Jökull - 01.12.1993, Qupperneq 4

This paper presents a study of the spatial and tem-
poral temperature pattern during this century in Ice-
land and the neighbouring areas in and around the
North-Atlantic Ocean.
DATA COLLECTION
In Iceland, 7 selected weather stations have been
in continuous operation during the period 1901-1990.
For comparison of temperature conditions in Iceland
during this period, 16 North-Atlantic weather stations
were chosen (Figure 1). The geographical distribu-
tion of the stations allows comparison to the north,
west, and east of Iceland but the lack of North-Atlantic
weather reports to the south of Iceland, makes compar-
ison almost impossible in that direction. The selected
stations and the available obervation periods are
follows:
Station: Period:
ICELAND Reykjavík 1901-1990
Stykkishólmur 1901-1990
Grímsey 1901-1990
Akureyri 1901-1990
Teigarhorn 1901-1990
Vestmannaeyjar 1901-1990
Stórinúpur/Hæll 1901-1990
FAEROES Thorshavn 1901-1990
NORWAY Bergen 1901-1990
Nordöyan fyr 1901-1990
Bodö 1901-1990
Tromsö 1901-1990
Vardö 1901-1990
Björnöya 1920-1990
Hopen 1946-1990
Isfjord radio 1912-1990
Jan Mayen 1922-1990
GREENLAND Scoresbysund 1925-1990
Angmagssalik 1901-1990
Ivigtut 1901-1960
Godthaab/Nuuk 1901-1990
Jakobshavn 1901-1990
Upernavik 1901-1980
Figure 2. Annual mean temperature in the eastern N-
Atlantic, 1925-1990, in °C. —Ársmeðalhitiá austan-
verðu Norður-Atlantshafi árin 1925-1990, í0 C.
Most of the temperature data was collected from
the published climatological reports of the Danish and
Norwegian Meteorological Institutes (see reference
list). Some unpublished observations were kindly pro-
vided from the same national climatological divisions.
Further, data for some of the Norwegian Arctic sta-
tions were collected from the work "The Climate at
Norwegian Arctic Stations" (Steffensen, 1982).
Four stations to the north of Iceland started ob-
servations in the years 1912-1925 (Björnöya, Isfjord
radio, Jan Mayen, Scoresbysund/Kap Tobin), and not
until 1946 at Hopen. Therefore, records for all the 23
weather stations can be compared for the period 1925-
1990 if one estimates the temperature values at three
of the stations (Ivigtut, Upernavik, Hopen) for parts
of this period. The study of the period 1901-1990 is
based on records for 20 stations.
MEAN TEMPERATURE 1925-1990
Figure 2 shows annual mean temperatures in the
eastern North-Atlantic region for the period 1925-
1990. The region from S-Greenland to Svalbard is
2 JÖKULL, No. 43, 1993