Märket ("The Mark", ) is a small uninhabited
skerryA skerry is a small rocky island, usually defined to be too small for habitation. It may simply be a rocky reef.The term skerry is derived from the Old Norse sker, which means a rock in the sea. The Old Norse term sker was brought into the English language via the Scots language...
in the
Baltic SeaThe Baltic Sea is a brackish inland sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and the...
between
SwedenSweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe...
and
FinlandFinland , officially the Republic of Finland
, is a Nordic country and democracy situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. It borders Sweden on the west, Russia on the east, and Norway on the north, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland...
(in the area of the autonomous
Åland IslandsThe Åland Islands form an archipelago in the Baltic Sea. It is situated at the entrance to the Gulf of Bothnia and forms an autonomous, demilitarized, monolingually Swedish-speaking administrative province, region and historical province of Finland...
), which has been divided between two sovereignties since the Treaty of Fredrikshamn (Hamina) of 1809 defined the border between Sweden and Russian empire as going through the middle of the island. The westernmost land point of Finland is on Märket. The Finnish side of the island is part of the Municipality of
HammarlandHammarland is a municipality of Åland, an autonomous territory of Finland.The municipality has a population of and covers an area of ofwhich is water. The population density is.The municipality is unilingually Swedish...
.
The wide
Understen–Märket Passage links the
Bothnian SeaThe Bothnian Sea links the Bothnian Bay with the Baltic proper. Kvarken is situated between the two. Together, the Bothnian Sea and Bay make up a larger geographical entity, the Gulf of Bothnia...
to the
Baltic properThe Baltic Sea is a brackish inland sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and the...
.
Märket ("The Mark", ) is a small uninhabited
skerryA skerry is a small rocky island, usually defined to be too small for habitation. It may simply be a rocky reef.The term skerry is derived from the Old Norse sker, which means a rock in the sea. The Old Norse term sker was brought into the English language via the Scots language...
in the
Baltic SeaThe Baltic Sea is a brackish inland sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and the...
between
SwedenSweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe...
and
FinlandFinland , officially the Republic of Finland
, is a Nordic country and democracy situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. It borders Sweden on the west, Russia on the east, and Norway on the north, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland...
(in the area of the autonomous
Åland IslandsThe Åland Islands form an archipelago in the Baltic Sea. It is situated at the entrance to the Gulf of Bothnia and forms an autonomous, demilitarized, monolingually Swedish-speaking administrative province, region and historical province of Finland...
), which has been divided between two sovereignties since the Treaty of Fredrikshamn (Hamina) of 1809 defined the border between Sweden and Russian empire as going through the middle of the island. The westernmost land point of Finland is on Märket. The Finnish side of the island is part of the Municipality of
HammarlandHammarland is a municipality of Åland, an autonomous territory of Finland.The municipality has a population of and covers an area of ofwhich is water. The population density is.The municipality is unilingually Swedish...
.
Geography and history
The wide
Understen–Märket Passage links the
Bothnian SeaThe Bothnian Sea links the Bothnian Bay with the Baltic proper. Kvarken is situated between the two. Together, the Bothnian Sea and Bay make up a larger geographical entity, the Gulf of Bothnia...
to the
Baltic properThe Baltic Sea is a brackish inland sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and the...
. The skerry is roughly long by wide, and its area is about . It is argued to be the smallest "sea island" shared by two countries.
The name "Märket"/"the mark", probably comes from the fact it was a good navigation mark before there were lighthouses. The route between Sweden and Åland has a passage of about length over open sea, and it was probably good to have a mark to aim at.
There is a
lighthouseA lighthouse is a tower, building, or framework designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses or, in older times, from a fire and used as an aid to navigation and to pilots at sea....
on the Finnish side of the current border, which has been unmanned and automated since 1979. When it was built by the Russians and Finns in 1885 there were no clear maps of the island. After the completion of the lighthouse, it was discovered that it had been built on the Swedish part of the island.
As a result, the border was adjusted in 1985 so that the lighthouse is now located on Finnish territory. However, the overall land area given to each country could not change, and neither could the coastline, so as not to interfere with each country's fishing rights.
