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 Name: Sornfelli Meteorological Station Web site/Other contact points: Abstract All meteorological stations in the islands have until 1999, however, been located below 282 m only covering the coastal region. Therefore, as part of the research project LINK (Linking Land and Sea at the Faroe Islands: Mapping and Understanding North Atlantic Changes), a mountain meteorological station was established at the Sornfelli mountaintop, at 725 m asl. in 1999, to initiate collection of meteorological data in this altitude. The Danish Research Councils North Atlantic programme funded LINK. Continued operation of the station through the research project ?Measurement of the arctic climate on the Faroe Islands? 2001-2003 is funded by the AMP-V programme of the Danish Environmental Protection Agency. The Sornfelli meteorological station is based on innovative technology, with the measuring instruments only periodically exposed from a heated cylinder, protecting them from strong winds and icing conditions and securing a minimum temperature. The station also has a shallow borehole (12 m) for monitoring hourly ground temperatures, and has after the establishment been supplied with two web cameras for hourly snowline and snow depth registration and a sensor to measure the air pressure. The station is operated electronically with modem access allowing remote control and continuous downloading of data. The robust Sornfelli meteorological station has proved successful combating high wind speeds, icing and lightning, with a 95 % data coverage in the year 2000. The mean annual air temperature at Sornfelli was 1.71ºC, and the mean annual wind speed was 6.5 m/s in the year 2000. The dominating wind directions were from southwest, southeast and north. The annual mean lapse rate between Sornfelli and the coast was -0.0077ºC/m. The mean year 2000 wind chill air temperature was -7.07ºC, with the coldest winds primarily coming from the north. With more thawing than freezing degree days at Sornfelli, obviously no permafrost existed in the mountain. Using the Sornfelli mean August air temperature of 6.54ºC and the local August lapse rate of -0.0068ºC/m, the limit between the arctic and temperate climate is located at 216 m asl. in the Sornfelli region in the year 2000. Thus the data from the Sornfelli meteorological station emphasize that about 68 % of the land area of the islands had an arctic climate in the year 2000. The lower limit of the periglacial zone, based on the distribution of periglacial landforms in the Faroe Islands, have previously been located at 250-450 m asl. which corresponds very well with the suggested 200 m asl. lower limit of the low arctic. The maximum potential tree line has been located at 150 - 300 m asl, which largely agree with the lower boundary of the low arctic zone located around 200 m asl. This vertical distribution of climate zones at the Faroe Islands offers a unique setting for monitoring meteorological conditions in the southernmost part of the northern hemisphere low arctic zone. Associated with the operation of the Sornfelli Meteorological monitoring botanical monitoring and soil erosion studies are carried out along an altitudinal gradient on the Sornfelli mountain in sheep exclosures by Anna Maria Fossa, The Faroese Museum of Natural History, Torshavn and Gunnar Bjarnarson, Agricultural Council of the Faroe Islands, Torshavn. Main facility |