Monitoring the Faroe Current using altimetry and coastal sea-level data

Abstract

The possibility of using a coastal sea-level measurement program to compute flows in the Faroe Current (FC), north of the Faroe Islands, is studied using 3 years of Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler data together with water-level data at Tórshavn in the Faroes, and altimetry data from a region to the north of the islands. A significant correlation is found between the sea-level rise across the FC and both the flow of Atlantic water and the total flow. Based on this correlation, linear algorithms are suggested between the surface slope and the flows. A seasonality is found in open-ocean sea-level from altimetry, steric heights from hydrography and the coastal sea-level, all having a minimum in early March when the observed inflows are at a maximum.