EnergyFromTheEdge
A conference about sustainable energy, large-scale resource development in remote communities, and more ...
12-14 SEPTEMBER 2007 Shetland Islands
Location & Geography
At 60 degrees North and 211 miles north of Aberdeen, Shetland sits as far north as St Petersburg in Russia, Helsinki in Finland and Anchorage in Alaska. The southern tip of Greenland is 1450 miles due west of Shetland while Bergen (Norway’s second largest city) lies just 225 miles east.
Location Map
In many respects, Shetland is as close to Norway as it is to Scotland – both culturally and geographically. Although belonging to Scotland since 1469, Shetland continues to have its own unique cultural background, evidenced by the many place names that are of Norse origin.
Despite Shetland’s rather extreme position in the northern hemisphere, the climate is relatively mild. The moderating effect of the northern end of the Atlantic’s Gulf Stream combines with the colder water from the Norwegian Sea to give Shetland its temperate maritime climate. Between 1971 and 2000, the yearly mean maximum and minimum temperatures were 9.4 and 5.0 degrees Celsius respectively. Wind speeds of up to 109.4 knots have been recorded in Shetland while the mean annual rainfall between 1971 and 2000 was 1,168.6 millimetres.
The total area of Shetland is 1,468 square kilometres (567 square miles). It is made up of more than 100 islands (15 of which are inhabited) that in total account for 2702 kilometres (1697 miles) of coastline. Approximately 80% of Shetland’s current population of 22,025 live on the Shetland mainland, with 9044 inhabitants in the capital town of Lerwick (situated on the east side of the Shetland mainland).
The Shetland landscape is extremely varied, being made up of spectacular cliffs, a range of low, rocky and heather covered hillsides, miles of peat bogs, beautiful deep-sea inlets and both sandy and rocky beaches that are exposed to the surrounding oceans. With only about five per cent of the land suitable for cultivation, it quickly becomes evident why the sea has been vitally important to the island’s economy. A 50-mile-wide channel separates Shetland from Orkney, a group of islands of similar size lying just off the coast of the Scottish mainland.