Ísafjarðardjúp () is a large

fjord In physical geography, a fjord or fiord () is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Alaska, Antarctica, British Columbia, Chile, Denmark, Germany, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Ice ...

in the

Westfjords The Westfjords or West Fjords ( is, Vestfirðir , ISO 3166-2:IS: IS-4) is a large peninsula in northwestern Iceland and an administrative district, the least populous administrative district. It lies on the Denmark Strait, facing the east coast ...

region of

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

. Its name translates to ''Depth of the

sea ice Sea ice arises as seawater freezes. Because ice is less dense than water, it floats on the ocean's surface (as does fresh water ice, which has an even lower density). Sea ice covers about 7% of the Earth's surface and about 12% of the world's oce ...

''.

Ísafjörður Ísafjörður (pronounced , meaning ''ice fjord'', literally ''fjord of ices'') is a town in the northwest of Iceland. The oldest part of Ísafjörður with the town centre is located on a spit of sand, or ''eyri'', in Skutulsfjörður, a fjord ...

, capital of the Westfjords region, is situated close to the mouth of Ísafjarðardjúp in Skutulsfjörður. The north-eastern coast is fairly straight with the only inlet being Kaldalón, but the southern side has fjords extending well into the land: Skutulsfjörður,

Álftafjörður The name Álftafjörður () is Icelandic for "swan fjord", and there are some fjords by this name in Iceland. The best known of these are: *Álftafjörður (Westfjords). This fjord is located on the southern side of Ísafjarðardjúp, in the ...

Seyðisfjörður Seyðisfjörður () is a town in the Eastern Region of Iceland at the innermost point of the fjord of the same name. The town is located in the municipality of Múlaþing. A road over Fjarðarheiði mountain pass (elevation ) connects Seyðisfjö ...

, Hestfjörður, Skötufjörður,

Mjóifjörður Mjóifjörður (, "narrow fjord") is a village of 7 people in East Iceland, sitting on a fjord of the same name. It is part of the municipality of Fjarðabyggð. History In the early 20th century, the village was a Norwegian whaling station. The ...

, Reykjafjörður and

. Three islands lie in Ísafjarðardjúp: Borgarey,

Æðey Æðey () (a.k.a. "Aedey Island") is a small island in the Westfjords region of Iceland. It measures approximately , and the highest point is at an elevation of about . It is inhabited by a single family and is a private family farm focused on ...

and

Vigur Vigur () is the second largest island of the Ísafjarðardjúp fjord in Westfjords, Iceland. Located just south of the Arctic Circle, the island is around in length and in width. The island is most noted for its thriving seabird colonies— ...

. Borgarey is the smallest with no inhabitants and Æðey the largest. On both Æðey and Vigur there is one farmstead. On the peninsula of

Reykjanes Reykjanes () is a small headland on the southwestern tip of the Reykjanes Peninsula in Iceland, giving the main peninsula its name. The region is about from Iceland's international airport. As the name means "smoking peninsula" connected to volc ...

, there are

hot springs A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a spring produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow bodies of magma (molten rock) or by circ ...

and

hydrothermal alteration Metasomatism (from the Greek μετά ''metá'' "change" and σῶμα ''sôma'' "body") is the chemical alteration of a rock by hydrothermal and other fluids. It is the replacement of one rock by another of different mineralogical and chemical com ...

. In the bottom of the fjord lies the former trading post

Arngerðareyri Arngerðareyri is a location at the mouth of the fjord of Ísafjörður at the bottom of Ísafjarðardjúp in the Westfjords of Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic O ...

References

Fjords of Iceland Westfjords {{iceland-fjord-stub