Editing Amur (section)

==Direction==
Flowing across northeast [[Asia]] for over {{convert|4444|km|mi}} (including its two tributaries), from the [[mountain]]s of northeastern China to the [[Sea of Okhotsk]] (near [[Nikolayevsk-na-Amure]]), it drains a remarkable watershed that includes diverse landscapes of [[desert]], [[steppe]], [[tundra]], and [[taiga]], eventually emptying into the Pacific Ocean through the Strait of Tartary, where the mouth of the river faces the northern end of the island of [[Sakhalin]].{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}}[[File:Amur River.jpg|thumb|220x220px|[[Ice drift]] on the Amur|left]]

The Amur has always been closely associated with the island of Sakhalin at its mouth, and most names for the island, even in the languages of the indigenous peoples of the region, are derived from the name of the river: "Sakhalin" derives from a [[Tungusic languages|Tungusic]] dialectal form cognate with Manchu ''sahaliyan'' ("black", as in ''sahaliyan ula'', "Black River")<!--INTERPOLATED KOREAN BELONGS ELSEWHERE and Korean " (s)kahaman" -->, while Ainu and Japanese "Karaputo" or "[[Karafuto]]" is derived from the [[Ainu language|Ainu]] name of the Amur or its mouth. [[Anton Chekhov]] vividly described the Amur in writings about his journey to Sakhalin Island in 1890.{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}}

The average annual discharge varies from {{convert|6000|m3/s|cuft/s}} (1980) to {{convert|12000|m3/s|cuft/s}} (1957), leading to an average {{convert|9819|m3/s|cuft/s}} or {{convert|310|km3|mi3}} per year. The maximum runoff measured occurred in Oct 1951 with {{convert|30700|m3/s|cuft/s}} whereas the minimum discharge was recorded in March 1946 with a mere {{convert|514|m3/s|cuft/s}}.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://webworld.unesco.org/water/ihp/db/shiklomanov/part'4/FORMER%20USSR/RUSSIA/Amur%20at%20Komsomolsk.html |title=Amur at Komsomolsk |access-date=2008-08-14 |publisher=[[UNESCO]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120812063401/http://webworld.unesco.org/water/ihp/db/shiklomanov/part'4/FORMER%20USSR/RUSSIA/Amur%20at%20Komsomolsk.html |archive-date=2012-08-12 }}</ref>