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Norway is located in Northern Europe , bordering the North Sea in southwest, the North Atlantic Ocean ( Norwegian Sea ) in the west and the Barents Sea to the northeast, and Sweden to the east. Norway is one of the world's most northerly countries. The country has a very elongated shape, with one of the most rugged and longest coastlines in world. Vardø in the northeast is actually east of Istanbul . There are some 50,000 islands off the much indented coastline. Norway is one of Europe's most mountainous countries, with about two-thirds of the land area ( Scandinavian Mountains ). The country-length chain of peaks is geologically continuous with the mountains of Scotland , Ireland and, crossing the Atlantic Ocean, the Appalachian Mountains of North America . Geologists hold that all these formed a single range prior to the Breakup of the ancient Supercontinent Pangaea . Virtually the entire country was covered with a thick Ice Sheet during the last Ice Age . The movement of the ice carved out large Valley s, and when the ice melted, the sea filled many of these valleys, creating Norway's famous Fjord s. The land is still rebounding from the enormous weight of the ice ( Isostatic Rebound ), "growing out of the sea" with several mm a year, especially the eastern part of the country and the inner part of the long fjords, where the ice cover were thickest. This is a slow process, thus the sea covered substantial areas of what is today dry land for thousands of years following the end of the ice age. The sea reached an elevation of 221 m in Oslo (Aker), 25 m in Stavanger , 5 m near Stadt , 180 m in Trondheim , 50 m in Tromsø and 75 m in Kirkenes . This old seabed is now among the best agricultural land in the country. The glaciers ( ) in the higher mountain areas today are not remnants of the large ice sheet of the ice age, their origins are much more recent. The regional Climate were up to 1-3°C warmer 9000-5000 years ago (relative to the 1961-1990 period), melting the original ice sheet completely. As a result of the ice carving, Sognefjorden is the world's deepest fjord and Hornindalsvatnet is the deepest lake ( ) in Europe . STATISTICS Geographic coordinates: Map references: Europe Area: ''total:'' 324,220 Km&2 ''land:'' 307,860 Km&2 ''water:'' 16,360 Km&2 ''With Area - comparative: slightly larger than New Mexico , but slightly smaller than Vietnam . With Svalbard and Jan Mayen included, the area is slightly larger than Japan . Land boundaries: ''total:'' 2,515 Km ''border countries:'' Finland 729 Km , Sweden 1,619 Km , Russia 167 km Coastline: 25,148 Km (continental); 83,281 km (including islands) {Link without Title} Maritime claims: ''contiguous zone:'' 10 Nm (19 km) ''continental shelf:'' 200 nm (370 km) ''exclusive economic zone:'' 200 nm (370 km) ''territorial sea:'' 4 nm (7 km) PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY Scandinavian mountains. The Scandinavian Mountains is the most defining feature of the country. Starting just north of the southern Skagerak coast, the mountains goes north, comprising large parts of the country, and intersected by the many fjords of Vestlandet . This part of the mountains includes Hardangervidda , Jotunheimen (with Galdhøpiggen 2469 m), Dovre , Trollheimen and large glaciers, such as Jostedalsbreen , Folgefonna and Hardangerjøkulen . From Dovre, south of Trondheim, the mountain chain swings eastwards, and reaches to the border with Sweden near Sylene . The mountains then follows the border in a northeasterly direction, again intersected by many fjords in Nordland and Troms .This part of the mountain chain is known as Kjølen , where the border with Sweden largely is defined by the watershed in the mountains. The Scandinavian mountains reaches into northwestern Finnmark , gradually becoming lower from Altafjord towards Nordkapp , where they finally ends at the shores of the Barents Sea . The Scandinavian Mountains have naturally divided the country in physical regions; Valley s radiate from the mountains in all directions. The following physical regions will only partially correspond to traditional regions and counties in Norway. Southern coast. The southern Skagerak and North Sea coast is the lowland south of the mountain range, from Stavanger in the west to the