Skopunarfjørður is a

strait A strait is a water body connecting two seas or water basins. The surface water is, for the most part, at the same elevation on both sides and flows through the strait in both directions, even though the topography generally constricts the ...

separating

Sandoy Sandoy ("Sand Island") is the first of the five southern islands that make up the Faroe chain, the fifth biggest of all the Faroe Islands, an autonomous region of the Kingdom of Denmark. It also refers to the Regions of the Faroe Islands, region ...

and

Streymoy Streymoy (, ) is the largest and most populated island of the Faroe Islands. The capital, Tórshavn, is located on its southeast coast. The name means "island of currents". It also refers to the largest region of the country that also includes the ...

in the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ) (alt. the Faroes) are an archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean and an autonomous territory of the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. Located between Iceland, Norway, and the United Kingdom, the islands have a populat ...

. The strait also passes the isle of Hestur.

Geography

The strait runs between (an islet off northern Sandoy) and the south cape of Hestur in the west and Kirkjubønes on Streymoy in the east, over a length of circa . It is wide at its narrowest point between Sandoy and Streymoy, and between Skopun and Hestur. It is circa deep in the middle reaches of the strait. The fjord is bordered by the

Tórshavn Tórshavn (; ; Danish language, Danish: ''Thorshavn''), usually locally referred to as simply Havn, is the capital and largest city of the Faroe Islands. It is located in the southern part on the east coast of Streymoy. To the northwest of th ...

, Skopun, Sandur and Skálavík municipalities. Incidentally, the islet belongs to

Kirkjubøur Kirkjubøur () is the southernmost village on Streymoy, Faroe Islands. The village is located on the south-west coast of Streymoy and has a view towards the islands of Hestur and Koltur towards the west, and to Sandoy towards the south. It lies ...

(Tórshavn Municipality), even though it is separated by a few meters of water from Sandoy. It is used for grazing sheep. Skopunarfjørður is named after the village of Skopun. ''Fjørður'' in Faroese can refer to either a fjord in the traditional sense or, in this case, a broad strait between islands. It is renowned for its strong

tidal current Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide tables ...

. The fjord is traditionally used as the boundary between the southern region and the northern Faroe Islands. The region south of the Skopunarfjørður is referred to as ''sunnanfjørðs'' while north of it is ''norðanfjørðs.'' The strait constitutes a

dialect A dialect is a Variety (linguistics), variety of language spoken by a particular group of people. This may include dominant and standard language, standardized varieties as well as Vernacular language, vernacular, unwritten, or non-standardize ...

ical boundary and

isogloss An isogloss, also called a heterogloss, is the geographic boundary of a certain linguistics, linguistic feature, such as the pronunciation of a vowel, the meaning of a word, or the use of some morphological or syntactic feature. Isoglosses are a ...

in the

Faroese language Faroese ( ; ) is a North Germanic languages, North Germanic language spoken as a first language by about 69,000 Faroe Islanders, of whom 21,000 reside mainly in Denmark and elsewhere. It is one of five languages descended from Old Norse#Old West ...

Transport

In 2023, the

Sandoyartunnilin Sandoyartunnilin () is an undersea tunnel, road tunnel in the Faroe Islands. It connects the main island of Streymoy with Sandoy to the south. The length of the tunnel is , and the estimated cost is 860 million Danish krone, DKK. The tunnel ope ...

opened between Gamlarætt and central Sandoy, replacing the ferries with an all-weather alternative.

Strandfaraskip Landsins Strandfaraskip Landsins is the government agency for public transport in the Faroe Islands. It is owned by the Faroese national government under the Ministry of Finance (''Fíggjamálaráðið'') and runs seven ferry routes and a number of bu ...

operates a bus service crossing under the strait the car, while previously it had operated ferry ''Teistin'' (route 60) and the cargo ferry ''Hasfjord'' (route 85) between Skopun on Sandoy and Gamlarætt on Streymoy, taking 30 minutes for the crossing. In winter the ferries were often cancelled due to adverse weather or swell. There continues to be a ferry service to Hestur.

References

{{coord, 61.92, -6.82, type:waterbody_region:FO_dim:20000, display=title Geography of the Faroe Islands Straits of the Faroe Islands

Geography

Transport

See also

References