Märket

Geography and history

The 6-nautical-mile-wide (11 km; 6.9 mi) Understen–Märket Passage links the Bothnian Sea to the Baltic proper. The skerry is roughly 350 metres (1,150 ft) long by 150 metres (490 ft) wide, and its area is about 3.3 hectares (8.2 acres). It is the smallest sea island shared by two countries.

The name Märket ('the Mark') probably comes from its usefulness as a navigation mark before there were lighthouses. The route between Sweden and Åland has a passage of about 27 kilometres (15 NM) (17 mi) length over open sea. Before the lighthouse, the island and its shallows were dangerous navigational hazards, which seafarers tried to desperately avoid. In 1873, as many as 23 ships were grounded on the Swedish coast and its archipelago trying to avoid Märket, and eight of them were shipwrecked. Märket is detached from the main Åland archipelago, with the closest island more than 10 km away, and the closest harbor, Berghamn, 23 km away in Eckerö. There are small, barely surfacing rocks northwest of Märket, called Märketshällor ("stones of Märket"), which are too small to sustain vegetation.

Lighthouse

There is a lighthouse 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, the island was considered a no man's land, so it was simply built on the highest point on the island. However, this meant it was 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. The adjustment was carried out such that no net transfer of territory occurred, and the ownership of the coastline was unchanged so as not to interfere with each country's fishing rights.

This resulted in an unusual shape for the international border which 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.

Due to the Nordic Passport Union and the Schengen Agreement, there have been no passport checks or other border formalities at the border since 1958, so intra-Nordic/intra-Schengen visitors may visit the island freely. Both sides are officially monolingually Swedish-speaking, the Finnish side as a part of Åland.

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 amateurs around the world consider the Finnish part of Märket Reef (as they call it) a separate entity, distinct from Finland and Sweden. The Finnish part of Märket Reef used to be one of the world's most desired "countries" among radio amateurs due to its special status and relative remoteness. 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 people in several parts of the world. At high seas, landing is only possible with a helicopter. Good pictures of Märket are shown on QSL cards. The official prefix for use on the Finnish side is OH0, as in the rest of the Åland Islands, but OJ0 is the optional call sign prefix for Märket Reef. There is a fee for using an OJ0 call sign, while the use of the OH0/ prefix in front of the own call sign is free. All radio activity on the island is by visitors on DX-peditions. When the Finnish part of the reef was given its special status in amateur radio, in the late 1960s the lighthouse keeper himself became a licensed Amateur Radio operator who initially used the call OH0MA. On the Swedish side of Märket Reef the callsigns 8S9M and SI8MI have been used.

Climate

Märket has a continental climate affected by oceanic influences; it has a reputation for being one of the windiest places in Finland. A meteorological station has been managed by the lighthouse keepers since 1896 and an automatic station of the Finnish Meteorological Institute was inaugurated on November 10, 1977, shortly before its automation.

The effect of the sea is very important to the climate of the island: thermal inertia dramatically reduces the temperature fluctuations during the year compared to the continent and to a lesser extent compared to the central part of Fasta Åland, the largest island of the archipelago of Åland. Märket holds five records for daytime temperatures for weather stations in Finland, all in the period between November 29 and January 1, with 10.2 °C (50.4 °F) on December 15, 2006 and 8.8 °C (47.8 °F) on December 31, 1975. The average yearly temperature is roughly 6 °C (43 °F) and is one of the highest in Finland, with the month of January being milder than on the continent (−2.5 °C or 27.5 °F on average), and a warm summer (15.9 °C or 60.6 °F on average in July). The island is drier than the mainland: the average annual rainfall does not usually surpass 550 millimetres (22 in).