The Sota rises northeast of the town of Ndali in the territory of Benin in Borgou Department. The river runs toward the north-north-east and empties into the Niger River at Malanville.
There is everywhere a large surplus rainfall from July to September, giving rise to violent floods, but the deficit is a severedry season from December to April.
Hydrometry
The flow of the river has been observed for 40 years at the hydro station in Couberi, located near its confluence with the Niger River at Malanville. At Couberi, the average annual flow module or observed during this period was 31 m³ / second for an area taking into account 9111 to 13,410 km ². The monthly average flows observed from February to April are from 3.7 to 3.9 m³ / second, which is quite remarkable in Africa at its discretion, with other rivers in the region falling consistently enough to nearly dry up in the dry season. It is true that the level of rainfall of 900 to 1200 mm per year is very consistent. On the observation period of 40 years, the minimum monthly flow was 2 m³ / second, while the maximum monthly flow amounted to 358 m³ / second which is more than the average flow of the Seine in Paris. ;Average monthly flows of Sota measured at the hydrometric station Couberi. Colors= id:lightgrey value:gray id:darkgrey value:gray id:sfondo value:rgb id:barra value:rgb ImageSize = width:600 height:280 PlotArea = left:40 bottom:40 top:20 right:20 DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:140 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:20 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:10 start:0 BackgroundColors = canvas:sfondo BarData= bar:Jan text:Jan. bar:Feb text:Feb. bar:Mar text:March bar:Apr text:April bar:May text:May bar:Jun text:June bar:Jul text:July bar:Aug text:August bar:Sep text:Sept. bar:Oct text:Oct. bar:Nov text:Nov. bar:Dec text:Dec. PlotData= color:barra width:30 align:left bar:Jan from:0 till: 4.6 bar:Feb from:0 till: 3.7 bar:Mar from:0 till: 3.9 bar:Apr from:0 till: 3.8 bar:May from:0 till: 6.4 bar:Jun from:0 till: 10.3 bar:Jul from:0 till: 26.1 bar:Aug from:0 till: 74.4 bar:Sep from:0 till: 139.6 bar:Oct from:0 till: 74.4 bar:Nov from:0 till: 16.0 bar:Dec from:0 till: 5.9 PlotData= bar:Jan at: 4.6 fontsize:S text: 4.6 shift: bar:Feb at: 3.7 fontsize:S text: 3.7 shift: bar:Mar at: 3.9 fontsize:S text: 3.9 shift: bar:Apr at: 3.8 fontsize:S text: 3.8 shift: bar:May at: 6.4 fontsize:S text: 6.4 shift: bar:Jun at: 10.3 fontsize:S text: 10.3 shift: bar:Jul at: 26.1 fontsize:S text: 26.1 shift: bar:Aug at: 74.4 fontsize:S text: 74.4 shift: bar:Sep at: 139.6 fontsize:S text: 139.6 shift: bar:Oct at: 74.4 fontsize:S text: 74.4 shift: bar:Nov at: 16.0 fontsize:S text: 16.0 shift: bar:Dec at: 5.9 fontsize:S text: 5.9 shift:
