Topography and hydrography of Kviturdvikpollen and Vågsböpollen on the West Coast of Norway

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Abstract
Kviturdvikpollen and Vågsböpollen south of Bergen are two of the many small “miniature fjords” (rolls), common along the coast of Norway, being more or less isolated from the open sea, with certain typical physical features as a consequence. Kviturdvikpollen is connected with the sea (sill-depth 6.5 m) and Vågsböpollen debouches into the innermost part of it (sill-depth 0.5 m). The two polls are together about 3 km in length and divided into a number of basins, none of more than 16 m depth. Most of the shores are rocky; the horizontal bottoms mixed but generally soft. An account is given of the temperature, salinity and oxygen conditions. The big periodical changes of the temperature and salinity of the open sea are transplanted into the polls, especially the outer one. Owing to the sinking of rather cold and salt water the deepest basins are more or less stagnant from spring to autumn. Together with the heavy supply of nutrient-rich material this causes oxygen loss and in several cases H2S-production. In the inner Vågsböpollen the oxygen deficit may to a certain degree remain also during the winter periods of circulation. The summer temperatures of the upper water layers are somewhat higher than in the sea and the salinity decreases inwards. There is also a regular exchange of water. most comprehensive in Kviturdvikpollen, caused by tidal currents. During the winter a vertical circulation occurs also in the deepest basins. The tide amplitudes of Kviturdvikpollen are only slightly smaller than in the sea. In Vågsböpollen, however, they are much less, the extension of the eulittoral zone being correspondingly smaller. The relative importance of the above-mentioned and other factors for the organisms is briefly discussed.

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