Finland

Geography of Finland: Important Geographical Information about Finland

Situated on the continent of Europe, Finland is the most northern of its countries. Most of the land mass of Finland actually lies on the northern part of the Arctic Circle. Finland, including the mainland and smaller islands measure 338,145 square kilometers, divided into a land area of 303,815 square kilometers and inland water of 34,330 square kilometers. The country has about 190,000 lakes of different sizes. It also has almost the same number of small islands.

Three bodies of water surround certain regions of Finland and account for the ruggedness of its coastline, creating many bays and inlets. Its western side is partly bordered by the Gulf of Bothnia and the rest of the western side shares a border with Sweden for 540 kilometers. Its southern section is bordered by the Gulf of Finland while the southwest is bordered by the Baltic Sea. Norway lies to the north of Finland and the two countries share a border that is 720 kilometers long. Finland’s longest land border, totaling 1,268 kilometers is shared with the Soviet Union.

The melting of glaciers some 11,000 years ago have etched Finland’s surface, leaving behind different land formations composed of gravel, clay, sand, stones and other sediments that formed into eskers, drumlins and moraines and created the numerous depressions that filled with glacial meltwaters, to form the thousands of lakes mostly in the southern part of Finland. Two parallel terminal moraines that are apart by 25 kilometers from each other are found in Lahti, on the southern part of Finland. These moraines, called the Salpausselkä Ridges effectively divide Lahti into north and south parts. The northern portion is located near Lake Finland or Finnish Lakeland while the southern portion has low-lying fields and forest regions that are clay-based. The highest part of the ridge is near Tiirismaa and rises 223 meters above sea level and about 142 meters above the level of Vesijärvi Lake.

Landform Regions
Finland is divided into four geographic regions that almost the same and yet different physical characteristics, with some of them getting dominant. The coastal region of the country, which extends from the Swedish to the Russian borders, has numerous 100-meter plains made of clay that are very suitable for dairy farming and agriculture. The archipelago Finland in the southwestern coast features water and rocks, while the interior lake sections of the country contain several of the densest forests in Finland and more than 55,000 lakes. The largest of the lakes found in the interior is Lake Saimaa, which is also the fifth largest lake in Europe. It covers an area that is more than 4,400 square kilometers. The rest of the lakes are shallow lakes with an average depth of seven meters while the deepest lake in Finland, Päijänne, with a surface area of 1,081 square kilometers is about 100 meters deep.

On the other hand, there is the Upland Finland that includes Lapland, its most extreme northern area. This section crosses the largest and the longest rivers in Finland. The prevailing climate here is harsh and though the area is forested, the regions above the timberline include numerous bogs and almost barren hills. This is already part of the Arctic tundra so the vegetation here consists of Arctic scrub – stunted trees, heath and moss. The topography is varied, with a mix of undulating hills and rugged mountainous sections in Kilpisjärvi, the highest of which is about 1,000 meters in elevation. Halti is the highest point in Finland, rising to a height of 1,328 meters. Halti is a fell, a type of treeless mountain common in the Scandinavian region. However, the rest of the southern part of Upland Finland is boggy. Upland Finland also has the Kemijoki, longest river in the river in the country that runs for about 552 kilometers. Fifteen hydroelectric power plants have been constructed here since 1946. The largest river in Finland is the Tornionjoki or the Torne River, which actually originates from Norway and passes through Finland and Sweden.

The geographical divisions are not definitive, though as characteristics of one region can also be seen in other regions. There are bogs in the southern part of Finland, particularly in Suomenselkä, while there are parts in the northern region with there are patches of agricultural land.

Weighed down by the glaciers eons ago, Finland is now continuing to grow in size as more parts of the country rise from the sea due to glacial meltdown and uplifting the land mass. The lifting is more rapid in the northern section of the country where the rise is about 80 to 90 centimeters every one hundred years. On the southwest and southern regions, the lift is slower, rising to about 25 to 30 centimeters each century. This means that the country gains about seven square kilometers of land from the sea annually.

Climate
Finland experiences a long winter season due to its location. Winter here can last anywhere from 105 to 120 days in the archipelagic parts of the country while it can go as long as 180 to 220 days in Lapland up north. In terms of months that means that winter lasts for about three months in the southern part of the country and can be between six to seven months in Upland Finland.

The climate in the western and eastern section of the country is affected by the Atlantic Ocean and the Eurasian continent, respectively. Regions in the west experience warmer weather with moderate winter temperatures, affected by the warm westerly winds from the Baltic. The winds also bring cloud cover into the area, reducing the amount of sunshine in the summer months. One the other side of the country, along the eastern section, the high pressure system that prevails in the Eurasian continent causes severe winter patterns and high summer temperatures.

The weather in Finland is very diverse and changes very quickly. Climate and temperature vary depending on each month of the year. Generally speaking the driest and coldest month is February while the warmest month is July. The wettest month of the year is August. While the weather is more stable during summer, it is varied and unpredictable during winter.

:: References ::

http://www.mongabay.com/reference/country_studies/finland/GEOGRAPHY.html
http://www.historycentral.com/nationbynation/Finland/Geo.html
http://www.finland.ca/public/default.aspx?nodeid=41339&contentlan=2&culture=en-US