or (lit. "Whale Island") is an

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

Tromsø Municipality Tromsø (, , ; se, Romsa ; fkv, Tromssa; sv, Tromsö) is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Tromsø (city), city of Tromsø. Tromsø lies ...

Troms og Finnmark Troms og Finnmark (; sme, Romsa ja Finnmárku ; fkv, Tromssa ja Finmarkku; fi, Tromssa ja Finnmark, lit. Troms and Finnmark in English language, English), is a Counties of Norway, county in Northern Norway, northern Norway that was established ...

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 ...

. At , it is the fifth largest island in mainland

. It is connected to the neighboring island of

Tromsøya or is an island in Tromsø Municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. It lies in the Tromsøysundet strait between the mainland and the larger island of Kvaløya. The city of Tromsø is located on the island, which has 39,882 residents ...

to the east by the

Sandnessund Bridge Sandnessund Bridge ( no, Sandnessundbrua) is a cantilever road bridge that crosses the Sandnes Strait between the islands of Tromsøya and Kvaløya in Tromsø Municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The Tromsø Bridge, the Tromsøysun ...

, to the island of Ringvassøya to the north by the sub-sea Kvalsund Tunnel, to the small island of Sommarøya to the west by the Sommarøy Bridge, and to the mainland to the south by the

Rya Tunnel The Rya Tunnel ( no, Ryaforbindelsen or ) is a subsea road tunnel in Tromsø Municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The tunnel links the island of Kvaløya to the mainland Malangshalvøya peninsula. Located along Norwegian County Road ...

. The island of

Sommarøy Sommarøy is an old fishing village in the western part of Tromsø Municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. It is located about west of the city of Tromsø and is a popular tourist destination due to its white sand beaches and scenery. ...

, on the southwest coast, is a popular recreation area with magnificent coastal scenery.

Geography

Kvaløya is a mountainous island, with at least ten mountains higher than , and three reaching an elevation of more than ; of which the highest is Store Blåmann (''big blueman'' at , can be climbed without climbing equipment, last part is steep). There are also several small

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 ...

s, almost dividing the island in two or three parts: Kaldfjorden,

Ersfjorden Ersfjorden is a fjord in the Tromsø municipality of 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 Scandina ...

, and Kattfjorden. The Rystraumen is a tidal current in the Straumsfjorden strait separating Kvaløya from the mainland to the south. Near this current, on the Kvaløya side, is ''Straumhella'' ( from the city), a popular recreation area with good fishing opportunities. Ryøya is an island in the midst of Rystraumen, formerly home to a small population of

musk oxen Musk (Persian: مشک, ''Mushk'') is a class of aromatic substances commonly used as base notes in perfumery. They include glandular secretions from animals such as the musk deer, numerous plants emitting similar fragrances, and artificial subs ...

that lived in the

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accep ...

forest. The last musk ox, known as Alma, was discovered dead in 2013; an autopsy revealed that she had plastic in her stomach. Someone had left the rings of a beer six-pack behind on the island and Alma was found to have eaten them.

Demography

Approximately 13,000 people live on Kvaløya, most of them on the eastern side near

Kvaløysletta Kvaløysletta is an urban neighborhood within the city of Tromsø which is part of Tromsø Municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The neighborhood is located on the eastern shore of the island of Kvaløya, about northwest of the cit ...

(which constitutes a suburban area of the city of Tromsø) near the

Climate

According to official climate statistics, the west coast of Kvaløya, facing the open ocean, is the warmest part of Tromsø municipality. The weather station at

on the west coast has 24-hr averages of in January, in July and a mean annual temperature of , while annual precipitation is .

Media gallery

Skulsfjord troms norway.jpg, The mountains of Kvaløya seen from Skulsfjord Midday on Kvaløya.JPG, Midday twilight on Kvaløya in winter Ersfjorden 2012.JPG, View of the Ersfjorden Rekvik på Kvarløya - P1.jpg, Rekvik village on Kvaløya Tromsö IMG 3233 Kvalöya Sandnessundet.JPG, Tromsøya (right) and Kvaløya (left) 37663 Skavberget 3. Rock carvings at Tromsø..jpg, Rock carvings at Skavberget Kaldfjord, Tromsø (2014).jpg, Village of Kaldfjord Kvaloysletta kvaloya tromso.JPG, Kvaløysletta

References

External links