Brønnøysund

Audio|Broennoeysund.ogg|Brønnøysund is a town, and former municipality, in Nordland county, Norway.

Brønnøysund was separated from Brønnøy as a town ("ladestad"), and municipality of its own, in 1923. It was again merged with Brønnøy January 1, 1964 - and it then lost its status as a town.

Today it has approximately 5,000 inhabitants, and it is the administrative and commercial centreof the municipality of Brønnøy. A new township was declared in 2000. Brønnøysund has daily visits by the Hurtigruten (Coastal Express),northbound at night and southbound in the afternoon.It has its own airport, Brønnøysund Airport, Brønnøy, and a direct eastbound connection to the E6 highway.Throughout Norway the town is known as the location of the Brønnøysund Register Centre. Creditinform and Dun & Bradstreet are the main commercial spin-offs of this register, in which the new e-government portal ALTINN is the newest addition. Torghatten Trafikkselskap has its headquarter in Brønnøysund.

During the Viking era, Torgar, by the foot of the legendary mountain Torghatten, was a nationally powerful chieftain seat and an important commercial center along the coast. The original inhabitants were wiped out in an outright massacre by Duke Skule and his men in the Norwegian civil wars that raged around 1240, in the high medieval era of Norway.

The region was repopulated by immigrants from southern Norway, Trøndelag and Sweden, which could explain the unique and somewhat odd dialect. In recent years, Brønnøysund has managed to create a certain economic growth. Fjord Seafood originated here, as well as the largest limestone mine in Northern Europe and the highest foodstuff production in Northern Norway are examples of entrepreneurship and well-run economy in this somewhat prosperous region. Additionally, there is a local heliport and an airport, but oddly the authorities had removed the direct flight to the national capital, Oslo, which is causing serious delays to Norwegian flows of documentation, due to one of Europe's least effective postal services.

Modern agriculture, hydroponics, the large TTS transport corporation, wood-processing and tourism are the main driving industries.

Airport

Brønnøysund Airport, Brønnøy is located only about 2 km from the town centre, and is a vital communications link not only for the township, but also for a large region surrounding the town. The airport opened in 1968, providing modern and much needed, time-effective transportation to the region, and making it possible to reach both the capital and medical services within an acceptable timeframe. However, the authorities managed to close down the direct flight to Oslo in 2000, causing serious delays to the general flow of business-critical documents to and from Brønnøysund, and effectively contributing to increased bureaucracy, unwarranted delays and the blunting of economic growth in the region.

It is served by Norway's oldest airline, Widerøe. It is also base for some of the offshore helicopter services, making it possible to exploit the vast petroleum resources offshore.

The site is hosting the production of the NRK series "Himmelblå", a franchise of the British "20 000 Acres of Sky".

Climate

Brønnøysund has a maritime climate with mild winters considering the northerly location, and a long frost-free season ( [http://www.yr.no/place/Norway/Nordland/Br%c3%b8nn%c3%b8y/Br%c3%b8nn%c3%b8ysund/statistics.html ] ). Mean annual temperature is 5.6 °C and average annual precipitation 1,510 mm. Daytime temperatures are usually warmer than the 24hr average from March to October.

{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:90%;width:100%;border:0px;text-align:center;line-height:120%;"! style="background: #99CCCC; color: #000080" height="17" |Month! style="background: #99CCCC; color:#000080;" | Jan! style="background: #99CCCC; color:#000080;" | Feb! style="background: #99CCCC; color:#000080;" | Mar! style="background: #99CCCC; color:#000080;" | Apr! style="background: #99CCCC; color:#000080;" | May! style="background: #99CCCC; color:#000080;" | Jun! style="background: #99CCCC; color:#000080;" | Jul! style="background: #99CCCC; color:#000080;" | Aug! style="background: #99CCCC; color:#000080;" | Sep! style="background: #99CCCC; color:#000080;" | Oct! style="background: #99CCCC; color:#000080;" | Nov! style="background: #99CCCC; color:#000080;" | Dec
-! style="background: #99CCCC; color:#000080;" |Monthly 24-hr avg °C
style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000000;" | -1.1
style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000000;" | -0.6
style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000000;" | 0.9
style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000000;" | 3.7
style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000000;" | 8.4
style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000000;" | 11.2
style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000000;" | 13.1
style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000000;" | 13.0
style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000000;" | 9.8
style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000000;" | 6.6
style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000000;" | 2.2
style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000000;" | -0.1
-! style="background: #99CCCC; color:#000080;" |Avg precipitation mm
style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000000;" | 138
style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000000;" | 102
style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000000;" | 114
style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000000;" | 97
style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000000;" | 66
style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000000;" | 83
style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000000;" | 113
style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000000;" | 123
style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000000;" | 180
style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000000;" | 192
style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000000;" | 145
style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000000;" | 157
-
colspan="14" style="text-align:center;font-size:90%;"|"Source: [http://met.no/observasjoner/nordland/normaler_for_kommune_1813.html?kommuner Norwegian Meteorological Institute] All data is for Brønnøysund town (5 m a.m.s.l.), base period 1961 - 90, temperatures have tended to be warmer in recent years

External links

* [http://www.avinor.no/Norsk/Lufthavner/Bronnoysund_lufthavn/ Brønnøysund Airport, Brønnøy]
* [http://www.spacemart.com/reports/Northrop_Grumman_Park_Air_Systems_Wins_Air_Traffic_Control_Industry_Award_For_Satellite_Based_Landing_System_999.html Brønnøysund Airport - the first in the world to use satellite based landing guidance for passenger flights]
* [http://www.brreg.no/english/ Brønnøysund Register Centre]
* [http://www.danamorris.net/bronnoy/norge2007.html Images of the Brønnøysund Area, Dana Morris]