Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.2002, Blaðsíða 100
98
ARCTIC MOUNTAIN METEOROLOGY AT THE SORNFELLI MOUNTAIN
IN YEAR 2000 IN THE FAROE ISLANDS
this needed consideration when construct-
ing the station. Icing problems are not as
important as at one of the most extreme ic-
ing settings, at the Mt. Washington Obser-
vatory (44flN, 71flW) at 1917 m asl., New
Hampshire, USA (Whiteman, 2000). How-
ever, ice covers several cm thick were ob-
served on installations at Sornfelli (Mili-
tary personnel Sornfelli).
The extreme nature of hazardous wind
forces is obvious from a hurricane on 21
Dec 1988, when the steel mast of the me-
teorological station at Norðradalsskarð, at
282 m asl. (Fig. 2), was bent (Fig. 4). The
recorded wind speed, when the mast was
bent, was 77.2 rn/s (Poulsen and Brimnes,
1996). In comparison one of the highest
wind speed ever recorded at 104.6 m/s was
registered in 1934 at Mt. Washington
(Pagliuca et al., 1934). Therefore a durable
meteorological station at Sornfelli should
resist harsh mountain weather conditions,
and would need to be equipped with robust
instruments with respect to icing, extreme
wind conditions and lightning.
Figure 3. The Somfelli mountain
plateau showing the installations.
The map is based on surveying by
DGPS in the summer of 1999, by
Anne Marie Norby, LV, in
combination with 1:20000
mapping by tlie Danish Survey and
Cadastre.