Abstract
This report is intended to give a brief update on monitoring of the Faroe Current and the Faroe Bank Channel overflow. Both flows were successfully monitored from summer 2018 to summer 2019 and updated time series of transport and properties for the complete monitoring periods are presented.
For the Faroe Current, an optimized monitoring system has been designed, which should ensure high quality future monitoring if the necessary funding for implementation is acquired. Experiments have also been carried out to reduce the uncertainties in previously calculated transports, but the new algorithms await updated satellite altimetry data for the complete in situ observational period and will be produced in early 2020. Preliminary time series of volume, relative heat, and salt transports for the Atlantic water in the Faroe Current continue to show a high degree of stability. All of the transport series had positive trends, but only heat transport (relative to 0°C) had a trend that was significantly higher than zero.
The volume transport of Faroe Bank Channel overflow also remained highly stable from summer 2018 to summer 2019, whereas the bottom temperature close to the deepest part of the sill continued to increase. Since high-accuracy monitoring of this temperature was initiated in summer 2001, the bottom water of the channel has warmed by ≈ 0.2°C. A new initiative in 2018 was the deployment of equipment for bottom temperature logging on the Faroese slope of the channel at a depth where the interface hits the bottom. The temperature at this site was found to vary with the magnitude of the overflow, as expected.
Monitoring in the 2018-2019 period has been supported by the FARMON II project, which has been funded by the Danish Ministry of Climate, Energy and Utilities as part of the Arctic Climate Support Programme. Support for processing and analysis has also been gained from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no. 727852 (Blue-Action).
For the Faroe Current, an optimized monitoring system has been designed, which should ensure high quality future monitoring if the necessary funding for implementation is acquired. Experiments have also been carried out to reduce the uncertainties in previously calculated transports, but the new algorithms await updated satellite altimetry data for the complete in situ observational period and will be produced in early 2020. Preliminary time series of volume, relative heat, and salt transports for the Atlantic water in the Faroe Current continue to show a high degree of stability. All of the transport series had positive trends, but only heat transport (relative to 0°C) had a trend that was significantly higher than zero.
The volume transport of Faroe Bank Channel overflow also remained highly stable from summer 2018 to summer 2019, whereas the bottom temperature close to the deepest part of the sill continued to increase. Since high-accuracy monitoring of this temperature was initiated in summer 2001, the bottom water of the channel has warmed by ≈ 0.2°C. A new initiative in 2018 was the deployment of equipment for bottom temperature logging on the Faroese slope of the channel at a depth where the interface hits the bottom. The temperature at this site was found to vary with the magnitude of the overflow, as expected.
Monitoring in the 2018-2019 period has been supported by the FARMON II project, which has been funded by the Danish Ministry of Climate, Energy and Utilities as part of the Arctic Climate Support Programme. Support for processing and analysis has also been gained from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no. 727852 (Blue-Action).
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Type | Havstovan Technical Report |
| Publisher | Havstovan - Faroe Marine Research Institute |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Place of Publication | Tórshavn |
| Edition | 05 |
| Volume | 19 |
| Publication status | Published - Dec 2019 |
Publication series
| Name | Havstovan Technical Reports |
|---|
