnal Sumber Daya Air. 13 (2): 115–130. doi:10.32679/jsda.v13i2.206.
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