The Porsangerfjorden ( en, Porsanger Fjord; sme, Porsáŋgguvuotna; fkv, Porsanginvuono) is a

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, Icel ...

Troms og Finnmark Troms og Finnmark (; sme, Romsa ja Finnmárku ; fkv, Tromssa ja Finmarkku; fi, Tromssa ja Finnmark, lit. Troms and Finnmark in English), is a county in northern Norway that was established on 1 January 2020 as the result of a regional reform. ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, 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 ...

Name

The fjord is officially named ''Porsangerfjorden'' in

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

. It is also known informally as ''Porsangen'', but that is not an official name. The official

Northern Sami Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ...

name is and the official Kven name is .

Geography

The long fjord is Norway's fourth-longest fjord. It is located in the municipalities of

Nordkapp ), North Cape, Norway, other uses, North Cape (disambiguation) Nordkapp ( en, North Cape; sme, Davvinjárga or ; fkv, Kappa or ) is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the tow ...

and

Porsanger Porsanger ( se, Porsáŋgu; fkv, Porsanki) is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Lakselv. Other villages in the municipality include Børselv, Brenna, Indre ...

and it empties out into the

Barents Sea The Barents Sea ( , also ; no, Barentshavet, ; russian: Баренцево море, Barentsevo More) is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located off the northern coasts of Norway and Russia and divided between Norwegian and Russian terr ...

. The large island of

Magerøya Magerøya ( sme, Máhkarávju) is a large island in Troms og Finnmark county, in the extreme northern part of Norway. The island lies along the Barents Sea in Nordkapp Municipality, just north of the Porsanger Peninsula. The mouth of Porsanger ...

and the Porsanger Peninsula lie along the western shore of the fjord, and the Sværholt Peninsula lies along the eastern shore of the fjord. The Helnes Lighthouse sits at the mouth of the fjord, on the western coast. The village of

Lakselv ( sme, Leavdnja; fkv, Lemmijoki) is the largest village and administrative centre of Porsanger Municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The village lies at the southern end of the large Porsangerfjorden. The village has a population ...

sits at the innermost part (southern part) of the fjord. Other settlements along the fjord include the villages of Brenna,

Børselv Børselv (, ) is a village in Porsanger Municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. It is located at the base of the Sværholt Peninsula, along the east side of the Porsangerfjorden, at the outlet of the river Børselva. The village of ...

, Indre Billefjord, Kistrand,

Olderfjord Olderfjord ( sme, Leaibevuotna; fkv, Leipovuono) is a village in Porsanger in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The village lies at the end of Olderfjorden on the eastern coast of the Porsanger Peninsula, along the shore of the Porsangerfjord ...

Repvåg Repvåg ( sme, Reiffváhki) is a small fishing village in Nordkapp Municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The village is located along the western shore of the Porsangerfjorden on the mainland Porsanger Peninsula. The fishing vi ...

, and

Nordvågen Nordvågen is a small fishing village in Nordkapp Municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The village is located on the eastern coast of the island of Magerøya about northeast of the town of Honningsvåg, along the Porsangerfjorden. ...

. The town of Honningsvåg is also located near the mouth of the fjord. There are many islands inside the fjord, notably Tamsøya and Reinøya.

Important Bird Area

A 50,290 ha area comprising the inner (southern) part of the fjord, as well as several small islands and a strip along the mid-eastern shore, has been designated an

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Inte ...

(IBA) by

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...

because it supports populations of many birds, including lesser white-fronted geese,

long-tailed duck The long-tailed duck (''Clangula hyemalis''), formerly known as oldsquaw, is a medium-sized sea duck that breeds in the tundra and taiga regions of the arctic and winters along the northern coastlines of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. It is th ...

common eider The common eider (pronounced ) (''Somateria mollissima''), also called St. Cuthbert's duck or Cuddy's duck, is a large ( in body length) sea-duck that is distributed over the northern coasts of Europe, North America and eastern Siberia. It breed ...

velvet scoter The velvet scoter (''Melanitta fusca''), also called a velvet duck,Buczacki, Stefan (2005) ''Fauna Britannica'', Hamlyn, London. is a large sea duck, which breeds over the far north of Europe and the Palearctic west of the Yenisey basin. The gen ...

red-breasted merganser The red-breasted merganser (''Mergus serrator'') is a diving duck, one of the sawbills. The genus name is a Latin word used by Pliny and other Roman authors to refer to an unspecified waterbird, and ''serrator'' is a sawyer from Latin ''serra' ...

s, bar-tailed godwits,

red knot The red knot or just knot (''Calidris canutus'') is a medium-sized shorebird which breeds in tundra and the Arctic Cordillera in the far north of Canada, Europe, and Russia. It is a large member of the '' Calidris'' sandpipers, second only to the ...

s and purple sandpipers. Habitats include

mudflat Mudflats or mud flats, also known as tidal flats or, in Ireland, slob or slobs, are coastal wetlands that form in intertidal areas where sediments have been deposited by tides or rivers. A global analysis published in 2019 suggested that tidal f ...

heath A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a cooler a ...

land,

grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominated by grasses ( Poaceae). However, sedge ( Cyperaceae) and rush ( Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes, like clover, and other herbs. Grasslands occur na ...

salt marsh A salt marsh or saltmarsh, also known as a coastal salt marsh or a tidal marsh, is a coastal ecosystem in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and open saltwater or brackish water that is regularly flooded by the tides. It is domin ...

mire A mire, peatland, or quagmire is a wetland area dominated by living peat-forming plants. Mires arise because of incomplete decomposition of organic matter, usually litter from vegetation, due to water-logging and subsequent anoxia. All types ...

s and

birch A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech- oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' cont ...

forest.

Media gallery

Porsangerfjorden2.jpg, Orkkanluokta in Porsangerfjorden Kistrand, Porsangen fjord.jpg, View near Kistrand Porsangerfjord-2012-07-13-10-30-016.jpg, View of the coastline Repvåg.jpg, View of the fishing village of

NOR-2016-Mager%C3%B8ya-Helnes_Lighthouse_(Helnes_fyr)_02.jpg, Helnes fyr,

References

Fjords of Troms og Finnmark Porsanger Nordkapp Important Bird Areas of Norway Important Bird Areas of the Arctic {{Norway-fjord-stub