Denmark Strait Overflow (ACM8)

This portion of the database contains 118 current meter records from 44 moorings. We have included here records from a number of moorings that were installed and recovered long before the official start of the WOCE project, but that in fact were part of a single, extended experiment that later acquired WOCE designation. You can view metadata and download the records by clicking on links in the tables below. A brief description of the experiment also is available. Each current meter record is identified below by its depth and the name of the mooring. You may want to look at a map of the array first to see where the moorings were. If you download any of the current meter records you should review the note on file format. From here you can also move up one level to the list of WOCE experiments.

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Beginning in September 1986, three linear arrays of current meter moorings were set normal to the Greenland Slope ( see map) with the specific aim of measuring downstream changes in speed, transport, and entrainment associated with this current. All of the moorings were instrumented with Aanderaa current meters; the longest records are about a year in length. The last meters in this component of ACM8 were recovered in August 1999.

Related publications

Dickson, R.R., E.M. Gmitrowicz, and A.J. Watson (1990): Deep-water renewal in the northern North Atlantic. Nature, 344(6269), 848-850.

Dickson, R.R., and Juan Brown (1994): The production of North Atlantic Deep Water: Sources, rates, and pathways. J. Geophys. Res., 99(C6), 12319-12,341.

Dickson, R.R., J. Meinke, I. Vassie, J. Jungclaus and S. Osterhus (1999): Possible predictability in overflow from the Denmark Strait. Nature, 397(6716), 243-246.

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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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