This dilemma resulted in an unusual shape for the international border, one that ingeniously satisfied both Finnish and Swedish interests. The adjusted border takes the form of an inverted 'S', and the lighthouse is connected to the rest of Finland only by a short stretch of land. The border is regularly resurveyed every 25 years by officials representing both countries. The last such joint inspection took place in August 2006.
The lighthouse is in urgent need of maintenance, and a Finnish interest group is trying to raise funds for its preservation. The lighthouse has been automatic since 1979 and the surrounding buildings are no longer used. The increasing general availability of GPS has made its primary function redundant.
Radio amateurs activity
Radio amateursAn amateur radio operator is an individual who typically uses equipment at an amateur radio station to engage in two-way personal communications with other similar individuals on radio frequencies assigned to the amateur radio service. Amateur radio operators have been granted an amateur radio...
and
CBCitizens' Band radio is, in many countries, a system of short-distance radio communications between individuals on a selection of 40 channels within the 27-MHz band. The CB radio service is distinct from FRS, GMRS, MURS, or amateur radio...
operators around the world consider Market Reef (as they call it) a separate entity, distinct from Finland and Sweden. Market Reef used to be one of the world's most desired
"countries"The DX Century Club, or DXCC, is an amateur radio operating award earned by making contact with 100 or more geographic entities around the world....
among radio amateurs due to its special status and inaccessibility. Usually there are one or more Amateur Radio expeditions to the island every year, weather permitting. During these expeditions tens of thousands of radio contacts are made with the entire world. At high seas, landing is only possible with a helicopter. Probably the best picture available over Märket is shown on a
QSLQSL is one of the Q codes used in radiocommunication and radio broadcasting. A Q code message can stand for a statement or a question. In this case, QSL means either "do you confirm receipt of my transmission?" or "I confirm receipt of your transmission"...
card, a verification card sent out to verify a radio contact among radio amateurs. The official prefix is OH0, as in the rest of Åland Islands, but OJ0 is the optional
call signIn broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign is a unique designation for a transmitting station. In some countries they are used as names for broadcasting stations, but in many other countries they are not...
prefixThe International Telecommunication Union allocates call sign prefixes for radio and television stations of all types. They also form the basis for aircraft registration identifiers. These prefixes are agreed upon internationally, and are a form of country code...
for Market Reef. There is a fee for using the OJ0 call sign, while the OH0/own call sign is free. All radio activity on the island is by visitors on
DX-peditionA DX-pedition is an expedition to what is considered an exotic place by amateur radio operators, perhaps because of its remoteness or because there are very few radio amateurs active from that place. This could be an island, a country, or even a particular spot on a geographical grid.The activity...
s. When the reef got its special radio amateur status, the lighthouse keeper in the late 1960s became himself a licenced Amateur Radio operator and used initially the call OH0MA. Märkets Fyr means Märket's Beacon in Swedish.
Climate
Märket has a continental climate affected by oceanic influences, it has a reputation for being one of the windiest places in
FinlandFinland , officially the Republic of Finland
, is a Nordic country and democracy situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. It borders Sweden on the west, Russia on the east, and Norway on the north, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland...
. A meteorological station has been managed by the lighthouse keepers since 1896 and an automatic station was inaugurated on the November 10 1977 a short while after its automation.
The effect of the sea is very important to the climate of the island: thermal inertia dramatically reduced the temperature fluctuations during the year compared to the continent and to a lesser extent compared to the central part of
Fasta ÅlandFasta Åland is the largest and most populous island of Åland, an autonomous province of Finland. The provincial capital Mariehamn is located on the island. With the area of 685 km² it is the 3rd largest island in Finland....
, the largest island of the archipelago of Åland. Märket holds five records and daytime temperatures from weather stations in Finland, all in the period between November 29 and January 1, with for 10.2°C December 15, 2006 and 8.8°C December 31, 1975. The average yearly temperature is roughly 6°C and is one of the in highest in Finland, with the month of January being milder than on the continent (-2.5 °C on average), and a warm summer (15.9 °C on average in July). The island is drier than the mainland, the average rainfall does not usually surpass 550mm.
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