Ísafjarðardjúp () is a large

fjord In physical geography, a fjord (also spelled fiord in New Zealand English; ) is a long, narrow sea inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Antarctica, the Arctic, and surrounding landmasses of the n ...

in the

Westfjords The Westfjords or West Fjords (, ) is a large peninsula in northwestern Iceland and an administrative region, the least populous in the country. It lies on the Denmark Strait, facing the east coast of Greenland. It is connected to the rest of I ...

region of

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

. Its name translates to ''Depth of the

sea ice Sea ice arises as seawater freezes. Because ice is less density, dense than water, it floats on the ocean's surface (as does fresh water ice). Sea ice covers about 7% of the Earth's surface and about 12% of the world's oceans. Much of the world' ...

''. Originally named simply Ísafjörður, the semantic run around happened through the -Deep meaning the inner parts of the fjord being reapplied throughout the innsea. It has even been suggested that this is nonsensical and should be reversed. The fjord was named simultaneously with the island by Raven-Floke as he viewed it from a mountain from the south.

Ísafjörður Ísafjörður (pronounced , meaning ''ice fjord'', literally ''fjord of ices'') is a town in the northwest of Iceland. The oldest part of Ísafjörður with the town centre is located on a spit of sand, or ''eyri'', in Skutulsfjörður, a fjord ...

, capital of the Westfjords region, is situated close to the mouth of Ísafjarðardjúp in Skutulsfjörður. Other major settlements in Ísafjarðardjúp are Bolungarvík, Hnífsdalur and

Súðavík Súðavík () is a fishing village and municipality (Súðavíkurhreppur ) on the west coast of Álftafjörður in Westfjords, Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic ...

. The north-eastern coast is fairly straight with the only inlet being Kaldalón, but the southern side has fjords extending well into the land: Skutulsfjörður,

Álftafjörður The name Álftafjörður () is Icelandic language, Icelandic for "swan fjord", and there are some fjords by this name in Iceland. The best known of these are: *Álftafjörður (Westfjords). This fjord is located on the southern side of Ísafj ...

Seyðisfjörður Seyðisfjörður () is a town in the Eastern Region (Iceland), Eastern Region of Iceland at the innermost point of the fjord of the same name. The town is located in the Municipalities of Iceland, municipality of Múlaþing. A road over Fjarðarhe ...

, Hestfjörður, Skötufjörður,

Mjóifjörður Mjóifjörður (, "narrow fjord") is a village of 7 people in East Iceland, sitting on a fjord of the same name. It is part of the municipality of Fjarðabyggð. History In the early 20th century, the village was a Norwegian whaling station. The ...

, Reykjafjörður and

. Three islands lie in Ísafjarðardjúp: Borgarey, Æðey and

Vigur Vigur () is the second largest island of the Ísafjarðardjúp fjord in Westfjords, Iceland. Located just south of the Arctic Circle, the island is around in length and in width. The island is most noted for its thriving seabird colonies (parti ...

. Borgarey is the smallest with no inhabitants and Æðey the largest. On both Æðey and Vigur there is one farmstead. On the peninsula of

Reykjanes Reykjanes () is a small headland on the south-western end of the Reykjanes Peninsula in Iceland, giving the main peninsula its name. Volcanic action is responsible for forming the entire peninsula. The nearest town is Keflavik. The name, , trans ...

, there are

hot springs A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a Spring (hydrology), spring produced by the emergence of Geothermal activity, geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow ...

and

hydrothermal alteration Metasomatism (from the Greek μετά ''metá'' "change" and σῶμα ''sôma'' "body") is the chemical alteration of a Rock (geology), rock by hydrothermal and other fluids. It is traditionally defined as metamorphism which involves a change in t ...

. In the bottom of the fjord lies the former trading post Arngerðareyri.

References

Fjords of Iceland Westfjords {{iceland-fjord-stub