Vestland

Vestland is the western Norwegian county that fronts the open North Sea between Stavanger to the south and Trøndelag to the north. The tide here runs a moderate semidiurnal signal that the long fjord network amplifies and reshapes as it propagates inland from the open coast. Mean range at Bergen is about 1.0 metre, climbing past 1.3 metres on spring tides and dropping near 0.6 on neaps. The pattern is two highs and two lows about twelve and a half hours apart. Inside the long fjords — Sognefjord and Hardangerfjord, the deepest and longest in Europe — the tide propagates as a free wave and the height grows slightly toward the head of each fjord, while the timing lags the open coast by 30 to 60 minutes. Bergen's Vågen harbour, the working fish market at Torget, and the cruise terminal at Bontelabo all sit on the inner edge of Byfjorden where the swing is gentle but predictable. Salmon fishers in the river-mouth zones at the Lærdalselva and the Vosso, ferry skippers running the fjord lines, and tour operators on the Mostraumen current rapids each read the table for different windows. Storm surge from North Sea lows in winter can lift levels 30 cm or more above predicted. The Norwegian Mapping Authority (Kartverket) Sjødivisjonen runs the authoritative gauge network and tide tables.