Torneträsk or Torne träsk (; Saami: ; Finnish and or ) is a

lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...

Kiruna Municipality Kiruna Municipality (; ; ; ) is a municipalities of Sweden, municipality in Norrbotten County in northernmost Sweden. Its administrative centre, seat is located in Kiruna. It is the northernmost municipality in Sweden, and at is Sweden's geograph ...

, Lapland,

Norrbotten County Norrbotten County (, Meänkieli/, ) is the northernmost county or '' län'' of Sweden. It is also the largest county by land area, almost a quarter of Sweden's total area. It shares borders with Västerbotten County to the southwest, the Gulf ...

in Sweden, in the

Scandinavian Mountains The Scandinavian Mountains or the Scandes is a mountain range that runs through the Scandinavian Peninsula. The western sides of the mountains drop precipitously into the North Sea and Norwegian Sea, forming the fjords of Norway, whereas to th ...

. ''Träsk'' is the local word for ''lake'' (in Standard Swedish it means "

swamp A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...

"). It is the sixth-largest lake in Sweden, with a total area of and a length of . The lake drains to the south-east through Torne river. South-west of the lake lies the Abisko National Park and the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

Laponian area. Torneträsk originated from the remnant of a

glacier A glacier (; or ) is a persistent body of dense ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires ...

, which has given the lake its depth of , making it the second-deepest lake in Sweden. It is usually ice-covered from December through June, with variations dependent on temperature variations.

Permafrost Permafrost () is soil or underwater sediment which continuously remains below for two years or more; the oldest permafrost has been continuously frozen for around 700,000 years. Whilst the shallowest permafrost has a vertical extent of below ...

is common in the land around the lake. This low elevation permafrost is disappearing because of

global warming Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes ...

and increased snowfall. During the 1944 Operation Obviate of

WWII World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, British bombers seeking to destroy the German battleship ''Tirpitz'' had their rendezvous over Torneträsk, in violation of Swedish neutrality.

Climate

Images

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tornetrask Kiruna Municipality Torne river basin Biosphere reserves of Sweden Lakes of Norrbotten County