Märket ("The Mark", ) is a small uninhabited

skerry A skerry is a small rocky island, or islet, usually too small for human habitation. It may simply be a rocky reef. A skerry can also be called a low sea stack. A skerry may have vegetative life such as moss and small, hardy grasses. They ar ...

in the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and ...

shared by Sweden and

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

(in the area of the autonomous region

Åland Åland ( fi, Ahvenanmaa: ; ; ) is an autonomous and demilitarised region of Finland since 1920 by a decision of the League of Nations. It is the smallest region of Finland by area and population, with a size of 1,580 km2, and a populat ...

), with a lighthouse as its salient humanmade feature. Märket has been divided between the two countries since the

Treaty of Fredrikshamn The Treaty of Fredrikshamn ( sv, Freden i Fredrikshamn; russian: Фридрихсгамский мирный договор), or the Treaty of Hamina ( fi, Haminan rauha), was a peace treaty concluded between Sweden and Imperial Russia on 17 ...

of 1809 defined the border between Sweden and the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

as going through the middle of the island. The Finnish side of the island is part of the Municipality of Hammarland and is the westernmost land point of Finland. The Swedish part of the island is itself divided by two

counties of Sweden The counties of Sweden (Swedish: ''Sveriges län'') are the top-level geographic subdivisions of Sweden. Sweden is today divided into 21 counties; however, the number of counties has varied over time, due to territorial gains/losses and to d ...

Uppsala County Uppsala County ( sv, Uppsala län) is a county or ''län'' on the eastern coast of Sweden, whose capital is the city of Uppsala. It borders the counties of Dalarna, Stockholm, Södermanland, Västmanland, Gävleborg, and the Baltic Sea. Prov ...

( Östhammar Municipality) and Stockholm County (

Norrtälje Municipality Norrtälje Municipality (''Norrtälje kommun'') is a municipality in Stockholm County in east central Sweden. Its seat is located in the city of Norrtälje. It is the largest and northernmost municipality of Stockholm County and was created in 19 ...

Geography and history

The '' Understen–Märket Passage'' links the

Bothnian Sea The Bothnian Sea ( sv, Bottenhavet; fi, Selkämeri) links the Bothnian Bay (also called the Bay of Bothnia) with the Baltic proper. Kvarken is situated between the two. Together, the Bothnian Sea and Bay make up a larger geographical entity, t ...

to the Baltic proper. The skerry is roughly long by wide, and its area is about . It is the smallest sea island shared by two countries. It used to have a straight border until the Grand Duchy of Finland built the lighthouse on the Swedish side and then, they had to change the border. The name ''Märket'' ('the Mark') probably comes from its usefulness as a navigation mark before there were lighthouses. The route between Sweden and Åland has a passage about long over open sea. Before the lighthouse was erected, the island and its shallows were dangerous navigational hazards, which seafarers tried desperately to avoid. In 1873, as many as 23 ships were grounded on the Swedish coast and its archipelago trying to avoid Märket, and eight of them were shipwrecked.Tom Backmansson, 1998. TV series "Fyren - Majakka", episode 10: Märket. First shown on Yle TV1, 16.7.2000 17.59. Produced by Yleisradio Oy, http://areena.yle.fi/1-682613 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytNqj9QfG70 Märket is detached from the main Åland archipelago, with the closest island more than away, and the closest harbor, Berghamn, away in

Eckerö Eckerö is a municipality of Åland, an autonomous territory under Finnish sovereignty. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . The municipality is unilingually Swedish and ...

. There is no deep harbor; the island can only be reached with boats. There are small, barely surfacing rocks northwest of Märket, called Märketshällor ("stones of Märket"), which are too small to sustain vegetation. The island consists of mostly smooth diabase rock, with a maximum natural elevation of . Most of the area is regularly washed over with seawater in storms, and scoured by

drift ice Drift ice, also called brash ice, is sea ice that is not attached to the shoreline or any other fixed object (shoals, grounded icebergs, etc.).Leppäranta, M. 2011. The Drift of Sea Ice. Berlin: Springer-Verlag. Unlike fast ice, which is "faste ...

in winter. Plant life, which is limited to low-growing grasses and herbs, persists only in some protected spots. Twenty-three plant species have been identified altogether. The

halophilic The halophiles, named after the Greek word for "salt-loving", are extremophiles that thrive in high salt concentrations. While most halophiles are classified into the domain Archaea, there are also bacterial halophiles and some eukaryotic species, ...

grass '' Puccinellia capillaris'' and the herbaceous '' Sagina nodosa'' (knotted pearlwort) are found scattered throughout the island. Among rarer species, '' Spergularia marina'' (salt sandspurry) grows on Märket. ''

Salix caprea ''Salix caprea'', known as goat willow, pussy willow or great sallow, is a common species of willow native to Europe and western and central Asia.Meikle, R. D. (1984). ''Willows and Poplars of Great Britain and Ireland''. BSBI Handbook 4. . Des ...

'' (goat willow) grows on an abandoned building. There are large

grey seal The grey seal (''Halichoerus grypus'') is found on both shores of the North Atlantic Ocean. In Latin Halichoerus grypus means "hook-nosed sea pig". It is a large seal of the family Phocidae, which are commonly referred to as "true seals" or " ...

communities around Märket, and the island has been a target for seal safaris.

International border and lighthouse

There is a lighthouse on the Finnish side of the current border, which has been unmanned and automated since 1979. When it was built by the

Grand Duchy of Finland The Grand Duchy of Finland ( fi, Suomen suuriruhtinaskunta; sv, Storfurstendömet Finland; russian: Великое княжество Финляндское, , all of which literally translate as Grand Principality of Finland) was the predecess ...

