Skopunarfjørður is a

strait A strait is an oceanic landform connecting two seas or two other large areas of water. The surface water generally flows at the same elevation on both sides and through the strait in either direction. Most commonly, it is a narrow ocean channe ...

separating

Sandoy Sandoy ("Sand Island") is the first of the five southern islands that make up the Faroe chain, the fifth biggest of all the Faroe Islands, an autonomous region of the Kingdom of Denmark. It also refers to the region that includes this island alon ...

and

Streymoy Streymoy ( da, Strømø) is the largest and most populated island of the Faroe Islands. The capital, Tórshavn, is located on its southeast coast. The name means "island of currents". It also refers to the largest region of the country that also i ...

in the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway bet ...

. The strait also passes the isle of

Hestur Hestur ( da, Hestø) is an island in the central Faroe Islands, to the west of Streymoy and the south of Koltur. ''Hestur'' means ''horse'' in Faroese. On the west coast is a guillemot colony. In the north there is moorland with four small lakes ...

Geography

The strait runs between (an islet off northern Sandoy) and the south cape of

in the west and Kirkjubønes on Streymoy in the east, over a length of circa . It is wide at its narrowest point between Sandoy and Streymoy, and between Skopun and Hestur. It is circa deep in the middle reaches of the strait. The fjord is bordered by the

Tórshavn Tórshavn (; lit. "Thor's harbour"), usually locally referred to as simply ''Havn'', is the capital and largest city of the Faroe Islands. It is located in the southern part on the east coast of Streymoy. To the northwest of the city lies the ...

Skopun Skopun (pronounced ; da, Skopen) is a town in the Faroe Islands situated on the northern coast of Sandoy. Skopun is the second-largest town on the island. Skopun Municipality consists only of the town of Skopun. History Although the area has be ...

, Sandur and

Skálavík Skálavík ( da, Skålevig) is a village and municipality on the eastern coast of the Faroese island Sandoy. History The village's stone church was built in 1891. The famous Faroese writers Heðin Brú (born Hans Jacob Jacobsen) (1901–1987) and ...

municipalities. Incidentally, the islet belongs to

Kirkjubøur Kirkjubøur ( da, Kirkebø) is the southernmost village on Streymoy, Faroe Islands. The village is located on the south-west coast of Streymoy and has a view towards the islands of Hestur and Koltur towards the west, and to Sandoy towards the so ...

(Tórshavn Municipality), even though it is separated by a few meters of water from Sandoy. It is used for grazing sheep. Skopunarfjørður is named after the village of

. ''Fjørður'' in Faroese can refer to either a fjord in the traditional sense or, in this case, a broad strait between islands. It is renowned for its strong

tidal current Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide tables c ...

. The fjord is traditionally used as the boundary between the southern region and the northern Faroe Islands. The region south of the Skopunarfjørður is referred to as ''sunnanfjørðs'' while north of it is ''norðanfjørðs.'' The strait constitutes a

dialect The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of Linguistics, linguistic phenomena: One usage refers to a variety (linguisti ...

ical boundary and

isogloss An isogloss, also called a heterogloss (see Etymology below), is the geographic boundary of a certain linguistic feature, such as the pronunciation of a vowel, the meaning of a word, or the use of some morphological or syntactic feature. Major d ...

in the

Faroese language Faroese ( ; ''føroyskt mál'' ) is a North Germanic language spoken as a first language by about 72,000 Faroe Islanders, around 53,000 of whom reside on the Faroe Islands and 23,000 in other areas, mainly Denmark. It is one of five languages de ...

Transport

Strandfaraskip Landsins Strandfaraskip Landsins is the government agency for public transport in the Faroe Islands. It is owned by the Faroese national government under the Ministry of Finance (''Fíggjamálaráðið'') and runs eight ferry routes and a number of bus ...

operates the car ferry ''Teistin'' (route 60) and the cargo ferry ''Hasfjord'' (route 85) between

on Sandoy and

Gamlarætt Gamlarætt is a ferry port in the Faroe Islands. It is situated on the southwestern side of the island of Streymoy, the largest island in the Faroes, between the villages of Velbastaður and Kirkjubøur. It accommodates ferry services to the islan ...

on Streymoy, taking 30 minutes for the crossing. In winter the ferries are often cancelled due to adverse weather or swell. There are bus services on either side of the strait. In 2023, the

Sandoyartunnilin Sandoyartunnilin (Sandoy Tunnel) is an undersea road tunnel under construction in the Faroe Islands. It will connect the main island of Streymoy with Sandoy to the south. The length of the tunnel will be 10.8 kilometres. The estimated cost is 86 ...

will open between Gamlarætt and central Sandoy, replacing the ferries with an all-weather alternative.

References

{{coord, 61.92, -6.82, type:waterbody_region:FO_dim:20000, display=title Geography of the Faroe Islands Straits of the Faroe Islands

Geography

Transport

See also

References