Lakes on the Faroe Islands – Trap The Faroe Islands

Before Eiðisvatn was dammed in connection with the establishment of a hydropower plant, archaeological remains of a shieling from the Viking Age were found on Argisbrekka. Since then, a study of sediments at the bottom of Eiðisvatn has dated the arrival of sheep and thus people to around the year 500.
JENS CHRISTIAN TOP/RITZAU SCANPIX, 2017

There are lakes everywhere in the Faroe Islands, both in the low-lying valleys and in the high-lying cirque valleys. Most of the lakes are located on Suðuroy, Sandoy, Streymoy and Eysturoy, although the largest can be found on Vágar. In Faroese, large lakes are called ‘vatn’, but the smaller lakes go by names such as ‘tjørn’, ‘dammur’ and ‘hylur’.

Out of the almost 2,400 lakes, the two largest are Sørvágsvatn (Leitisvatn) and Fjallavatn, which are located in the southernmost and northernmost end of the Klovin valley on Vágar. At around 360 ha, Sørvágsvatn is significantly larger than the just 100 ha Fjallavatn. Other large lakes include the 82 ha Sandsvatn on Sandoy, the 51 ha Toftavatn on Eysturoy and the 18 ha Leynavatn on Streymoy. There are also nine lakes with an area of over 10 ha and 51 lakes with an area of 1‑10 ha. The remaining some 2,300 lakes are all smaller than 1 ha.

The distribution and characteristics of the lakes to some extent reflect the landscapes of the islands. For example, Norðoyggjar’s high mountains and steep terrain can explain why the lakes here are small; the largest is Vatnið við Hólminum on Borðoy with an area of just 20 ha. On Sandoy, the lakes are very shallow, which is due to the low mountains and flatter, open landscapes. So even though Sandsvatn is the third largest lake in the Faroe Islands, it is only 3 m deep. In comparison, the significantly smaller Leynavatn on Streymoy is 33 m deep. The deepest lake in the Faroe Islands is Sørvágsvatn (Leitisvatn), which is almost 60 m deep.

Further reading