Moldova Cave
Zolushka/Emil Racoviță cave
91 km of galleries.
club "Abis" Chisinau · CC BY-SA 4.0
The descent
The entrance, at 131 m.
The real relief above Zolushka/Emil Racoviță cave, measured on the Copernicus model every 30 m, and the cave going down at the same vertical scale.
The depth is the one published by those who explored it; the shape of the galleries is a sketch, not a survey. No depth has been published for this cave yet.
91km
Galleries
surveyed length (Wikidata)
131m
Entrance altitude
from the 30 m relief model
10°C
Inside, all year
the yearly average outside, at the entrance
59m
Rock above
the highest point within 1.5 km
Inside and outside
10 °C inside, all year.
Deep inside, a cave keeps the average temperature of the year outside: about 10 °C here, in January and in August. In July the afternoon reaches 28 °C at the entrance, 18 °C warmer than inside: take a jacket. The best months to escape the heat are from July to August.
- -1°-7°Jan
- 2°-6°Feb
- 9°-2°Mar
- 16°4°Apr
- 22°10°May
- 26°14°Jun
- 28°16°Jul
- 28°16°Aug
- 22°10°Sep
- 15°4°Oct
- 7°0°Nov
- 1°-5°Dec
Outside: afternoon and night averages for 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) brought to the altitude of the entrance. Inside: the yearly average, which deep parts of a cave keep. Near the entrance it follows the weather a little.
Geological and paleonthological natural monument of Moldova
Zolushka/Emil Racoviță cave is a cave in Moldova. It has 91 km of surveyed galleries. The entrance is at 131 m. It has several entrances and long galleries.
Getting there.
- Wild cave: only with caving equipmentNo paths or lights inside. Go only with a caving club or a qualified guide.
- Podvirnenearest town · 2.7 km in a straight line
- Suceava Ștefan cel Mare International Airport (SCV)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 69 km in a straight lineCar hire at IAS airport (Iaşi)Discover Cars · sponsored link↗
Plan the visit
Guided tours, a bed nearby, a car.
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
From above.
The ground above the cave, with the relief shaded, the line of the section and what people have mapped around the entrance.
N
1.5 km
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 6.0 × 6.0 km, north up. The line is the section above. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Around the entrance.
- 1other cave entrances within 3 kmPeștera Emil Racoviță (Cenușăreasa)
- 1restaurants and cafés within 3 km
- springs within 2 km
- sinkholes within 3 km
- caving clubs and spots within 15 km
- viewpoints within 3 km
- marked hiking routes within 3 km
- climbing crags within 3 km
- named waterfalls within 4 km
- car parks within 2 km
- information boards and visitor centres within 3 km
- bus stops within 2 km
- campsites within 8 km
- hotels and guesthouses within 8 km
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, around the entrance. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet. © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
Towns nearby
- Podvirne2.7 km in a straight line
- Mamalyha4.7 km in a straight line
- Koshulyany6.7 km in a straight line
- Păltiniş6.8 km in a straight line
- Stalnivtsi6.9 km in a straight line
- Nesvoya8.0 km in a straight line
- Dranytsya9.5 km in a straight line
- Balkivtsi9.6 km in a straight line
Month by month
The weather outside, at the entrance.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon | -1 | 2 | 9 | 16 | 22 | 26 | 28 | 28 | 22 | 15 | 7 | 1 |
| Afternoon | -1 | 2 | 9 | 16 | 22 | 26 | 28 | 28 | 22 | 15 | 7 | 1 |
| Night | -7 | -6 | -2 | 4 | 10 | 14 | 16 | 16 | 10 | 4 | 0 | -5 |
| Rain (mm) | 32 | 36 | 41 | 47 | 67 | 89 | 86 | 58 | 46 | 48 | 38 | 34 |
| Rainy days | 8 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 12 | 14 | 13 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 8 |
| Sun hours/day | 1.9 | 3.2 | 4.9 | 6.8 | 8.1 | 8.6 | 8.7 | 8.4 | 6.2 | 4.1 | 1.4 | 1.2 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 19 | 18 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 18 |
| Afternoon | Afternoon | Night | Rain (mm) | Sun hours/day | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | -1 | -1 | -7 | 32 | 1.9 |
| Feb | 2 | 2 | -6 | 36 | 3.2 |
| Mar | 9 | 9 | -2 | 41 | 4.9 |
| Apr | 16 | 16 | 4 | 47 | 6.8 |
| May | 22 | 22 | 10 | 67 | 8.1 |
| Jun | 26 | 26 | 14 | 89 | 8.6 |
| Jul | 28 | 28 | 16 | 86 | 8.7 |
| Aug | 28 | 28 | 16 | 58 | 8.4 |
| Sep | 22 | 22 | 10 | 46 | 6.2 |
| Oct | 15 | 15 | 4 | 48 | 4.1 |
| Nov | 7 | 7 | 0 | 38 | 1.4 |
| Dec | 1 | 1 | -5 | 34 | 1.2 |
Averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, brought to the altitude of the entrance (131 m) with the standard lapse rate. Not a forecast.
Photographs
Inside and around.
Recent years
Wet years, dry years.
Rain of each month as a share of the 1991–2020 average. A dry year means a lower river and hotter rock; a wet one, more water in the gorge.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 38% | 134% | 76% | 64% | 133% | 114% | 74% | 35% | 142% | 176% | 33% | 156% |
| 2021 | 89% | 132% | 112% | 76% | 139% | 90% | 120% | 146% | 44% | 5% | 37% | 265% |
| 2022 | 82% | 49% | 21% | 103% | 38% | 39% | 70% | 128% | 200% | 44% | 225% | 93% |
| 2023 | 60% | 154% | 72% | 240% | 35% | 66% | 106% | 79% | 73% | 75% | 129% | 94% |
| 2024 | 139% | 94% | 88% | 151% | 47% | 90% | 85% | 59% | 223% | 57% | 111% | 158% |
| 2025 | 47% | 19% | 69% | 72% | 261% | 27% | 148% | 53% | 228% | 140% | 106% | 72% |
130% or more: wet month 70% or less: dry month
Caves nearby.
Zolushka/Emil Racoviță cave
Moldova
- —Depth
- 91 kmGalleries
- 131 mEntrance altitude
- 10 °CInside, all year
Optymistychna Cave
Ukraine · 71 km
- 20 mDepth
- 265 kmGalleries
- 276 mEntrance altitude
- 9 °CInside, all year
Where these figures come from
| Name, type, published depth and length, visitors | Wikidata (Q4193722) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| The relief above, the entrance altitude, the section and the 3D model | Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| Climate | NASA POWER, 1991–2020 |
| Entrances, springs, sinkholes, opening hours and what is around | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
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