Jærens rev (Jæren's reef) is the westernmost sandbank on the coast of

Jæren Jæren is a Districts of Norway, traditional district in Rogaland county, Norway. The other districts in Rogaland are Dalane, Ryfylke, and Haugalandet. Jæren is one of the 15 districts that comprise Western Norway. At about , Jæren is the large ...

, located approximately off Reve in

Klepp Klepp is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Jæren. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Kleppe. O ...

municipality, between Orrestranda and Borestranda. Its location has been used to define the limits of the Norwegian fishery zone.

The shoal

The shoal is a partly stony sandbar and extends almost to the west in front of the Revtangen headland, the westernmost point of Jæren. It is very shallow: at Klausgrunnen, about off the coast, the water depth is still only . A light

buoy A buoy (; ) is a buoyancy, floating device that can have many purposes. It can be anchored (stationary) or allowed to drift with ocean currents. History The ultimate origin of buoys is unknown, but by 1295 a seaman's manual referred to navig ...

is located about off the coast at the western end of the shoal, approximately at position 58 ° 45 'N, 5 ° 26' E, for safe passage making. A high steel mark on Revtangen built in 2004 also serves as a

navigational beacon A beacon is an intentionally conspicuous device designed to attract attention to a specific location. A common example is the lighthouse, which draws attention to a fixed point that can be used to navigate around obstacles or into port. More mode ...

; its top mark has a side length of . A first wooden navigation mark was set up here as early as 1854; it was replaced by a steel construction in 1911, which was dismantled in 1994 and only replaced by the current beacon ten years later. About further north-northeast is the

Feistein Lighthouse Feistein Lighthouse () is a coastal lighthouse in Rogaland county, Norway. The lighthouse is located on a small island in Klepp municipality, off the coast of Jæren. It was established in 1859, and automated in 1990. The tall cast iron tower ...

on the small Feistein archipelago, at 58°49′35″N 05°30′19″E.

Wildfowl

Jæren's rev is a very well known locality for

wader 245px, A flock of Red_knot.html" ;"title="Dunlins and Red knot">Dunlins and Red knots Waders or shorebirds are birds of the order Charadriiformes commonly found wikt:wade#Etymology 1, wading along shorelines and mudflats in order to foraging, ...

s, and since 1937

Stavanger Museum Stavanger Museum is a museum of natural and cultural history established in 1877, located in the Norwegian city Stavanger. The museum's collections consist of several departments: the department of zoology, the department for cultural history (whi ...

has had an ornithological station (Revtangen Ornithological Station) on the mainland nearby. The

Norwegian Air Force The Royal Norwegian Air Force (RNoAF) () is the air force of Norway. It was established as a separate arm of the Norwegian Armed Forces on 10 November 1944. The RNoAF's peacetime establishment is approximately 2,430 employees (officers, enlisted ...

took possession of parts of the site in the 1950s as a target area for bombs and gunfire, and the ornithological station was therefore relocated in the autumn of 1954 about further northeast, to a point near the Reve farms, where it is still located today. Every year between 6,000 and 12,000 waders and passerines are caught there, ringed and then released again. Almost 300 different bird species have been observed there since its opening. Refve redningsstasjon

Wrecks

The reef has been the scene of many shipwrecks along the harsh Jær coast. In his book «''Skipsforlis rundt Jæren''» (''tr. "Shipwreck around Jæren"''), Erik Bakkevig writes of 394 shipwrecks along the Jæren coast over the years. The Norwegian cargo ship ''MS Knute Nelson'' sank at Jærens rev on 27 September 1944, together with two other ships in the same

Axis forces The Axis powers, originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis and also Rome–Berlin–Tokyo Axis, was the military coalition which initiated World War II and fought against the Allies of World War II, Allies. Its principal members were Nazi Ge ...

convoy, which encountered a French-laid

minefield A land mine, or landmine, is an explosive weapon often concealed under or camouflaged on the ground, and designed to destroy or disable enemy targets as they pass over or near it. Land mines are divided into two types: anti-tank mines, wh ...

Rescue station

A rescue station was established here in 1852, and remained in operation until 1993.

References

{{coord, 58, 45, 00, N, 5, 29, 06, E, region:NO_type:waterbody, display=title Jæren Rogaland Sandbanks of the North Sea