Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.2002, Qupperneq 97

ARKTISKA FJALLAVEÐRIÐ f 2000 Á SORNFELLI
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signifícantly in the latter half of the 20th
century (Jones and Briffa, 1992; Mann,
2000; Hansen and Østerhus, 2000; Hansen
et ai, 2001), which makes this an important
area for global change research, past and
present. In the high relief topography of the
Faroe Islands a cool temperate oceanic cli-
mate at the coast grades into an arctic cli-
mate in the mountains, where periglacial
landforms are found. Therefore, it becomes
possible to study the dynamics of the tem-
perate/subarctic-low arctic boundary in the
Faroese mountains. However, the official
net of meteorological stations run by the
Danish Meteorological Institute, DMI,
(DMI, 2002) and the Faroese Office of Pub-
lic Works, LV, (LV, 2002) only operates in
the coastal region below 282 m asl. The
area above 282 m asl. represents more than
50% of the total area of the Faroe Islands
(Fig.l). To improve the knowledge of the
lower atmosphere interactions with the
Faroese highlands, a robust meteorological
station was established on the Sornfelli
mountain summit in November 1999.
This paper presents the design of the
Somfelli meteorological station, located
722 m asl. at 62fl04’02"N, 06fl58'06"W, and
data from the first full year of operation in
2000, as the fírst high altitude dataset from
the Faroe Islands, with air temperature,
wind direction and wind speed. The air
temperature data are used for an annual
analysis of the lapse rate between Sornfelli
and the coast. The Sornfelli station also has
a shallow borehole for monitoring ground
temperature, and was later supplied with
two web cameras for snow cover registra-
tion and a sensor to measure the air pres-
sure. None of these installations and their
data are discussed in this paper, as they all
only started operating during the year 2000.
Meteorological and climatological
conditions of the Faroe Islands
The area of the Faroe Islands is 1397 km2,
and they are located between 61°20’N and
62°24'N and 6°15’W and 7°41’W. The
highlands rise gradually to rolling plateaus
400-600 m asl. in the southern part of the
islands, while the steep alpine mountains of
the northern and northeastern areas reach
above 800 meters, with 882 m asl. at the
highest mountain peak, Slættaratindur. The
average altitude is 282 m asl. The western
and northern seaward facing coasts have
steep headwalls, up to 720 m high, while
eastern and southern facing coasts are more
gently sloping into the sea.
The climate of the Faroe Islands has an
oceanic character and is characterised as
humid, unsettled and windy, with a small
annual temperature amplitude, due to the
influence of the North Atlantic Drift and
frequent passages of cyclones from the
south and west along the polar frontal zone
(Cappelen and Laursen, 1998). The meteo-
rological seasonality at the Faroes is pri-
marily controlled by the location of the po-
lar frontal zone. In summers the Azores
High often is displaced northwards towards
the islands, causing relatively warm and
stable weather for weeks, whereas in winter
cold air from northerly areas reach the is-
lands with snowfall and lrost occurring,
when the polar frontal zone moves south of
the islands. Snow covers the ground for 44
days in Torshavn, close lo sea level (Cap-