The Glomma, or Glåma, is

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 ...

's longest and most voluminous

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

. With a total length of , it has a

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, t ...

that covers fully 13% of Norway's surface area, all in the southern part of the country.

Geography

At its fullest length, the river runs from the lake Aursund near

Røros Røros ( sma, Plaassja, ) is a municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Røros. Some of the villages in Røros include Brekken, Glåmos, Feragen, Galåa, and Hitterdalen. The minin ...

Trøndelag Trøndelag (; sma, Trööndelage) is a county in the central part of Norway. It was created in 1687, then named Trondhjem County ( no, Trondhjems Amt); in 1804 the county was split into Nord-Trøndelag and Sør-Trøndelag by the King of Denmar ...

and runs into the

Oslofjord The Oslofjord (, ; en, Oslo Fjord) is an inlet in the south-east of Norway, stretching from an imaginary line between the and lighthouses and down to in the south to Oslo in the north. It is part of the Skagerrak strait, connecting the Nor ...

Fredrikstad Fredrikstad (; previously ''Frederiksstad''; literally "Fredrik's Town") is a city and municipality in Viken county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Fredrikstad. The city of Fredrikstad was founded in 15 ...

. Major tributaries include the

Vorma Vorma is a river in Norway that brings water from lake Mjøsa into the Glomma river. The Vorma is long and flows through the town of Eidsvoll. The Vorma flows from Lake Mjøsa at the village of Minnesund to join with the Glomma at Årnes. Vorm ...

River, which drains

Lake Mjøsa A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much larger ...

, joining the Glomma River at

Årnes Årnes is a village in Nes municipality in Viken County ( Akershus County until January 1st 2020), Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises ...

Nes The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redesigned version, was released in American ...

. The Lågen drains into Lake Mjøsa, collecting drainage from the large

Gudbrandsdalen Gudbrandsdalen (; en, Gudbrand Valley) is a valley and traditional district in the Norwegian county of Innlandet (formerly Oppland). The valley is oriented in a north-westerly direction from Lillehammer and the lake of Mjøsa, extending towar ...

and significantly increasing the Glomma's flow. Because it flows through some of the richest forest districts, it has historically been Norway's leading log-floating river. The combination of raw materials, water power, and easy transport has over the centuries encouraged industry along the Glomma. Some of the country's largest manufacturing and processing concerns are found around its mouth, where supplies of timber and

hydropower Hydropower (from el, ὕδωρ, "water"), also known as water power, is the use of falling or fast-running water to Electricity generation, produce electricity or to power machines. This is achieved by energy transformation, converting the Pot ...

have been backed by excellent port facilities. Glomma meets tributary Vorma

The upper limit of the Glomma valley farms is variable, but typically runs about in

Østerdalen Østerdalen () is a valley and traditional district in Innlandet county, in Eastern Norway. This area typically is described as the large Glåma river valley as well as all its tributary valleys. It includes the municipalities Rendalen, Alvdal, F ...

, slightly lower than in the Gudbrandsdalen, which reflects the colder climate. The treeline, with a light birch forest, rises to about in Østerdalen. Above Røros the forest is restricted to the valley floor. The upper river valleys of Norwegian rivers have distinctive names which are vestiges of earlier cultural distinctions such as building styles, traditional clothing or

bunad ''Bunad'' (, plural: ''bunader''/''bunadar'') is a Norwegian umbrella term encompassing, in its broadest sense, a range of both traditional rural clothes (mostly dating to the 18th and 19th centuries) as well as modern 20th-century folk costumes ...

and domestic crafts. The upper valley of the Glomma is the Østerdal (or East Valley). Upon entering Lake Øyeren at

Fetsund Fetsund forms the center of the municipality Lillestrøm Viken, Norway. The name comes from the local geography, ''Fet'' means "where water meets grass". As for the ''-sund'' part, it simply means 'strait, inlet'. Accordingly, Fetsund is located a ...

, the Glomma has formed Europe's largest inland delta which reaches the opposite side of the lake, across its short axis. Some of the vast amount of

silt Silt is granular material of a size between sand and clay and composed mostly of broken grains of quartz. Silt may occur as a soil (often mixed with sand or clay) or as sediment mixed in suspension with water. Silt usually has a floury feel when ...

that the Glomma deposits in Lake Øyeren is extracted to manufacture LECA building blocks widely used for in the construction of foundations in Norway.

Name

The form ''Glomma'' is used in

Østfold Østfold is a traditional region, a former county and a current electoral district in southeastern Norway. It borders Akershus and southwestern Sweden (Västra Götaland County and Värmland), while Buskerud and Vestfold are on the other side o ...

and

Akershus Akershus () is a traditional region and current electoral district in Norway, with Oslo as its main city and traditional capital. It is named after the Akershus Fortress in Oslo. From the middle ages to 1919, Akershus was a fief and main county ...

counties, while in

Innlandet Innlandet is a county in Norway. It was created on 1 January 2020 with the merger of the old counties of Oppland and Hedmark (the municipalities of Jevnaker and Lunner were transferred to the neighboring county of Viken on the same date). The ...

and

counties the river is called (and written) ''Glåma''. An older form was ''Glaumr''; another, in

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...

, was ''Raumelfr'', meaning a "loud noise" or "thunder" + "river".Tolkien, Christopher (trans.),
The Saga of King Heidrek the Wise
' (London: Nelson, 1960), p. 67 fn. 4. Several places are named after the river, for instance Glåmdal and

Glåmos Glåmos is a mountain village in Røros municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. The village is located along the river Glåma, just west of the lake Aursunden, and about north of the town of Røros. It is the location of the Glåmos Churc ...

References

External links

* {{Authority control Rivers of Viken Rivers of Innlandet Rivers of Trøndelag Ramsar sites in Norway Rivers of Norway

Geography

Name

See also

References

External links