Yli-Kitka is a

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

, in the municipalities of

Kuusamo Kuusamo ( sme, Guossán; smn, Kuáccám) is a town and municipality in Finland. It is located in the Northern Ostrobothnia region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . T ...

and

Posio Posio is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the province of Lapland. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . Neighbour municipalities are Rovaniemi, Kemijärvi, Ranua ...

. The lake is connected to Ala-Kitka at Kilkilösalmi strait. Yli-Kitka combined with Ala-Kitka is the largest unregulated lake in Finland. Together they are called

Kitkajärvi Lake Kitkajärvi is a rather large lake of Finland. It is situated partly in Posio in Lapland region and partly in Kuusamo municipality in Northern Ostrobothnia region, and it belongs to the Koutajoki main catchment area. The southern part of th ...

or simply ''Kitka''.

Riisitunturi National Park Riisitunturi National Park ( fi, Riisitunturin kansallispuisto) is a national park in Posio, Finnish Lapland. It was established in 1982 and covers . The park is in a mountainous area, and there are also many swamps, especially hillside swamps. ...

is located north of the lake. From Ala-Kitka the waters flow through the

Kitkanjoki Kitkajoki or Kitkanjoki is a river of Finland. It begins from the lake Ala-Kitka that is connected to the lake Yli-Kitka in the municipalities of Posio and Kuusamo in the region of Northern Ostrobothnia and flows then towards Russia joining the r ...

river to the

Oulankajoki The Oulankajoki (russian: Оланга - ''Olanga'') is a river of Finland and Russia (Republic of Karelia). It is part of the Kovda river system. The Oulankajoki discharges into the Lake Pyaozero in the Republic of Karelia in Russia, which is dra ...

river which is part of the

Kovda River The Kovda (russian: Ковда, fi, Koutajoki) is a river in the south of the Kola Peninsula in Murmansk Oblast and Republic of Karelia, Russia. It is long, with a drainage basin of .

basin that drains into the

White Sea The White Sea (russian: Белое море, ''Béloye móre''; Karelian and fi, Vienanmeri, lit. Dvina Sea; yrk, Сэрако ямʼ, ''Serako yam'') is a southern inlet of the Barents Sea located on the northwest coast of Russia. It is su ...

in Russia.

References

LYli-Kitka Landforms of North Ostrobothnia Lakes of Kuusamo Lakes of Posio {{Lapland-geo-stub