Banak is a small
peninsula
A peninsula (; ) is a landform that extends from a mainland and is surrounded by water on most, but not all of its borders. A peninsula is also sometimes defined as a piece of land bordered by water on three of its sides. Peninsulas exist on all ...
in
Porsanger Municipality
Porsanger ( se, Porsáŋgu; fkv, Porsanki) is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Troms og Finnmark Counties of Norway, county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Lakselv. Other villages in t ...
in
Finnmark
Finnmark (; se, Finnmárku ; fkv, Finmarku; fi, Ruija ; russian: Финнмарк) was a county in the northern part of Norway, and it is scheduled to become a county again in 2024.
On 1 January 2020, Finnmark was merged with the neighbouri ...
county,
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
. It juts into the
Vestbotn bay of the vast
Porsangerfjorden
The Porsangerfjorden ( en, Porsanger Fjord; sme, Porsáŋgguvuotna; fkv, Porsanginvuono) is a fjord in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway.
Name
The fjord is officially named ''Porsangerfjorden'' in Norwegian language, Norwegian. It is also known ...
. Located immediately north of the village of
Lakselv
( sme, Leavdnja; fkv, Lemmijoki) is the largest village and administrative centre of Porsanger Municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The village lies at the southern end of the large Porsangerfjorden. The village has a population ...
, the peninsula has
Brennelvfjorden to its east and the river
Lakselva
Lakselva ( se, Leavdnjajohka; fkv, Lemmijoki) is a river in Troms og Finnmark county in northern Norway. It begins in Karasjok Municipality runs north through Porsanger Municipality into the Porsangerfjorden, a fjord off of the Barents Sea. The ...
to the east. Banak is the site of
Lakselv Airport, Banak
Lakselv Airport ( no, Lakselv lufthavn; ) is an international airport located at Banak, north of Lakselv, in the municipality of Porsanger, Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. Co-located with the military Station Group Banak, the airport is own ...
and
Banak Air Station.
A temperature of was recorded in Banak on 30 July 2018, considered very unusual for a location in the
Arctic circle
The Arctic Circle is one of the two polar circles, and the most northerly of the five major circles of latitude as shown on maps of Earth. Its southern equivalent is the Antarctic Circle.
The Arctic Circle marks the southernmost latitude at w ...
, as part of the
2018 European heat wave.
On 29 June 2022, as part of the
June 2022 European heat wave, a temperature of was recorded, reported as the highest temperature ever recorded in the Arctic circle.
However, both
Verkhoyansk
Verkhoyansk ( rus, Верхоянск, p=vʲɪrxɐˈjansk; sah, Верхоянскай, ''Verkhoyanskay'') is a town in Verkhoyansky District of the Sakha Republic, Russia, located on the Yana River in the Arctic Circle, from Batagay, the ad ...
and
Fort Yukon, Alaska
Fort Yukon (''Gwichyaa Zheh'' in Gwich'in) is a city in the Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area in the U.S. state of Alaska, straddling the Arctic Circle. The population, predominantly Gwich'in Alaska Natives, was 583 at the 2010 census, down from 59 ...
have recorded higher temperatures of and respectively.
References
Porsanger
Peninsulas of Troms og Finnmark
{{TromsFinnmark-geo-stub