WOCE Component ACM6

This experiment produced 42 current meter records from 8 moorings. You can view metadata and download the 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. If you download any of the records you should review the note on file format. A brief description of the experiment also is available. You may 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.

mooringinstr depthinstr typedatesmetadatadownload
1121 381 meters Aanderaa RCM5 01 Aug 93 - 11 Sep 93 view metadata download record
1121 785 meters Aanderaa RCM5 01 Aug 93 - 21 Aug 93 view metadata download record
1121 1391 meters Aanderaa RCM5 01 Aug 93 - 05 Sep 94 view metadata download record
1122 330 meters Aanderaa RCM5 01 Aug 93 - 01 Jul 95 view metadata download record
1122 734 meters Aanderaa RCM5 01 Aug 93 - 01 Jul 95 view metadata download record
1122 1440 meters Aanderaa RCM5 01 Aug 93 - 01 Jul 95 view metadata download record
1123 346 meters Aanderaa RCM5 11 Aug 93 - 03 May 95 view metadata download record
1123 751 meters Aanderaa RCM5 02 Aug 93 - 03 May 95 view metadata download record
1123 1456 meters Aanderaa RCM5 02 Aug 93 - 03 May 95 view metadata download record
1123 2461 meters Aanderaa RCM5 02 Aug 93 - 02 Apr 95 view metadata download record
1123 3162 meters Aanderaa RCM5 02 Aug 93 - 03 May 95 view metadata download record
1124 381 meters Aanderaa RCM5 02 Aug 93 - 30 Jun 95 view metadata download record
1124 786 meters Aanderaa RCM5 02 Aug 93 - 30 Jun 95 view metadata download record
1124 1492 meters Aanderaa RCM5 02 Aug 93 - 30 Jun 95 view metadata download record
1124 2497 meters Aanderaa RCM5 02 Aug 93 - 30 Jun 95 view metadata download record
1124 3494 meters Aanderaa RCM5 02 Aug 93 - 02 Jul 95 view metadata download record
1124 3794 meters Aanderaa RCM5 02 Aug 93 - 02 Jul 95 view metadata download record
1125 377 meters Aanderaa RCM5 03 Aug 93 - 01 Mar 95 view metadata download record
1125 782 meters Aanderaa RCM5 03 Aug 93 - 01 Mar 95 view metadata download record
1125 1488 meters Aanderaa RCM5 03 Aug 93 - 01 Mar 95 view metadata download record
1125 2493 meters Aanderaa RCM5 03 Aug 93 - 01 Mar 95 view metadata download record
1125 3490 meters Aanderaa RCM5 03 Aug 93 - 01 Mar 95 view metadata download record
1125 4292 meters Aanderaa RCM5 03 Aug 93 - 01 Mar 95 view metadata download record
1126 409 meters Aanderaa RCM5 04 Aug 93 - 02 May 95 view metadata download record
1126 814 meters Aanderaa RCM5 04 Aug 93 - 02 May 95 view metadata download record
1126 1519 meters Aanderaa RCM5 04 Aug 93 - 02 May 95 view metadata download record
1126 2518 meters Aanderaa RCM5 04 Aug 93 - 19 Aug 94 view metadata download record
1126 3509 meters Aanderaa RCM5 04 Aug 93 - 02 May 95 view metadata download record
1126 4006 meters Aanderaa RCM5 04 Aug 93 - 02 Sep 94 view metadata download record
1126 4601 meters Aanderaa RCM5 04 Aug 93 - 02 May 95 view metadata download record
1127 374 meters Aanderaa RCM5 04 Aug 93 - 27 Feb 95 view metadata download record
1127 779 meters Aanderaa RCM5 04 Aug 93 - 28 Nov 94 view metadata download record
1127 2488 meters Aanderaa RCM8 04 Aug 93 - 27 Feb 95 view metadata download record
1127 3486 meters Aanderaa RCM8 04 Aug 93 - 27 Feb 95 view metadata download record
1127 3988 meters Aanderaa RCM5 04 Aug 93 - 18 Nov 94 view metadata download record
1127 4686 meters Aanderaa RCM5 04 Aug 93 - 27 Feb 95 view metadata download record
1128 416 meters Aanderaa RCM5 05 Aug 93 - 01 May 95 view metadata download record
1128 821 meters Aanderaa RCM5 05 Aug 93 - 01 May 95 view metadata download record
1128 1526 meters Aanderaa RCM8 05 Aug 93 - 01 May 95 view metadata download record
1128 3528 meters Aanderaa RCM8 05 Aug 93 - 01 May 95 view metadata download record
1128 4029 meters Aanderaa RCM5 05 Aug 93 - 01 May 95 view metadata download record
1128 4788 meters Aanderaa RCM5 05 Aug 93 - 01 May 95 view metadata download record

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Description of WOCE component ACM6

ACM6 was a Boundary Current Array. The principal goal of ACM6 was to measure the volume transport and heat flux of the North Atlantic Current, which is the western boundary current of the North Atlantic subtropical gyre. These were the first long-term moored measurements of this important part of the global ocean circulation.

Measurements were made with Aanderaa RCM5 and RCM8 current meters. The moorings formed a linear array extending from the Grand Banks of Newfoundland (see map) southeastward into deep water. Depending on the depth of the water, instruments were placed at design depths of 400m, 800m, 1500m, 2500m, 3500m, 4000m, and 100m above the bottom. In most cases the shallowest two instruments measured speed, direction, temperature, pressure and conductivity. Deeper instruments measured speed, direction, temperature, and in some cases pressure. The records that CMDAC has acquired contain salinity rather than conductivity.

Reference

Clarke, R.A., R.M. Hendry, I. Yashayaev and D.R. Watts (1998): A western boundary current meter array in the North Atlantic near 42N. International WOCE Newsletter #33, pp 33-34.

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Format of the current records

These files have been compressed with the ZIP compression utility. After downloading them, you will need to expand them. On a PC that is running Microsoft Windows, WinZip or Pkunzip will do the job. Under Linux, gunzip will expand these files. Other utilities are available for the UNIX and Macintosh environments (for example, unzip and/or gunzip are present on most UNIX systems). After expansion, you will have binary files in the netCDF format.

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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