Haparanda Archipelago National Park ( sv, Haparanda skärgårds nationalpark) is a national park in

Haparanda Municipality Haparanda Municipality (), () is a municipality in Norrbotten County in northern Sweden. Its seat is located in Haparanda (). In 1967 the "City of Haparanda" was merged with the rural municipalities Karl Gustav and Nedertorneå. Since 1971 Hapara ...

, Norrbotten County, Sweden. The park covers part of the Haparanda archipelago in the northeast of the

Bothnian Bay The Bothnian Bay or Bay of Bothnia (; ) is the northernmost part of the Gulf of Bothnia, which is in turn the northern part of the Baltic Sea. The land holding the bay is still rising after the weight of ice-age glaciers has been removed, and wit ...

near the border with Finland. There are two relatively large islands, Sandskär and Seskar Furö, and several smaller islands and reefs. The park is to the west of the Finnish Perämeri National Park. All of the islands in the Haparanda archipelago have emerged in the last 1,500 years or so, as the bed of the bay has risen due to

post-glacial rebound Post-glacial rebound (also called isostatic rebound or crustal rebound) is the rise of land masses after the removal of the huge weight of ice sheets during the last glacial period, which had caused isostatic depression. Post-glacial rebound ...

following the last ice age. The land continues to rise at about per year, so the islands are steadily expanding. The water surrounding the islands is shallow, making it difficult to land. The islands are typified by large dunes.

References

External links

Sweden's National Parks: Haparanda Skärgård National Park
from the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency National parks of Sweden Geography of Norrbotten County Protected areas established in 1995 1995 establishments in Sweden Tourist attractions in Norrbotten County {{Norrbotten-geo-stub