(then part of the

) in 1885, the island was considered a no-man's land, so the lighthouse was simply built upon the highest point of the island. However, the location selected was within the Swedish portion of the island. Though the lighthouse was formally on the Swedish side of the border, it was never considered Swedish, or administrated from Sweden. As a result, the border was adjusted in 1985 so that the lighthouse is now located on Finnish territory. The adjustment was carried out such that no net transfer of territory occurred, and the ownership of the coastline was unchanged so as not to interfere with each country's fishing rights. This resulted in an unusual shape for the international border to satisfy both Finnish and Swedish interests. The adjusted border takes the form of an inverted 'S', and the lighthouse is connected to the rest of Finland only by a short stretch of land. The border is regularly resurveyed every 25 years by officials representing both countries. The last such joint inspection took place in August 2006. The border is marked by holes drilled into the rock, because the seasonal drift ice would shear off any protruding markers. Because of the

Nordic Passport Union The Nordic Passport Union allows citizens of the Nordic countriesIceland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Finlandto travel and reside in another Nordic country without any travel documentation (e.g. a passport or national identity card) or a r ...

and the

Schengen Agreement The Schengen Agreement ( , ) is a treaty which led to the creation of Europe's Schengen Area, in which internal border checks have largely been abolished. It was signed on 14 June 1985, near the town of Schengen, Luxembourg, by five of the t ...

, there have been no passport checks or other border formalities at the border since 1958, so intra-Nordic/intra-Schengen visitors may visit the island freely. The lighthouse is in urgent need of maintenance, and a Finnish interest group is trying to raise funds for its preservation. The lighthouse has been automated since 1979 and the surrounding buildings are no longer used. The increasing general availability of

GPS The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of the global navigation satellite sy ...

has made the lighthouse's primary function redundant.

Radio amateurs activity

Radio amateurs around the world consider the Finnish part of Märket Reef (as they call it) a separate entity, distinct from Finland and Sweden. The Finnish part of Märket Reef used to be one of the world's most desired "countries" to contact among radio amateurs because of its special status and relative remoteness. One or more amateur radio expeditions to the island occur most years, weather permitting. During these expeditions, tens of thousands of radio contacts are made with people in several parts of the world. At high seas, landing is only possible with a helicopter. Pictures of Märket are shown on QSL cards. The official prefix for use on the Finnish side is OJ0

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assign ...

prefix for Märket Reef. An OJ0 vanity callsign can be obtained, for a fee, from Traficom.fi, the Finnish Transport and Communication Agency. Amateurs with licenses in countries supporting CEPT can operate from the reef while using the OJ0/ prefix in front of one's own call sign. All radio activity on the island is by visitors on

DX-pedition A DX-pedition is an expedition to what is considered an exotic place by amateur radio operators and DX listeners, typically because of its remoteness, access restrictions, or simply because there are very few radio amateurs active from that pl ...

s. When the Finnish part of the reef was given its special status in amateur radio, in the late 1960s the lighthouse keeper himself became a licensed amateur radio operator, who initially used the call OH0MA. On the Swedish side of Märket Reef, the call signs 8S9M and SI8MI have been used.

Climate

Märket has a continental climate affected by oceanic influences; it has a reputation for being one of the windiest places in Finland.Association finlandaise des phares
– Presentation of the Island A meteorological station has been managed by the lighthouse keepers since 1896, and an automatic station of the

Finnish Meteorological Institute The Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI; fi, Ilmatieteen laitos; sv, Meteorologiska institutet) is the government agency responsible for gathering and reporting weather data and forecasts in Finland. It is a part of the Ministry of Transport ...

was inaugurated on November 10, 1977, shortly before its automation. The effect of the sea is very important to the climate of the island; thermal inertia dramatically reduces the temperature fluctuations during the year compared to those of the continent, and to a lesser extent, those of the central part of

Fasta Åland Fasta Åland ( fi, Manner-Ahvenanmaa or , meaning mainland Åland) is the largest and most populous island of Åland, an autonomous province of Finland. The island is home to the provincial capital Mariehamn. About ninety percent of the archipel ...

, the largest island of the archipelago of

. Märket holds five records for daytime temperatures among Finnish weather stations, all in the period between November 29 and January 1, with on December 15, 2006, and on December 31, 1975. The average yearly temperature is roughly and is one of the highest in Finland, with the month of January being milder than on the continent ( on average), and a warm summer ( on average in July). The island is drier than the mainland; the average annual rainfall does not usually surpass .Institut météorologique national de Finlande
– Statistiques climatiques de la période 1971–2000

References

Gallery

File:Märket Lighthouse, Finland IMG 3374.jpg, The island lighthouse

External links

2021 OJ0D Satellite Radio DXpedition to Märket
* https://sral.info/2018/06/19/market-calling/
2007 Radio DXpedition to Märket

Configurable map centred on Märket
from Citizen's Mapsite of Finland
Market Reef at MostTraveledPeople.comJoint border survey between Finland and Sweden in progress
from Helsingin Sanomat (International Edition), includes paragraph about Märket, with a small map.
A recent air photo of the islandThe ''New York Times'' on the islandThe Finnish Lighthouse Society
{{DEFAULTSORT:Market Divided regions Landforms of Åland Uppland Finnish islands in the Baltic Swedish islands in the Baltic International islands Finland–Sweden border Uninhabited islands of Finland Uninhabited islands of Sweden Islands of Norrtälje Municipality Islands of Uppsala County Skerries Former populated places in Finland