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... that the Faroe Islands are situated at 62°N and 7°W in the middle of
the North Atlantic Ocean, northwest of Scotland and halfway between Iceland and
Norway.
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... that the Faroes consist of 18 islands
plus a substantial number of islets and skerries.
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| … that the islands cover 1399 km2 (545.3 sq miles).
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… that the Faroe Islands are 113 km (70 miles) long and 75 km
(47 miles) wide.
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… that the average height above sea level for the country is
300 m (982 ft). The highest peak, Slættaratindur, is 882 m (2883 ft) above sea
level.
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… that you are never more than 5 km (3 miles) away from the
ocean in the Faroes.
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| ... that there are 1100 km (687 miles) of coastline. |
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... that with their volcanic origin the 18 islands are rugged
and rocky. The landscape is often referred to as “otherworldly”. It is dominated
by steep mountains, deep valleys, narrow fjords and sounds. Some call it “the
Gran Canyon of the North Atlantic”, others “the Lord of the Rings Country”.
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... that the west coast is characterized by steep slopes, sea
stacks and bird cliffs, that in the summertime are full of nesting seabirds such
as puffins. |
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that the highest birdcliff in the world is located in the Faroe Islands. The
northernmost point on the Faroes – Cape Enniberg – is with its 754 m above sea
level the highest vertical cliff (promontory), facing the sea, in the world. It
is more than twice as high as the Empire State Building in New York. |
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... that, according to Guinness World Records, Vatnajökull is
the object of the world's longest sight line, 550 km from Slættaratindur, the
highest mountain in the Faroe Islands (882 m). GWR state that "owing to the
light bending effects of atmospheric refraction, Vatnajökull (2119m), Iceland,
can sometimes be seen from the Faroe Islands, 340 miles (550km) away".
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... that the Faroes themselves
and their shelf area are the remnants of a volcanic area evolved
during the lower tertiary. The rock is basalt with intermittent
layers of tufa. The Faroes constitute part of the ridge
stretching from Scotland to Greenland, which again constitutes
the border between the colder Norwegian Sea and the warmer
Central Atlantic. |
| ... that the exclusive economic zone stretching to 200 nautical miles or the
mid-lines towards Iceland and the Shetland Islands comprises ab. 308.000 km².The
Faroe shelf with depths less than 200 m comprises ab. 20.000 km² while depths
less than 100 m only constitute ab. 5.400 km². Depth of less than 500 m comprise
ab. 43.000 km². |
| ... that to the southwest of the Faroes there are banks, more or less shaped as
seamounts. On the Faroe Bank, separated from the main shelf by the more than 800
m deep Faroe Bank Channel, are about 100 m deep. Further
towards the soutwest are Bill Bailey´s Bank, about 200m and Lousey Bank, ab. 300
m. |
| ... that the sea bottom is very varied from mud in fjords and sounds to bedrock,
where strong currents prevail. |
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