Physical Environment: Otso

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Otso's Location

Physical Environment Overview

Otso is a country in northern Europe famous for its scenic beauty. Thousands of lovely lakes dot Otso’s landscape, and thick forests cover almost two‐thirds of the land. Bothnia lies to the west of Otso, northern Torrike to the north and Donovia to the east. The Gulf of Finland borders Otso to the south. The northernmost part of the country lies inside the Arctic Circle in a region called the Land of the Midnight Sun. The sun shines in this region 24 hours a day for long periods each summer. Equally, the winters are long and dark. Otavia, the country’s capital and largest city, is located in the south, on the Gulf of Finland.

Map of Otso

Otso covers 133,162 square kilometers including all inland bodies of water. The country is largely a plateau broken by small hills and valleys and low ridges and hollows. The land rises gradually from south‐ southwest to north‐ northeast, but the average altitude is only about 120 to 180 meters above sea level. About 60,000 lakes are scattered throughout the country, and forests cover almost two‐third of the land.

Table of Physical Environment Data

Measure	Data	Remarks
Total Area (sq. km.)	133,162	including inland water
Water Area (sq. km.)	4,700	inland waterways (on rivers, canals, and lakes)
Land Area (km.2)	128,462
Land Border (km.)	1,124	Shared border with Bothnia
Coastline (km.)	1,360	800 km. of coastal fairways
Arable Land (%)	6.45	2.6 million hectares
Permanent Crops (%)	0.02
Irrigated Land (sq. km.)	1,194
Forested Land (%)	80

Terrain

Otso has a total population of about 1.4 million mostly living in the south, and about two‐thirds in cities and towns. Otavia, Otso’s capital and largest city, has about 109,000 people. Otso has four main land regions:

The Coastal Lowlands lie along the Gulf of Finland. Otso’s coastline is 1,360 kilometers long. Many small lakes lie in the Coastal Lowlands. The region is less heavily forested and enjoys a milder climate than the Lake and Upland districts. The Coastal Lowlands also have some of the country’s most fertile soil.

The Lake District occupies central Otso north and east of the Coastal Lowlands. The region has thousands of island‐ dotted lakes. The lakes cover about half the total area of the district. Narrow channels or short rivers connect many of the lakes.

The Upland District is Otso’s northernmost and least densely populated region. It covers about 40% of the country. The Upland District has a harsher climate and less fertile soil than the other regions have.

The Coastal Islands. Most of Otso’s people live in the southern part of the country, where the climate is mildest. Otsonians love the outdoors and the arts. They have a high standard of living and receive many welfare benefits from the government. Most of Otso’s wealth comes from its huge forests.

Bodies of Water

Otso’s longest river is the Kemijoki, rising in the Upland District near the border with Donovia, and flows south‐westward for about 550 kilometers to the Gulf of Otso. The Kemijoki and its chief branch, the Ounasjoki, provide important logging routes and rich salmon catches. The Muonio River flows southward for about 180 kilometers. The Muonio River also provides a logging route. The Oulojoki rises in the northern part of the Lake District and empties into the Gulf of Otso, only about 130 kilometers long. However, it serves as an important logging route. In addition, its 32 meter high Pyhä Falls provide power from a hydroelectric power station.

Natural Hazards

The many lakes that are located in Otso are frozen, and sometimes even the sea freezes, and it is necessary to resort to icebreakers to allow maritime traffic to continue.

