The Haparanda archipelago ( sv, Haparanda 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 still rising after the weight of ice-age glaciers has been removed, and wit ...
. The islands are used 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).
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.
The Swedish
Haparanda Archipelago National Park ( sv, Haparanda skärgårds nationalpark) lies within the Haparanda group of islands. It includes the larger islands of
Sandskär and
Seskar Furö, and some smaller islands and skerries. All of these islands have emerged in the last 1,500 years as the bed of the bay has risen.
Some of the other islands in Haparanda archipelago include
Hanhinkari,
Kataja,
Seskarö,
Skomakaren,
Stora Hamnskär,
Stora Hepokari and
Torne-Furö.
Kataja is divided between Sweden and Finland. The border was established in 1809 between two islands, a larger Swedish one called Kataja and a smaller Finnish one called Inakari. In the years since then, post-glacial rebound has caused the land in the region to rise relative to sea level, joining the two islands.
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.
See also
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List of islands of the Haparanda archipelago
References
Citations
Sources
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Haparanda archipelago
Swedish islands in the Baltic
Archipelagoes of Sweden
Landforms of Norrbotten County