STACS-10 (a precursor to ACM1)

This experiment produced 14 current meter records from 3 moorings. You can view metadata and download the records by clicking on links in the table below, where each record is identified by its depth and the name of the mooring. If you do download any of the current meter records you should review the note on file format. A brief description of the experiment is available here, and you may also want to look at a map of the array to see where the moorings were. From here you can also move up one level to the list of WOCE experiments.

(If you are interested in STACS-10, you may also want to look at current records from the non-WOCE STACS-11 array, which was located off the northeast coast of Brazil. Click here to reach STACS-11.)

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The STACS-10 records included here were produced by the third of five consecutive current meter arrays that were deployed off Abaco Island in the subropical western Atlantic (see map). The five arrays covered a 7-year period beginning in 1986 and were designed to provide insight into climate-relevant flow transients in the western bounday current. Only the final two mooring arrays, which span the period from June 1990 through June 1993, have been designated ACM1; however,we hope eventually to include all five arrays in this database.

STACS is an acronym standing for Subtropical Atlantic Climate Studies. The current meter data will be used together with ongoing cable-derived transports of the Florida Current to estimate the volume and heat transport of the thermohaline circulation at 26 deg N.

The moorings were instrumented with Aanderaa current meters and VACMs. All of the meters measured current speed and direction, and temperature. The top one or two meters at each mooring also measured pressure.

Related publications

Zantopp R.J., T.N.Lee and W.E.Johns (1990): Moored current meter observations east of Abaco, Bahamas, at 26.5 deg N (STACS-10 Array). University of Miami RSMAS Technical Report 90-002, 10 pp.

Lee, T.N., W.E. Johns, R.J. Zantopp and E.R. Fillenbaum (1996): Moored observations of Western Boundary Current variability and thermocline circulation at 26.5N in the subtropical North Atlantic. J. Phys. Oceanog., 26(6), 962-983.

Johns, W.E., T.N. Lee, R.J. Zantopp and E. Fillenbaum (1997): Updated transatlantic heat flux at 26.5N. International WOCE Newsletter, 27, 15-22.

Fillenbaum, E.R., T.N. Lee, W.E. Johns and R.J. Zantopp (1997): Meridional heat transport variability at 26.5N in the North Atlantic. J. Phys. Oceanog., 27(1), 153-174.

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netCDF is a self-documenting format that can be accessed by a variety of software tools. We have included here a Matlab script that can be used to read netCDF current records in an environment that contains the Matlab/netCDF interface created by CSIRO. You can click here to learn more about netCDF.

We are aware that users who are unfamiliar with netCDF or who lack software to deal with it, may find the netCDF format more a deterrent than an aid to effective use of the data. We have included in this CDROM set a second disk that is identical to this one, except that the current meter records have OSU's "Stranger" format. The Stranger format, like netCDF, is self-documenting but utilizes the ASCII code. It is easily readable by both humans and computers; you may find it preferable to netCDF.

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