 THE SEA AROUND THE FAROE ISLANDA - See map here Archipelago with many islands | The Faroes are an archipelago with many islands, which are separated by sounds and indented by fjords. Two linked current systems | The seas around the Faroe Islands are dominated by two linked current systems. At depth | At depth, cold waters flow from northern areas past the Faroe Islands southwestwards into the North Atlantic Ocean. The upper layers | The return flow in the upper layers brings warm Atlantic water northwards. This Atlantic water dominates most of the upper layers in the Faroese sea area and makes the region exceptionally warm for its latitude. Fjords and sounds separate the islands | In the shallowest parts, fjords and sounds separate and indent the islands. Where fjords go far into land and receive much freshwater runoff, the water circulation establishes conditions which are very favorable to biological production, but in some sill fjords, stagnation of the bottom layer in summer may induce low oxygen conditions. The marine ecosystem | The marine ecosystem in Faroese waters shows close links from the primary production by microscopic algae to top predators such as cod. Large variations are seen in primary production from year to year, with the zooplankton species Calanus Finmarchicus apparently playing an important role. Environmental impacts | Except for very localized coastal effects, environmental impacts in Faroese waters are mainly from long-range transported pollutants that derive from Europe or North America. Research | The Faroese Fisheries Laboratory and the Food, Veterinary and Environmental Agency carry out research on fisheries and the marine environment. SOUNDS AND FJORDS Open fjords | Some of the fjords are also so open to the sea, that they are like an extension of the shelf water, but some of the deep fjords are changed by the freshwater brought into them from rivers and precipitation. Very favorable conditions | In these fjords, the circulation system creates conditions which are very favorable for the growth and reproduction of the microscopic plants, phytoplankton, that are the basis for almost all the other living creatures in the sea. Reduction of the oxygen in a few fjords | A few of the fjords have sills at the entrance, which may block the renewal of deep water during summer and there, the decay of dead organisms and their remains may reduce the oxygen content of the deepest waters drastically. TIDAL INFORMATION - See map here Tidal forces | Like the rest of the World Ocean, the waters around the Faroes are pushed and pulled by the tidal forces created by the moon and the sun. The Faroes are located on the boundary between two ocean basins, the Atlantic Ocean and the Norwegian Sea, and are affected by the tidal current systems of both. Different characteristics | Therefore, the tides change very mush from one area of the Faore shelf to another. This has the consequence that there may be a considerable difference in tidal characteristics from one end of a sound to another. In some cases, there can be a delay of more than an hour between the times of ebb and flood in both ends. In other cases, the tidal range may be quite different in the two ends. Strong tidal currents | Both of these effects will make the sea-level slope through the sound at certain periods of the tidal cycle and that creates strong tidal currents, just like in a river. In extreme cases, current speeds exceeding 5 m/s (10 knots) are experienced, and expert knowledge of the tide has always been and still remains a necessity for the successful fisherman or navigator. |
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Sea angling in the Faroe Islands Useful coastal information