western reaches of the outer part of the Oslofjord in the east. In this part of the country, valleys tend to follow a north - south direction. This area is mostly a hilly area, but with some very flat areas such as Jæren and Lista . Southeast. The land east of the mountains (corresponding to Østlandet , most of Telemark and Røros ) is dominated by valleys going in a north - south direction in the eastern part, and a more northwest - southeast direction further west, and the valleys congregate on the Oslofjord. The longest valleys in the country are Østerdal and Gudbrandsdal . This part also contains larger areas of lowland sourrounding the Oslofjord, as well as the Glomma river and lake Mjøsa . Western fjords. The land west of the mountains (corresponding to Vestlandet north of Stavanger) is more dominated by the mountain chain, as the mountains goes all the way to the coast, albeit gradually becoming lower towards the coast. This part is dominated by large fjords, the largest are Sognefjord and Hardangerfjord . Geirangerfjord is often regarded as the ultimate fjord scenery. The coast is protected by a chain of skerries (the Skjærgård ) arranged to parallel the coast and provide the beginning of a protected passage almost the entire 1,600 km route from Stavanger to Nordkapp ( North Cape ). The fjords and most valleys generally goes in a west - east direction, and further north a more northwest - southeast direction. Trondheim region. The land north of Dovre (corresponding to Trøndelag except Røros) comprises a more gentle landscape with more rounded shapes and mountains, and with valleys congregating on the Trondheimsfjord , where they open up and forms a larger lowland area. Further north is the valley of Namdalen , opening up in the Namsos area. However, the Fosen peninsula, and the most northern coast ( Leka ) is more dominated by mountains and more narrow valleys. Northern fjords. The land further north (corresponding to Nordland, Troms and northwestern Finnmark) is again more dominated by pointed mountains going all the way to the coast, and numerous fjords. The fjords and valleys generally goes in a west - east direction in the southern part of this area, and a more northwest - southeast direction further north. The Saltfjellet mountain range is an exception, as the valleys goes in a more north - south direction from these mountains. This long area comprises many large islands, including Lofoten and Vesterålen . Far northeast. The interior and the land east of Nordkapp (corresponding to Finnmarksvidda and eastern Finnmark) is less dominated by mountains, and is mostly below 400 m. The interior is dominated by the large Finnmarksvidda plateau. There are large, wide fjords going in a north - south direction. This coast lacks the small islands forming the Skerries so typical of the Norwegian coast. Furthest to the east, the Varangerfjord goes in an east - west direction, and is the only large fjord in the country opening up towards the east. Svalbard. Further north, in the Arctic Ocean , lies the Svalbard archipelago, which is also dominated by mountains, but these mountains are mostly covered by large glaciers, especially the eastern part of the archipelago, where glaciers cover more than 90%. Unlike the mainland, these glaciers calves directly in the open ocean. Jan Mayen. To the far northwest, halfway towards Greenland , is the island Jan Mayen , where Beerenberg is found, the only active Volcano in Norway. CLIMATE The climate of Norway is surprisingly temperate for such a northern country; this is mainly due to the has the lowest average annual precipitation on the mainland with only 278 mm; the lowest yearly annual precipitation ever recorded on the mainland is 74 mm in Saltdal . The islands in southern has recorded -50°C. Spring is the season when the temperature differences between the southern and northern part of the country is largest; this is also the time of year when daytime and nighttime temperatures differs the most. The North Atlantic Current splits in two in the northern part of the Norwegian Sea; one branch goes east into the Barents Sea, while the other goes north along the west coast of Spitsbergen ; this modifies the arctic Polar Climate somewhat and results in open water throughout the year at higher Latitude s than in any other place in the Arctic . On the eastern coast of the Svalbard Archipelago , the sea is frozen during most of the year. Normal monthly averages range from -17.1°C in January in Karasjok 129 m a.s.l. ( ) to 17.3°C in July in Oslo - Studenterlunden 15 m.a.s.l. ( ). The warmest year average temperature is 7.7°C in Skudenes in Karmøy , and the coldest is -3.1°C in Sihcajarvi in Kautokeino (excluding higher mountains and Svalbard); this is a 10.8°C difference, about the same as the temperature difference between Skudenes and Athens , Greece ([http://www.worldclimate.com/cgi-bin/data.pl?ref=N37E023+1102+16716W]). The warmest temperature ever recorded in Norway is 35.6°C in Nesbyen . The coldest temperature ever recorded is −51.4°C in Karasjok . As seen from the table, Norway's climate shows large variations: Maritime mild temperate / (Dfb) as in Oslo; marine west coast - cool (Cfc) as in Svolvær; subarctic (Dfc) as in Kirkenes and polar Tundra (ET) as in Longyearbyen (a narrow strip of land in northeastern Finnmark incl Vardø are also ET). In addition, large mountain areas have Alpine Tundra climates, and might have several climate zones below the Treeline with decreasing altitude, depending on location and aspect. Temperatures have tended to be higher in recent years. Using the same data source but with the years 1991 - 2005 as base period, this results in average January temperatures for the same stations that are 1 °C to 2.5 °C higher, while the July 24-hr average temperatures increases by approximately 0.5 to 1 °C. Based on the 1991-2005 period, the January, July and Year 24-hr averages for Blindern/Oslo is −2.3 °C, 17.3 °C. and 6.6°C. For Florida/Bergen the corresponding temperatures are 2.8°C, 15.1°C and 8.2°C, and for Værnes/Trondheim −0.7 °C, 14.8 °C and 5.9°C. ''Sources: See references.'' LIGHT AND TIMEZONE Areas in Norway located north of the . The northern part of the country is located in the Aurora Borealis zone. Norway uses Central European Time , corresponding to the 15° east longitude. As the country is very elongated, this is at odds with the local daylight hours at the eastern and western parts. In Vardø the local daylight hours is 64 minutes earlier, and in Bergen it is 39 minutes later. TERRAIN seen from Prekestolen ]] Glaciated; mostly high plateaus and Rugged Mountains broken by fertile valleys; small, scattered plains; coastline deeply indented by fjords; Arctic Tundra only in the extreme northeast (largely found on the Varanger Peninsula ). Frozen ground all-year can also be found in the higher mountain areas and in the interior of Finnmark county. Elevation extremes: ''lowest point:'' Norwegian Sea 0 m ''highest point:'' Galdhøpiggen 2,469 M Numerous Glaciers are still found in Norway. NATURAL RESOURCES Petroleum , Copper , Natural Gas , Pyrites , Nickel , Iron ore, Zinc , Lead , Fish , Timber , Hydropower LAND USE ''arable land:'' 3% ''permanent crops:'' 0% ''permanent pastures:'' 0% ''forests and woodland:'' 27% ''other:'' 70% (1993 est.) Irrigated land: 970 km&2 (1993 est.) Natural hazards:
ENVIRONMENT Current issues
International agreements ''party to:'' Air Pollution , Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides , Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants , Air Pollution-Sulphur 85 , Air Pollution-Sulphur 94 , Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds , Antarctic-Environmental Protocol , Antarctic Treaty , Biodiversity , Climate Change , Desertification , Endangered Species , Environmental Modification , Hazardous Wastes , Law Of The Sea , Marine Dumping , Nuclear Test Ban , Ozone Layer Protection , Ship Pollution , Tropical Timber 83 , Tropical Timber 94 , Wetlands , Whaling ''signed, but not ratified:'' Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol MAJOR CITIES/TOWNS (RANKED BY SIZE)
Geography - note: Strategic location adjacent to sea lanes and air routes in the North Atlantic Ocean . NORWEGIAN GEOGRAPHY IN FICTION In The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy , fjords were an award winning geographical feature created by Slartibartfast when he helped in the construction of Earth. In , scenes from the ice planet Hoth were filmed at Finse , Norway. SEE ALSO is the second largest glacier on the Norwegian mainland; the largest glaciers are on Svalbard.]]
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