User:Spitzmauskc/Sandbox/Húnaflói

Spitzmauskc/Sandbox/Húnaflói
Location of Húnaflói in Iceland
Location	Northwestern Region and Westfjords
Coordinates	65°50′N 20°50′W
Type	Bay
Etymology	húnn meaning 'polar bear cub' + flói meaning 'bay'
Ocean/sea sources	Iceland Sea
Max. length	100 km (60 mi)
Max. width	50 km (30 mi)
Surface area	188.8 km2 (70 sq mi)
Islands	Grímsey Hrútey
Settlements	Blönduós Drangsnes Hólmavík Hvammstangi Skagaströnd

Húnaflói (Icelandic pronunciation: [ˈhuːnaˌflouːɪ]) is a bay of the Iceland Sea in Northwestern Region and Westfjords, Iceland. It is situated between Strandir of Vestfirðir peninsula on the west and the Skagaströnd of Skagi peninsula on the east. Spanning 188.8 km² (70 sq mi), it has a maximum width of about 50 km (30 mi) and length of 100 km (60 mi).

Geography

Map identifying major bodies of water, landforms, and some settlements of Húnaflói

Fjords

The major features of Húnaflói are its seven fjords and the Vatnsnes peninsula. Along Strandir (lit. 'The Coast') of eastern Vestfirðir, four fjords branch from the western Húnaflói (listed north to south): Bjarnarfjörður, Steingrímsfjörður, Kollafjörður, and Bitrufjörður. Steingrímsfjörður is the largest of Strandir's fjords, extending 28 km (17 mi) into the countryside, and its bowed shape

In the southwest of Húnaflói is the 36 km (22 mi) long Hrútafjörður, the bay's longest fjord. The southern tip of Hrútafjörður traditionally marked the boundary between the regions of Vestfjörður and Norðurland.

Miðfjörður.

Continuing east is the Vatnsnes peninsula, which forms the western edge of Húnafjörður, the largest fjord of Húnaflói. Skagi peninsula is the eastern extent of Húnafjörður and of the entire Húnaflói. ('Coast of Skagi' or lit. 'Coast of the Peninsula')

geographic features in Húnaflói are first attested: Borðeyri, Grímsey, Hrútafjörður, Húnavatn.

Settlements and other features

Húnaflói and Much of its geography are documented in Landnámabók and several sagas of Icelanders, including Gull-Þóris saga, Gísla saga, Grettis saga, and Vatnsdæla saga, among others. Together the historical record and corroborating archaeological evidence suggest that continuous human presence in Húnaflói started during the settlement of Iceland in the late ninth century.

Today, Húnaflói supports a population in the low thousands and has several localities of more than one hundred inhabitants. The population centers are all situated along fjords, excepting the village of Skagaströnd, which lies directly on the eastern shore of Húnaflói.

Map detail of Bjarnarfjörður, Steingrímsfjörður, and Kollafjörður with the villages Hólmavík and Drangsnes, and the island Grímsey

Steingrímsfjörður in the Westfjords supports two settlements, Drangsnes and Hólmavík. The largest settlement on Strandir, Hólmavík has 302 residents and forms the municipality of Strandabyggð's urban nucleus. Situated near the mid-point of Steingrímsfjörður's fertile southern shore, it is surrounded by farmland.

Drangsnes sits at the northeastern point of Steingrímsfjörður, where it meets Húnaflói. The hamlet is the largest settlement in Kaldrananeshreppur despite having just 71 inhabitants. Several kilometers west of Drangsnes is Strákatangi, the site of a 17th century Basque whaling station where whales were processed before being shipped.

The 49 ha (120 acres) island Grímsey sits less than 2 km (1.2 mi) off the coast of Drangsnes. According to Landnámabók, the island was named after Grími Ingjaldssyni Hróaldssonar from Haddingjadal, who overwintered on the island and drowned while rowing to the mainland. The island's name is often elaborated as Grímsey á Steingrímsfirði (lit. 'Grímsey on Steingrímsfjörður') to distinguish it from the larger island of the same name in Akureyri municipality.

Historically, the southern point of Hrútafjörður marked the border between the counties of Strandasysla and Vestur-Húnavatnssýsla. Since 1 January 2012, all of Hrútafjörður falls within the municipality of Húnaþing vestra in Northwestern Region. The hamlet of Borðeyri, which had a population of sixteen in 2018, is located on the western coast of Hrútafjörður and the largest settlements in Húnaþing vestra – Hvammstangi (pop. 625) and Laugarbakki (pop. 55) – are found along eastern Miðfjörður.

The small town of Blönduós in Húnabyggð and the village of Skagaströnd in Sveitarfélagið Skagaströnd are found on the eastern coast of Húnafjörður. The southern coast of Húnafjörður is defined by the Þingeyrasandur, a shoal that separates the Hóp tidal lagoon from the Húnaflói. Þingeyrasandur is itself defined by the "lakes" Sigríðarstaðavatn on the west and Húnavatn on the east.

• Blönduós – 845, largest settlement of Húnabyggð (1295)
• Drangsnes – 71, largest settlement of Kaldrananeshreppur (116)
• Hólmavík – 302, largest settlement on Strandir and of Strandabyggð (428)
• Hvammstangi – 625, largest settlement of Húnaþing vestra (1258)
• Skagaströnd – 457, largest settlement of Sveitarfélagið Skagaströnd (484)

Fauna

The bay has been proposed as a protected area for harbor seals. Illugastaðir on the northwestern coast of Vatnsnes

Grímsey á Steingrímsfirði hosts a colony of 25–30 thousand breeding pairs of Atlantic puffins, accounting for more than 1% of the puffin population in Iceland. The island also serves

• 
  Harbor seals in Hindisvík
• 
  Atlantic puffins on Grímsey á Steingrímsfirði
• 
  An Icelandic horse by the Húnaflói

Image gallery

• 
  Map detail of Bjarnarfjörður, Steingrímsfjörður, and Kollafjörður with the villages Hólmavík and Drangsnes, and the island Grímsey
• 
  Hvítserkur basalt stack along the eastern shore of the Vatnsnes
• 
  Grímsey á Steingrímsfirði as seen from the coast near Drangsnes
• 
  Blönduóshreppur

Panorama of dunes of river ice on the edge of Húnaflói, cast ashore by wind, surf, and tide from Húnaflói on the beach at Blönduós. Vatnsnes peninsula is to the east, and Ballafjöll mountain in the Westfjords appears to the northeast. November 2007.