Lakes in Norway

This article is about the geography, history and culture of lakes in Norway. For a list of lakes in that country, see List of lakes in Norway.

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Djupvatnet in Stranda, Møre og Romsdal View of Jølstravatn in Jølster, Sogn og Fjordane

There are at least 450,000 freshwater lakes in Norway. Most were created by glacial erosion.

## Types of lakes

[edit]

Randsfjorden's narrow shape and glacial "overdeepening" explains why it is named a fjord, even though it is not a saltwater inlet

Various Sami and Norwegian language terms distinguish different types of lake, and often feature in place names:

* Fjord: Although normally used to describe a saltwater inlet, in eastern Norway a long, narrow fresh water lake is also called a fjord (though this differs from the English use of the word: see fjord). Randsfjorden, mapped on the left, is the largest example of an inland fjord.
* Sjø: Although normally used to describe a sea, Sjø is also a large fresh-water lake that is not as narrow as a fjord. Examples include Vansjø in Østfold and Selbusjø in Sør-Trøndelag.
* Mjøs: The form mjøs is also used for larger lakes. Mjøsa itself is a large lake between the towns of Gjøvik, Lillehammer and Hamar. Other examples of the usage include Vangsmjøse in Vang, Oppland.
* Vatn: A vatn (or vann) is a small lake. You can walk around a vatn in a couple of hours. Sognsvann near Oslo is one example of such usage. Vatn might be used for large lakes further north, such as Altevatnet in Troms and Snåsavatnet in Nord-Trøndelag.
* Tjern: (from the old Norse tjarn and tjǫrn) is a small lake. It is also written tjenn, tjørn and tjønn. The English cognate is tarn.
* Combinations: Østensjøvannet is an interesting variation that concatenates sjø and vann. Møsvann in Vinje, Telemark combines mjøsa with vann.
* Jávrásj: (Lule Sami, spoken in Nordland) or Jávrrás (Northern Sami,[1] more widespread): Where the place names of the Sami people are used, these are limited to very small lakes, or ponds. None are listed here.
* Jávrre: (Lule Sami) or jávri (Northern Sami):[1] These refer to larger lakes. The largest lake in Norway predominantly known by its Sami name is Siiddašjávri, which lies partly in Nordland but mostly in Sweden. Vuolep Sårjåsjávrre, also straddling the Nordland-Sweden border, is the largest with the Lule Sam ending -jávrre.
* Luoppal: (North Sámi) is a narrow lake with one river running into it, one river running out from it. May be difficult to distinguish from a temporary widening of a river.

## Largest lakes

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Fewer than 400 of Norway's lakes have an area of more than 5 square kilometres (1.9 sq mi).

The following list shows the top ten lakes in Norway in terms of surface area. Dams and reservoirs with regulation height over; 15 metres are not included.[2]

No.  | Name  | County | Area
(km2)  | Volume
(km3)

|
|
|
|

1  | Mjøsa | Innlandet and Akershus | 369.48  | 56.24
2  | Røssvatnet | Nordland | 218.61  | 14.80
3  | Femund | Innlandet and Trøndelag | 203.40  | 6.04
4  | Randsfjorden | Innlandet | 140.69  | 6.61
5  | Tyrifjorden | Buskerud | 138.56  | 13.13
6  | Snåsavatnet | Trøndelag | 125.73  | 5.78
7  | Tunnsjøen | Trøndelag | 100.18  | 8.82
8  | Limingen | Trøndelag | 93.27  | 8.11
9  | Øyeren | Akershus and Østfold | 84.74  | 1.19
10  | Nisser | Telemark | 76.07  | 7.07

## Deepest lakes

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Europe's four deepest lakes are in Norway, namely Hornindalsvatnet, Salvatnet, Lake Tinn and Mjøsa. The following list includes the lakes in Norway, with a known depth over 200 metres.[2]

No.  | Name  | County | Maximum depth
(m)  | Average depth
(m)

|
|
|
|

1  | Hornindalsvatnet | Vestland | 514  | 237
2  | Salvatnet | Trøndelag | 482* | 155
3  | Lake Tinn | Telemark | 460  | 190
4  | Mjøsa | Innlandet and Akershus | 453  | 150
5  | Fyresvatnet | Telemark | 377  | 120
6  | Suldalsvatnet | Rogaland | 376  | 156
7  | Øvervatnet  (in Fauske)  | Nordland | 346  | N/D
8  | Bandak | Telemark | 325  | 121
9  | Lundevatnet | Rogaland and Agder | 314  | 172
10  | Storsjøen (in Rendalen)  | Innlandet | 309  | 139
11  | Totak | Telemark | 306  | 63
12  | Tyrifjorden | Buskerud | 295  | 95
13  | Breimsvatnet | Vestland | 278  | 129
14  | Ørsdalsvatnet | Rogaland | 243  | 137
15  | Røssvatnet | Nordland | 240  | 68
16  | Nisser | Telemark | 234  | 93
17  | Jølstravatnet | Vestland | 233  | 89
18  | Oppstrynsvatnet | Vestland | 230  | 131
19  | Tunnsjøen | Trøndelag | 222  | 88
20  | Dingevatnet | Vestland | 220  | 88
21  | Bygdin | Innlandet | 215  | 52
22  | Selbusjøen | Trøndelag | 206  | 70
23  | Kviteseidvatnet | Telemark | 201  | 93

* Sources provide both 464 m (manual method) & 482 m (echo sounding) for the greatest depth.

## See also

[edit]

* Norway portal

* Geography of Norway

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b Sami terms for lake taken from the glossary on P.94 of Laponia World Heritage Area, ed. J.L. Battle, printed Ågrens, Örnsköldsvik, 2001, ISSN 0283-9636. Available online Archived 14 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine from the county administration of Norrbotten"Sameland in Norrbotten". Archived from the original on 14 May 2011. Retrieved 12 May 2011., accessed 3 April 2006.
2. ^ a b Taken from the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (Norges vassdrags- og energidirektorat) lake database for Norway.

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