ACM24 (FSU component of Deep Basin)

This component of the Deep Basin experiment produced 26 current meter records from 8 moorings. From here you can

• View metadata and/or download current meter records by clicking on links in the table below. Each current meter record is identified in the table by its depth and the name of the mooring.
• Read a brief description of the experiment.
• View a map of the array.
• View a vertical section that shows array details.
• Move up one level to the list of WOCE experiments.

If you download any of the records you should read the note on file format.

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Current meter arrays were deployed in the interior of the basin and across passages that connect the Brazil Basin to neighboring regions. Each array was in the water for approximately two years. We are concerned here with a line of 10 moorings that was placed in the center of the basin, with a roughly east-west alignment (see map), by Florida State University. Eight of the moorings were recovered.

The ACM24 array was designed with two primary goals:

• To observe and quantify the deep circulation, including the deep boundary currents, within the Brazil Basin.
• To observe and quantify spatial and temporal changes of the Brazil Current and its recirculation on scales of up to one year.

All but one of the moorings contained a Russian Potok II current meter at a depth of 900m, and modified Geodyne 101s at 1800m, 2800m, and 100m above the bottom. The remaining mooring contained two Geodynes, one placed 120m above the bottom and the other 7m above the bottom.

Related publications

De Madron, X.D., and G. Weatherly (1994): Circulation, transport and bottom boundary layers of the deep currents in the Brazil Basin. J. Marine Res., 52(4), 583-638.

Mercier, H., G.L. Weatherly and M. Arhan (2000): Bottom water throughflows at the Rio de Janeiro and Rio Grande fracture zones. Geophys. Res. Letters, 27(10), 1505-1506.

Weatherly, G.L., Y.Y. Kim and E.A. Kontar (2000): Eulerian measurements of the North Atlantic Deep Water Deep Western Boundary Current at 18S. J. Phys. Oceanog., 30(5), 971-986.

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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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