ICM7 (Western Arabian Sea)

This experiment produced 81 current meter records from 12 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. A brief description of the experiment is available. You may want to look at a map of the array to see where the moorings were. If you do download any of the 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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ICM7 was part of the German WOCE effort to study the development of the Somali Current System in response to the monsoons. The array consisted of 12 moorings equipped with ADCPs and Aanderaa current meters (see map). It was deployed from April 1995 to October 1996, thus coinciding with some other WOCE Indian Ocean observations (e.g., ICM3). The major scientific objectives of this effort were:

• The response of the Somali Current to the summer monsoon
• Remote forcing of the boundary current system by Rossby waves
• The deep circulation of the Somali Basin
• The exchange of water masses between the boundary current system and the interior of the Arabian Sea

Although initial plans called for a boundary current array off the Somali coast, political constraints led to a redesign of the experiment. Moorings IK13 to IK16 south of Socotra covered the seaward extension of the Somali Current and the Great Whirl, showing its development, northward migration, and subsequent decay. Two moorings - IK10 and IK11 - were deployed in the passage between the island of Abd al Kuri and Somalia, which plays an important role in the exchange of water between the Somali Current regime and the Arabian Sea. Moorings IK17 to IK21 formed a large triangle for determining Rossby waves and their effect on the development of the northern Somali Current.

Related publications

Fischer, J., F. Schott and L. Stramma (1996): Currents and transports of the Great Whirl - Socotra Gyre system during the summer monsoon, August 1993. J. Geophys. Res., 101(C2), 3573-3587.

Schott, F., F. Pollehne, D. Quadfasel, L. Stramma, M. Wiesner and B. Zeitzschel (1996): Arabian Sea 1995; Cruise No. 32, 23 March - 19 September 1995. Meteor-Berichte 95-6, Leitstelle Meteor, Institut fur Meereskunde det Universitat Hamburg, 163 pp.

Schott, F., J. Fischer, U. Garternicht and D. Quadfasel (1997): Summer monsoon response of the northern Somali current, 1995. Geophys. Res. Let., 24, 2565-2568.

Quadfasel, D., J. Fischer, F. Schott and L. Stramma (1997): Deep water exchange through the Owen Fracture Zone in the Arabian Sea. Geophys. Res. Let., 24(22), 2805-2808.

Schott, F.A. and J. Fischer (2000): Winter monsoon circulation of the northern Arabian Sea and Somali Current. J. Geophys. Res., 105(C3), 6359-6376.

Dengler, M., D. Quadfasel, F. Schott and J. Fischer (2001): Abyssal circulation in the Somali Basin. Deep-Sea Res. II (submitted).

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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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