Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.2002, Page 98

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ARCTIC MOUNTAIN METEOROLOGY AT THE SORNFELLI MOUNTAIN
IN YEAR 2000 IN THE FAROE ISLANDS
7V
Slatturuliiuiur
Streymoyi
Mykines A
>Skæliogsf|ail
Noróoyggjar
^Eysturoy
^Nolsoy' ’
KolturN
Hestu^
Kaldbaksbi
•m '
Sornl'elli
Kaldbak';

irrtradalssl
IVorðradali
■ 62'N
4 km

Skúvoy%WSand°y
kStora Dimun
• Litla Dímun
BQ km
Faroe v N
Islands »-Sliðuroy
0 20 40 ^ 60
> = Metcorological station
Figure 2. The location ofthe Sornfelli Mountain on the island Streymoy in the central part of the Faroe Islands.
Based on maps by the Danish Survey and Cadastre.
pelen and Laursen, 1998), but not as a sta-
ble winter snow cover, such as can be ob-
served at sheltered sites in the mountains.
The climatological normals for the last
WMO standard period 1961-1990 in the
Faroe Islands are presented in Table 1,
based on 3 synoptical weather stations all
located below 101 m asl. (Cappelen and
Laursen, 1998). These observations and the
general mapping of the Koppen climate
types (Ahrens, 2000; Koppen, 1918) char-
acterise the Faroese climate as a Cfc cli-
mate, a moist mild mid-latitude climate
with cool summers. However, no systemat-
ic long-term meteorological recordings ex-
ist above 282 m asl. Humlum and Chris-
tiansen (1998a) presented two years of near
surface air temperature measurements from
different altitudes in the northern part of the
Faroe Islands, and reported a mean annual
air temperature (MAAT) of 0.8°C at 856 m
asl. for 1996-1997. Data from the same
area, but for the recent 1996-2001, five-
year period, show a MAAT based on mean
monthly air temperatures (MMAT) of
1,2°C at 856 m asl. (Christiansen and Hum-
lum, submitted).
This implies that during cold intervals of
the Little Ice Age, nominally the period AD
1400 to 1900 (Kreutz etal., 1997), the low-
er limit for periglacial activity may tem-
porarily have approached sea level, sintul-
taneously with incipient establishment of
sporadic permafrost in the highlands, when
presumably a number of sites in the highest
mountains approached reglaciation (Hum-
lum and Christiansen, 1998b). Therefore
the collection of present day meteorologi-
cal information from the Faroese highlands
is essential to modelling former conditions
in this arctic zone.