science

Saltstraumen

Saltstraumen is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Saltstraumen rather than just read about it. In short: Saltstraumen (Norwegian) or Stuorstrávve (Lule Sami) is a small strait with one of the strongest tidal currents in the world. It is located in Bodø Municipality in Nordland county, Norway.

Key takeaways

Saltstraumen belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Saltstraumen to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Saltstraumen from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Saltstraumen (Norwegian) or Stuorstrávve (Lule Sami) is a small strait with one of the strongest tidal currents in the world. It is located in Bodø Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is located about 10 km (6.2 mi) southeast of the town of Bodø. The narrow channel connects the outer Saltfjorden to the large Skjerstad Fjord between the islands of Straumøya and Knaplundsøya. The Saltstraumen Bridge on Norwegian County Road 17 crosses Saltstraumen.

Current

Saltstraumen has one of the strongest tidal currents in the world. Up to 400 million cubic metres (110 billion US gallons) of seawater forces its way through a 3 km (1.9 mi) long and 150 m (490 ft) wide strait every six hours. Vortices known as whirlpools or maelstroms up to 10 m (33 ft) in diameter and 5 m (16 ft) in depth are formed when the current is at its strongest. At this point, one source claims that the tidal current can reach 40 km/h (25 mph). Saltstraumen has existed for about two to three thousand years. Before that, the area was different due to post-glacial rebound. The current is created when the tide tries to fill Skjerstad Fjord. The height difference between the sea level and the fjord inside can be up to 1 m (3 ft 3 in). When the current turns, there is a period when the strait is navigable. The above account of the Saltstraumen is rather different than what The Norwegian Pilot reports. The Pilot’s description of the normal current is based on the time of the high tide at Bodø. The greatest southbound current occurs about one and a quarter hours before Bodø high tide, when the inflowing current reaches about 7 knots (13 kilometres per hour). The speed of the current has a broad maximum being greater than 6 kn (11 km/h) from three hours before Bodø high tide until half an hour after Bodø high tide. The greatest northbound current occurs about four and a half hours after Bodø high tide, when the outflowing current reaches over 8 kn (15 km/h). The speed of this current also has a broad maximum being above six knots from two hours and forty minutes after Bodø high tide until five and a half hours before the next Bodø high tide. The behavior of the current may differ from normal due to strong winds or when more fresh water than usual is entering into the fjord from the surrounding mountains.

Fishing Saltstraumen is popular with anglers, due to its abundance of fish such as saithe, cod, wolffish, rose fish, and halibut. Coalfish is a specialty of the area. The largest documented coalfish of 22.7 kg (50 lb) was caught in Saltstraumen on a fishing rod. Eiders are the only birds capable of diving for mussels in the strong stream.

Name The first element is the name of the district Salten and the last element is the definite form of straum, meaning "stream" or "water flow". In other sources the first element is derived from an old (obsolete) word salpt with the meaning "strong stream", and the district is named after the stream.

History The remains of a 10,000-year-old hunter settlement in the area are the oldest known traces of human settlement in Bodø, and also one of the oldest archaeological discoveries in Norway. These hunters lived on the edge of the ice, attracted by the abundance of fish caused by the strong currents.

Media gallery

See also Maelstrom Tidal bore Moskstraumen Skookumchuck Narrows Horizontal Falls, where the tide creates a waterfall with a drop of 5 metres, as the water flows at the maximum rate.

References

External links

Visit Bodø's information about the Saltstraumen, including a maelstrom calendar Visit Norway's guide to Saltstraumen

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Saltstraumen

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Saltstraumen claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Saltstraumen before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Saltstraumen ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Saltstraumen

In research: Saltstraumen appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Saltstraumen in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Saltstraumen is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Bodies of water of Norway, Bodø Municipality, Landforms of Nordland, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Saltstraumen outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Saltstraumen in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Saltstraumen means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Saltstraumen out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Saltstraumen in simple terms?

Saltstraumen (Norwegian) or Stuorstrávve (Lule Sami) is a small strait with one of the strongest tidal currents in the world. It is located in Bodø Municipality in Nordland county, Norway.

Why does Saltstraumen matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Saltstraumen?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Saltstraumen.