The Kalix archipelago ( sv, Kalix skärgård) is a group of 792 Swedish islands in the north part of the
Bay of Bothnia
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 Post-glacial rebound, still rising after the weight of ice-age glaciers has ...
. The largest island in the Kalix archipelago is
Rånön
Rånön is an island in the northwest of the Swedish sector of the Bay of Bothnia, in the Kalix archipelago.
Location
Rånön is the largest island in the Kalix archipelago. It is uninhabited, but is popular with visitors in the summer.
Rånö v ...
. A few of the islands have small permanent populations, but most are used only for recreation in the summer months. They are icebound during the winter.
Location
The north of the bay of Bothnia contains a large archipelago area.
The islands in the Swedish sector make up the
Norrbotten archipelago
The Norrbotten archipelago ( sv, Norrbotten skärgård) is a group of Swedish islands in the north part of the Bay of Bothnia. A few of the islands have small permanent populations, but most are used only for recreation in the summer months. They a ...
.
It is divided into the archipelagos of
Piteå
Piteå () is a locality and the seat of Piteå Municipality in Norrbotten County, Sweden. Piteå is Sweden's 58th largest city, with a population of 23,326.
Geography
Piteå is located at the mouth of the Pite River ( sv, Piteälven), at th ...
(550 islands),
Luleå
Luleå ( , , locally ; smj, Luleju; fi, Luulaja) is a city on the coast of northern Sweden, and the capital of Norrbotten County, the northernmost county in Sweden. Luleå has 48,728 inhabitants in its urban core (2018) and is the seat of Lu ...
(1,312 islands), Kalix (792 islands) and
Haparanda
Haparanda (; fi, Haaparanta, , aspen shore or bank) is a locality and the seat of Haparanda Municipality in Norrbotten County, Sweden. It is adjacent to Tornio, Finland. Haparanda had a population of 4,856 in 2010, out of a municipal total of 10,2 ...
(652 islands).
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 a ...
the land is rising at from annually, so the shoreline can retreat by as much as in one person's lifetime.
As a result, the islands are growing in size but the waters and harbors are becoming shallower.
The largest island in the Kalix archipelago, and in the Norbotten archipelago as a whole, is
Rånön
Rånön is an island in the northwest of the Swedish sector of the Bay of Bothnia, in the Kalix archipelago.
Location
Rånön is the largest island in the Kalix archipelago. It is uninhabited, but is popular with visitors in the summer.
Rånö v ...
.
It is the only island in Kalix that once had a resident population, who lived from forestry, fishing and farming.
Traces can still be seen.
Stora Huvön is said to be one of the most beautiful islands in Sweden, with cliffs that rise from the sea, a sandy beach, and deep tree-filled valleys.
Malören
Malören (, locally ; fi, Maluri) is an island in the Kalix archipelago of northern Sweden. It lies to the southwest of Sandskär, but is not part of the Haparanda Archipelago National Park. Malören has the shape of an atoll, with sandbanks a ...
, in the outer archipelago, has a chapel that dates to the 1770s.
Some of other islands include
Bergön
Bergön is an island in the northwest of the Swedish sector of the Bay of Bothnia, in the Kalix archipelago. The north end of the island has facilities for recreational boating. The southern part, which is used for forestry, has been proposed as t ...
,
Berghamn,
Björn
Bjorn (English, Dutch), Björn (Swedish, Icelandic, Dutch, and German), Bjørn (Danish, Faroese and Norwegian), Beorn (Old English) or, rarely, Bjôrn, Biorn, or Latinized Biornus, Brum (Portuguese), is a Scandinavian male given name, or less oft ...
,
Getskär
Getskär and Renskär are two islands in the north of the Swedish sector of the Bay of Bothnia, in the Kalix archipelago, that have become joined through uplift of the land due to post-glacial rebound and are now one.
Location
Getskär and Renskà ...
-Renskär,
Halsön,
Granön,
Likskär and
Stora Trutskär.
Climate
The archipelago is only south of 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 ...
, so there is daylight for 24 hours in the summer, and full moon all day in the winter.
The waters around the archipelago are brackish, with less the 10% of the salt content of the Atlantic.
The sea freezes in January and remain frozen until March–April.
See also
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List of islands of the Kalix archipelago
This list of islands of the Kalix archipelago includes the many islands, large and small, in the Swedish Kalix archipelago in the north of the Bothnian Bay.
They are part of the larger archipelago that encompasses islands around the northern end ...
References
Citations
Sources
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kalix archipelago
Swedish islands in the Baltic
Archipelagoes of Sweden
Landforms of Norrbotten County
Kalix