Moskstraumen

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The maelstrom off Norway, as illustrated by the Swedish bishop Olaus Magnus on the Carta Marina, 1539.

The Moskstraumen (popularly known as the Maelstrom) is a system of tidal eddies and whirlpools, one of the strongest in the world, that forms in a strait adjacent to the Lofoten archipelago, Norway.

The Moskstraumen has featured in many historical accounts, generally exaggerated. It was described more than 1500 years ago, and later, it was marked on many maps with dramatic descriptions. A Swedish bishop showed it on his map , describing it as stronger than the Sicilian Charybdis.

Moskstraumen

[edit] Literature

The Moskstraumen, referred to simply as the Maelstrom, features in the climax of Jules Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea.

[edit] References

• The Lofoten Maelstrom, University of Oslo
• Strong topographic enhancement of tidal currents: tales of the Maelstrom (PDF format) Gjevik, Moe and Ommundsen, 1997, preprint of Sources of the Maelstrom, Nature, Vol. 388, 28 August 1997, pp 837-838.

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Coordinates: 67°48′N, 12°50′E