Hardangerfjord
fjord in Vestland, Norway

The Hardangerfjord (English: Hardanger Fjord) is the fifth longest fjord in the world and the second longest fjord in Norway. It is located in the Hardanger region of Vestland county in western Norway. The fjord stretches 180 kilometres (110 mi) from the Atlantic Ocean into the mountainous interior of Norway along the Hardangervidda plateau. The innermost point of the fjord reaches the town of Odda.
Location
The Hardangerfjord starts at the Atlantic Ocean about 80 kilometres (50 mi) south of the city of Bergen. Here the fjord heads in a northeasterly direction between the island of Bømlo and the mainland. It passes by the larger islands of Stord, Tysnesøya, and Varaldsøy on the north/west side and the Folgefonna peninsula on the south/east side. Once it is surrounded by the mainland, it begins to branch off into smaller fjords that reach inwards towards the grand Hardangervidda mountain plateau. The longest branch of the Hardangerfjord is Sørfjorden, which cuts south about 50 kilometres (31 mi) from the main fjord. Its maximum depth is more than 860 metres (2,820 ft) just outside the village of Norheimsund in the middle of the fjord.
The public source identifies “Hardangerfjord” as fjord in Vestland, Norway. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Hardangerfjord, fjord and Vestland.
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This entry incorporates text from “Hardangerfjord” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.