The Lofoten Maelstrom on the northern coast of Norway has been widely known for centuries for its strength and dangerous whirlpools. Fantasy descriptions appeared in mainstream European geographic literature in the 17th and 18th century. Contemporary Norw
Charybdis of the north.
The Lofoten Maelstrom, or Moskstraumen as local Norwegians call it, is located at 67 deg. 48 min. N, 12 deg. 50 min. E between The Lofoten Point(Lofotodden) and the island Værøy south west of the main chain of The Lofoten Islands. It takes its name from t
In the deep ocean of the Norwegian Sea tidal currents are normally small and of the order 1 cm/s. In coastal waters tidal currents of the order of 1 m/s are
common, with extreme strong currents in some cases. The Maelstrom in the Lofoten Islands in northern Norway is one famous example. The first movie
included below shows the M2-tidal current in the Drøbak Sound, a bottle neck of the Oslofjord, controlling the exchange of water masses between the inner and
outer part of the fjord. The second example, included here, shows the the M2-tidal current in Trondheimsleia on the west coast of Norway. We have also made
similar animations of the oscillating tidal current for other locations along the Norwegian coast and in the Barents Sea. (H. Moe and B. Gjevik).
