The Norrbotten archipelago ( sv, Norrbotten skärgård) is a group of 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 still rising after the weight of ice-age glaciers has been removed, and wit ...
. 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.
It is divided into the archipelagos of
Piteå (550 islands),
Luleå (1,312 islands),
Kalix
Kalix ( sv, Kalix; Kalix dialect: ''Kôlis'', , phonemically ; fi, Kainuu; fit, Kainus) is a locality and the seat of the Kalix Municipality in Norrbotten County, Sweden. The name Kalix is believed to originate from the Sami word ''Gáláse ...
(792 islands) and
Haparanda (652 islands).
The largest island 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 ...
in the Kalix archipelago.
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 ...
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.
Climate
The archipelago is only south of the
Arctic Circle, 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.
Gallery
File:Old fishing huts at Brändöskär.JPG, Old fishing huts at Brändöskär
Brändöskär and Uddskär are two islands in the northwest of the Swedish sector of the Bay of Bothnia, in the Luleå archipelago, joined by an isthmus.
In the past there was a large summer fishing village around the bay between the two islands ...
File:Rödkallen.jpg, Rödkallen in winter
File:Seskaro bridge.jpg, The bridge to Seskarö
See also
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List of islands of Bothnian Bay
A list of islands of Bothnian Bay would include 4,001 islands if an island is defined as an area of land more than that is surrounded by water.
Bothnian Bay (, ) is divided between northern Sweden and Finland.
The north of the bay contains a l ...
References
Citations
Sources
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Norrbotten archipelago
Swedish islands in the Baltic
Archipelagoes of Sweden
Landforms of Norrbotten County