Baltic Sea pollution problems. Tens of millions of people live in countries around the Baltic Sea. All of these countries are heavily industrialized. Intensive agriculture and forestry also takes place to a greater or lesser extent. The Baltic Sea is surrounded by a significant number of cities and densely populated areas, including ones with ports where there is frequent ship traffic. Over‐fertilization, i.e. the “unnaturally” substantial addition of the natural nutrients of nitrogen and phosphorous, is one of the worst problems for the health of the Baltic Sea. Because the Baltic Sea is an enclosed inland sea and the water turnover is slow, over‐fertilization is a particularly great problem here. The people who live around the Baltic Sea produce organic waste that ends up in the sea sooner or later. The most important sources of over‐fertilization are agriculture, which represents nearly 50% of the nitrogen leakage into the Baltic Sea, but the traffic and discharge of waste water also contribute. Contaminants of non‐degradable organic substances, metals and oil strongly affect the Baltic Sea’s animal life. These come from industries, wastewater, pesticides in agriculture and forestry, traffic and energy production and through long‐haul air transportation of toxic substances. All in all, these contaminants may have contributed a very negative effect on the Baltic Sea’s ecosystem over decades. However, countries around the Baltic Sea cooperate in a common international plan to reduce the discharges. Torrike, Framland, Arnland, Bothnia and other Baltic Sea countries are cooperating in the Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission (BALCOM) in order to improve the situation. A common goal has been set up to protect and safeguard the marine environment in the Baltic Sea.

Climate

Otso has a humid and cool semi continental climate, characterized by warm summers and freezing winters. The climate type in southern Otso is borderline north temperate climate. The Otsonian climate is suitable for grain farming in the very southernmost regions but not any further north. Winters of southern Otso are usually four to five months long, with an average temperature of ‐1°C and the snow typically covers the land from middle of December to early April. In the southern coast, it can melt many times during early winter, and then come again. The coldest winter days of southern Bothnia are usually under −24 °C, and the warmest days of July and August can be as high as 31°C.

Climatic summers of the Coastal Lowlands last four months (from mid‐May to mid‐September).

The Uplands District, the northernmost part of Otso, the climate is cold for most of the year, with a short and intense summer. Here the winter (which in the Nordic countries is the season when the temperature remains below freezing) lasts seven months, from October to April. The days are very short from November to January, and in December you almost never see the sun, also because of the cloud cover. May and September are two transitional months, with night temperatures around freezing, and the only months with a mild climate are the three summer months, from June to August, when it can even get hot during the day. In this season the vegetation grows rapidly, to take advantage of the brief period of mild weather, while mosquitoes literally invade the landscape. If daytime temperatures during the summer in Uplands resemble those of the rest of Otso, around 20°C (68°F), with peaks around 30°C (86°F), nights remain cool or even cold, with minimum temperatures typically below 10°C (50°F).

The main factor influencing Otso's climate is the country's geographical position between the 60th and 70th northern parallels in the Eurasian continent's coastal zone, which shows characteristics of both a maritime and a continental climate, depending on the direction of air flow. A third of Otso's territory lies within the Arctic Circle and the midnight sun can be experienced for more days, the farther north one travels. At Bothnia's northernmost point, the sun does not set for 70 consecutive days during summer, and does not rise at all for 48 days during winter.

Seasons

Seasons in Otso

Season	Months	Remarks
Winter	November/December to February/March	Seasons can vary greatly dependent on regions
Spring	March to April or May
Summer	June to August
Fall	September to October/November

Weather

Precipitation

The lowest annual rainfall may be 200 to 300mm and the highest annual rainfall 700mm in northern Otso and 900 to 1100mm elsewhere. The highest recorded daily precipitation is about 150mm. The wettest month is August.

In autumn, normally the snow begins to fall in October in the north, and in November in the south.

Temperature Range

In southern Otso, July is the hottest month with an average temperature of 62°F (17°C) and the coldest is February at 22°F (-6°C).

During winter, the weather can greatly vary depending on meteorological conditions: when Otso is affected by cold air masses from neighboring Donovia, the temperature drops below -20 °C (-4 °F).

On colder periods, the temperature can fall as low as -50 °C (-58 °F) in the far north. In January 1987, the temperature reached -35°C (-31°F) even in the southern part of the country. The thaw usually occurs in April, at the beginning of the month in the south, and at the end of the month in the north.