ICM3 (Indian Ocean at 20 deg South)

This experiment produced 56 current meter records from 19 moorings. You can view metadata and/or download the records by clicking on links in the table below. A brief description of the experiment also is available. Each record is identified in the table by its depth and the name of the mooring. You may want to look at a map of the array to see where the moorings were. If you download any of the files you should review the note on file format. From here you can also move up one level to the list of WOCE experiments.

This disk also contains a copy of the electronic data report that the OSU Buoy Group prepared for ICM3. You will find time series plots, spectra, histograms, progressive vector diagrams, statistics, etc. in the data report. Click here to reach the ICM3 data report.

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Brief description of the Experiment

The ICM3 array was designed to aid the development of a description of the water characteristics, velocity structure and transport of the three systems of deep western boundary currents in the Indian Ocean. The boundary currents carry water of Antarctic origin northward into the three major basins of the Indian Ocean. Knowledge of their transports will provide direct information about the overturning rate of the Indian Ocean.

The three components of ICM3 span the western portions of the Mascarene Basin (West Array), the Central Indian Basin (Central Array) and the West Australian Basin (East Array) from a nominal depth of about 2500 m to 100 m off the bottom (see map). The moorings were deployed between 5 May and 1 June, 1995 on the WOCE Hydrographic Programme line I3 conducted by R/V Knorr. They were recovered between 16 January and 6 February by the R/V Melville. Each array instruments a zonal section at 20 degrees South. A diagram that shows details of the three arrays is available.

Some results are discussed in

Warren, B. A., T. Whitworth III, and J. H. LaCasce (2001): Forced resonant undulation in the deep Mascarene Basin. Deep-Sea Research II (in press).

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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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