Most of Finland is lowland. One-third of its area lies below 100 m, two-thirds below 200 m, and almost nine-tenths below 300 m. The highest elevations are in the extreme northwest where Haltia, the highest point on Finland, rises to 1,328 m. Finland has three main physical regions: the coastal lowlands, the lake district, and the northern uplands. The coastal lowlands, about 65-130 km wide, extend along the indented coastlines of the Gulf of Finland on the south and the Gulf of Bothnia on the west. Thousands of rocky islands lie off the coasts, the principal group being the Aland Islands. The lake district is the interior plateau of southern central Finland. This lake-studded region is heavily forested and has numerous swamps and bogs. The northern upland, much of which lies north of the Arctic Circle, has poor soils and is the most sparsely populated region of Finland. In the far north, arctic forests and swamps give way to tundra--a frozen, forestless region.
Finland's climate exhibits both a maritime climate and a continental climate. Surrounding seas cool the climate on the coast in spring but warm it in fall. The climate becomes more continental--that is, more extreme--toward the east and north. The extreme north, however, exhibits a marine climate because of the influence of the Arctic Ocean. Rainfall decreases from 700 mm in southern Finland to 400 mm in northern Finland. The heaviest rainfall is from August to September, the lightest from February to April. The summer lasts 2 to 4 months, the growing season 4 to 6.
Total population is 5,105,230 (World Factbook, July 1996 est.). Although Finland is about ten times the size of the Netherlands, its population is only about one-third as large. The southern, industrialized third of the country is the most densely populated, with 46.8 persons per sq km; the northern two-thirds of the country averages 9.1 inhabitants per sq km. Scattered settlements are characteristic of the countryside. The largest cities are Helsinki, Tampere, Turku and Lahti in the south, and Oulu in the north.
Stations from the IDMP Network measure both daylight and solar radiation.


Clock Time: GMT+2. Summer time shift (GMT+3), from last Sunday in March,
to Saturday before last Sunday in October.

National Illumination Committee of Finland
c/o Suomen Valoteknillinen Seura r.y.
Otakaari 7 B
SF-02150 Espoo
Finland
CIE on the Internet.

 

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