German component of ACM8

This component of ACM8 produced 37 current meter records from 11 moorings. You can view metadata and download current records by clicking on links in the table below. Each current record is identified in the table by its depth and the name of the mooring. 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. 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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The 34 current records that CMDAC has acquired from this portion of ACM8 were obtained over a period of four years, on moorings deployed in three areas along a line stretching from the southern tip of Greenland to Ireland (see map). Three of the moorings were installed in September 1991 and recovered during September 1992. Two were installed in August and September of 1992 and recovered in September 1993. One mooring was installed during September 1993 and recovered in May 1994. Finally, two moorings were installed in May 1994 and recovered in June 1995. All of the moorings carried Aanderaa current meters - RCM4's, RCM5's, RCM7's, and RCM8's.

A note on mooring names: We have 4 moorings here designated A, B, E, and F. There were at least two other moorings, C and D, about which CMDAC has received no information; nor has BSH sent us data from them. Mooring names have two letters, the first of which indicates location and the second of which indicates time sequence. Thus, Mooring A1 was in place from September 91 through September 92; it was replaced by Mooring A2 (at approximately the same location) which was in place from September 92 through October 92. CMDAC has no information from or about Mooring A3. Mooring A4 was deployed near the sites of A1 and A2, and was in place from May 94 through June 95.

Additional information about the experiment is available in a data report titled "WOCE Current measurements: the ACM8 array" (Berichte des Bundesamtes fur Seeschiffahrt und Hydrographie Nr. 8, published by BSH Hamburg, 1996). See also the data report "WOCE-NORD 1991, Cruise No. 18, 2 September - 26 September 1991" (Meteor Berichte No. 93-1, published by IFM Hamburg). Other relevant publications:

Meincke, J. (1989): The Greenland Sea Project. WOCE Newsletter, 8, 14-15.

Sy, A., U. Schauer and J. Meincke (1992): The North Atlantic Current and its associated hydrographic structure above and eastward of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Deep-Sea Research, 39(5A), 825-853.

Bersch, M. and J. Meincke (1995): Meridional transport estimates for the northern North Atlantic. International WOCE Newsletter, 18, 28-31.

Mittelstaedt, E., J. Meincke and H. Klein (1996): WOCE current measurements: the ACM8 array. Berichte des Bundesamtes fur Seeschiffahrt und Hydrographie, 8, 149pp.

Sy, A., M. Rhein, J.R.N. Lazier, K.P. Koltermann, J. Meincke, A. Putzka and M. Bersch (1997): Surprisingly rapid spreading of newly formed intermediate waters across the North Atlantic Ocean. Nature, 386(6626), 675-679.

Bersch, M, J. Meincke and A. Sy (1999): Interannual thermohaline changes in the North Atlantic 1991-1996. Deep-Sea Research II, 46(1/2), 55-75.

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netCDF is a self-documenting format that can be accessed by a variety of software tools. You can click here to learn about netCDF and available software packages that can be used to read and manipulate netCDF files.

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