Piteå archipelago

The Piteå archipelago (Swedish: Piteå skärgård or Pite skärgård) is a group of Swedish islands in the north part of the Bay of Bothnia, at Piteå in the southeast of Norrbotten County. A few of the islands have small permanent populations, but most are used only for recreation in the summer months. They are icebound during the winter.

Piteå archipelago
Piteå archipelago
Geography
Coordinates65.194°N 21.787°E / 65.194; 21.787
Adjacent bodies of waterBay of Bothnia
Administration
ProvinceNorrbotten
MunicipalityPiteå Municipality

Location

The north of the bay of Bothnia contains a large archipelago area.[1] The islands in the Swedish sector make up the Norrbotten archipelago.[2] It is divided into the archipelagos of Piteå (550 islands), Luleå (1,312 islands), Kalix (792 islands) and Haparanda (652 islands).[3] Due to post-glacial rebound the land is rising at from 0.8 to 1 centimetre (0.31 to 0.39 in) annually, so the shoreline can retreat by as much as 100 metres (330 ft) in one person's lifetime. As a result, the islands are growing in size and the waters and harbors are becoming shallower.[4]

Climate

The archipelago is only 100 kilometres (62 mi) south of the Arctic Circle, so there is daylight for up to 24 hours in the summer, and moonshine may be visible all day in the winter.[5] The waters around the archipelago are brackish, with less the 10% of the salt content of the Atlantic.[6] The sea freezes in January and remain frozen until March–April.[7]

Islands

Baggen is one of the larger islands, with an open-air chapel and rental cabins. Fingermanholmen is almost in the center of Piteå, accessible by boat or kayak in summer, and by ski in winter. Mellerstön has the only permanent residents of the archipelago. Pite-Rönnskär, with a chapel and a lighthouse, is located across the county boundary, in Västerbotten. Other islands include Inre Mörögrund, Mosesholmen, Hällskäret, Stenskär, Stor-Räbben, Svinöra and Vargön.[8]

Nature reserves

There are several nature reserves, including islands and large areas of water. The Bondöfjärden nature reserve is about 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) to the southeast of Piteå town.[8] Bondöfjärden (with Stenskär and other islands), Stor-Räbben and Vargön are state nature reserves, but Piteå Municipality owns the land and manages the reserves.[9] The former Patta Peken reserve, with Pite-Kluntarna and other islands, is since 2018 part of the larger Kallfjärden reserve (which also includes some islands of the Luleå archipelago). The Döman reserve is about 25 kilometres (16 mi) south of Piteå town, covering the islands of Gråsjälen and Döman to the south of Jävre-Sandön.[8]

See also

References

Citations

  1. Leppäranta & Myrberg 2009, p. 55.
  2. Ankre 2005, p. 8.
  3. About the Bay ... Bottenvikens skärgård.
  4. Nilsson & Ankre 2006, p. 149.
  5. Nilsson & Ankre 2006, p. 145.
  6. Sweden: Rough Guides 2003, p. 403.
  7. Nilsson & Ankre 2006, p. 152.
  8. Skärgård:Sevärdheter: Piteå kommun.
  9. Naturen: Piteå kommun.

Sources

  • "About the Bay of Bothnia". Bottenvikens skärgård. Archived from the original on 2013-10-05. Retrieved 2013-09-30.
  • Ankre, Rosemarie (2005). "A Case Study of the Luleå archipelago, Sweden" (PDF). Mid-Sweden University. Retrieved 2013-10-04.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Leppäranta, Matti; Myrberg, Kai (2009-03-20). Physical Oceanography of the Baltic Sea. Springer. p. 55. ISBN 978-3-540-79703-6. Retrieved 2013-10-01.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • "Naturen". Piteå kommun. Retrieved 2013-10-09.
  • Nilsson, Per-Åke; Ankre, Rosemarie (2006). "The Lulea Archipelago, Sweden". Extreme Tourism: Lessons from the World's Cold Water Islands. Elsevier. ISBN 978-0-08-044656-1. Retrieved 2013-10-08.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • "Skärgård:Sevärdheter". Piteå kommun. Retrieved 2013-10-09.
  • Sweden. Rough Guides. 2003. ISBN 978-1-84353-066-4. Retrieved 2013-10-02.
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