Rödkallen is a small uninhabited (summer cabins are in use) Swedish island and lighthouse station located in the

Bothnian Bay The Bothnian Bay or Bay of Bothnia (; ) is the northernmost part of the Gulf of Bothnia, which is in turn the northern part of the Baltic Sea. The land holding the bay is still rising after the weight of ice-age glaciers has been removed, and ...

in the south part of Luleå archipelago. The island was used by fishermen a long time before the lighthouse was built. In 1800 a chapel was built for the fishermen and it survives to this day.

Lighthouse

The lighthouse was constructed after Nils Gustaf von Heidenstam's skeletal iron design. Originally it carried a

colza oil Close-up of canola blooms Canola flower Rapeseed oil is one of the oldest known vegetable oils. There are both edible and industrial forms produced from rapeseed, the seed of several cultivars of the plant family Brassicaceae. Historicall ...

lamp which was changed to a

kerosene Kerosene, or paraffin, is a combustibility, combustible hydrocarbon liquid which is derived from petroleum. It is widely used as a fuel in Aviation fuel, aviation as well as households. Its name derives from the Greek (''kērós'') meaning " ...

lamp 1884. In 1936 a small electric plant was built on the island which was used by the lighthouse. After one hundred years in service the old lighthouse was deactivated in favor of the small modern Rödkallen södra (''south'') light on the roof of a

pilot station A pilot station is an onshore headquarters for maritime pilots, or a place where pilots can be hired from. To get from a pilot station to an approaching ship, pilots need to use fast vessels to arrive in time, i.e. a pilot boat. History Histor ...

. The tall building has a yellow and red daymark. The station was closed down in 1981. A small hotel was started in the building in 2000, but it was closed in 2008. The old lighthouse is preserved and its large lens still mounted, covered with a shroud. In 2005 it was successfully tested for a while. On the island is also a couple of old stone mazes. Rödkallen is one of the many wind observation stations in the shipping news of the

Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute The Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (, SMHI) is a Swedish government agency and operates under the Ministry of Climate and Enterprise. SMHI has expertise within the areas of meteorology, hydrology and oceanography, and has exte ...

Important Bird Area

The island has been designated an

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

(IBA) by

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding i ...

because it supports breeding populations of

Caspian tern The Caspian tern (''Hydroprogne caspia'') is a species of tern, with a subcosmopolitan but scattered distribution. Despite its extensive range, it is monotypic of its genus, and has no accepted subspecies. The genus name is from Ancient Greek '' ...

s and

black guillemot The black guillemot or tystie (''Cepphus grylle'') is a medium-sized seabird of the Alcidae family, native throughout northern Atlantic coasts and eastern North American coasts. It is resident in much of its range, but large populations from the ...

Climate

Rödkallen has a

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers, and cold ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

''Dfb'') heavily influenced by its offshore position in a shallow and

brackish Brackish water, sometimes termed brack water, is water occurring in a natural environment that has more salinity than freshwater, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing seawater (salt water) and fresh water together, as in estuari ...

sea surrounded by subarctic landmasses. It is also among the drier stations in Sweden. There is heavy

seasonal lag Seasonal lag is the phenomenon whereby the date of maximum average air temperature at a geographical location on a planet is delayed until some time after the date of maximum daylight (i.e. the summer solstice). This also applies to the minimum ...

in winter due to the formation of

sea ice Sea ice arises as seawater freezes. Because ice is less density, dense than water, it floats on the ocean's surface (as does fresh water ice). Sea ice covers about 7% of the Earth's surface and about 12% of the world's oceans. Much of the world' ...

during the course of average winters. As the ice gradually melts in early spring, the island is sizeably cooler than the mainland during afternoons. This remains during summer, but then

diurnal temperature variation In meteorology, diurnal temperature variation is the variation between a high air temperature and a low temperature that occurs during the same day. Temperature lag Temperature lag, also known as thermal inertia, is an important factor in diur ...

lowers and the mild water keeps September above the mark rendering it continental rather than subarctic. February is the coldest month of the year but a sizeable margin, whereas July is the warmest with highs averaging about in the former and in the latter. During summer, lows in the single-digits are rare in spite of the high latitude. This is due to short nights being tempered by a mild body of water. In fact, many locations in the south of Sweden and on even lower European latitudes have cooler summer nights than Rödkallen. This moderating phenomenon delays winter to a point where November means average above freezing and December has average above the Dfb threshold of in the 21st century. When the brackish water eventually freezes, temperatures plummet and sizeable

cold wave A cold wave (known in some regions as a cold snap, cold spell or Arctic Snap) is a weather phenomenon that is distinguished by a cooling of the air. Specifically, as used by the U.S. National Weather Service, a cold wave is a rapid fall in temp ...

s can set in as the frigid air from the interior is no longer warmed up as it reaches the island. In spring, this can lead to strong cold snaps and ice days in April are quite common. The location is very sunny by Nordic standards and since it is quite a bit drier than where the Luleå sunshine station is located, it could potentially receive more sun than the municipal seat. In summer, there is perpetual twilight for a couple of months during night due to the high latitude. As a result, daylight is sparse in winter. Rödkallen is a unique climate by Nordic standards for several factors. Due to the ice formation and recession, March is a lot colder than December and autumn is about warmer in the afternoon than spring. It also has lower diurnals in summer than in winter, which is unusual on high latitudes. The temperature station was set up in 1961 but has several breaks since then, although it came back on a permanent basis in 1996.

References

External links

Sjofartsverket

Picture of Rödkallen Södra

Picture of the first Rödkallen lighthouse

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rodkallen Uninhabited islands of Sweden Islands of Norrbotten County Swedish islands in the Baltic Lighthouses in Sweden Buildings and structures in Norrbotten County Important Bird Areas of Baltic islands Important Bird Areas of Sweden Seabird colonies Luleå Municipality

Lighthouse

Important Bird Area

Climate

See also

References

External links