Sørvágsvatn is the largest

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

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 ...

. It is situated on the island of

Vágar Vágar ( da, Vågø) is one of the 18 islands in the archipelago of the Faroe Islands and the most westerly of the ''large islands''. With a size of , it ranks number three, behind Streymoy and Eysturoy. Vágar region also comprises the island ...

between the municipalities of

Sørvágur :''There is also a town called Vágur on Suðuroy.'' Sørvágur ( da, Sørvåg) is a village on the island of Vágar in the Faroe Islands. It is located at the landward end of Sørvágsfjørður. Sørvágur is the largest village in Sørvágur ...

and

. Its area is 3.4 km², more than three times the size of Fjallavatn, the second largest lake, also located on Vágar.

Name

Among the locals, there is disagreement regarding the name of the lake. The inhabitants of

to the west prefer ''Sørvágsvatn'', which means "the lake by Sørvágur". The inhabitants of

Miðvágur Miðvágur ( da, Midvåg), is a village in the Faroe Islands on Vágar. It has been a municipality until 1 January 2009 when it fused with Sandavágur into Vága kommuna. Located on the south coast of the island of Vágar, Miðvágur is the ...

and

Sandavágur Sandavágur ( da, Sandevåg) is a city on the south coast of the Faroese island of Vágar. The name ''Sandavágur'' means ''sandy bay'' and refers to the sandy beach which used to be much larger than present. From one point in Sandavágur you ca ...

to the east prefer ''Leitisvatn'', which means "the lake by Leiti", referring to the territory on the east side of it. The village of Miðvágur is situated closer to the lake than Sørvágur, but the latter is considered to have been settled earlier. Sørvágur – alongside Bøur and

– is considered one of the three original settlements on Vágar. These divided the land on the island into three equal regions of 60

mark Mark may refer to: Currency * Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina * East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic * Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927 * F ...

s, which would place the lake within Sørvágur's region. The locals mostly refer to it as ''Vatnið'' ("the lake"), which is understood as a reference to that body of water. It is mostly when people from other parts of the Faroes refer to the lake by one of its given names that the debate will occur.

Geography

The lake is located very close to the ocean, but its surface is about 40 meters above the level of the sea. It is surrounded by a higher cliff which prevents it from emptying fully into the ocean, the waterfall Bøsdalafossur being the outlet. The greater height of the cliffs on either side of Bøsdalafossur can give the illusion from certain perspectives that the lake is higher above sea level than it is.

History

During World War II, the British army built an airfield (now

Vágar Airport Vágar Airport ( fo, Vága Floghavn) is the only airport in the Faroe Islands, and is located east of the village of Sørvágur, on the island of Vágar. Due to the Faroe Islands' status as a self-governing territory, the airport is not subje ...

) to the west of the lake. They also built a station to support

seaplane A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of taking off and landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their technological characteri ...

s. The first aircraft to land on the lake was a Catalina from

RAF Coastal Command RAF Coastal Command was a formation within the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was founded in 1936, when the RAF was restructured into Fighter, Bomber and Coastal Commands and played an important role during the Second World War. Maritime Aviation ...

, in 1941.

Places and names

* Trælanípan * Oyrar * Bøsdalafossur * Sjatlá * Sálarbótsá

Tourism

There are opportunities for fishing brown trout on the lake. In the summer of 2005 a local initiative was set up for boat excursions on it.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sorvagsvatn Lakes of the Faroe Islands Vágar