The natural history of the Hardangerfjord

Abstract

Measurements of submarine light were undertaken in the Hardangerfjord (West Norway) in the summers of 1955 and 1956. Discharge of very turbid water from glacier-fed rivers during their summer floods produces very low transparency in some of the fjord branches. From the inner to the outer part of the fjord a gradual increase in transparency takes place. A pronounced difference in the spectral composition of the submarine light of the very turbid inner waters and of the ordinary coastal waters at the mouth was recorded. For glacier-fed rivers with sedimentation basins Tyndall readings demonstrated a great reduction in turbidity during the passage through the lakes.