Characteristics
The average discharge of the IJssel can change significantly. The average discharge has been stated as 300 cubic meters per second. This can be as low as 140 and as high as 1800, depending on the Nederrijn locks west of Arnhem, which regulate the amount of water taken in by the Nederrijn and IJssel branches.
As a lowlands river, the IJssel has a lot of bends and naturally occurring dead branches (locally called "hank"); some bends have been cut off by man (most notably near Rheden and Doesburg), reducing the river's length from 146 km to 125 km, but not nearly as radically as with river Meuse. The naturally occurring phenomenon of sedimental island-forming in the outside of bends has been regulated to the point of non-occurrence since the late nineteenth century.
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