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.

1986 moorings

mooringinstr depthinstr typedatesmetadatadownload
8606 1980 meters Aanderaa RCM5 09 Sep 86 - 26 Jun 87 view metadata download record
8606 2530 meters Aanderaa RCM5 09 Sep 86 - 26 Jun 87 view metadata download record
8607 1536 meters Aanderaa RCM5 09 Sep 86 - 26 Jun 87 view metadata download record
8607 1936 meters Aanderaa RCM5 09 Sep 86 - 26 Jun 87 view metadata download record

1987 Moorings

mooringinstr depthinstr typedatesmetadatadownload
8701 919 meters Aanderaa RCM5 26 Jun 87 - 01 Jul 88 view metadata download record
8701 1120 meters Aanderaa RCM5 26 Jun 87 - 01 Jul 88 view metadata download record
8702 1247 meters Aanderaa RCM5 27 Jun 87 - 03 Oct 87 view metadata download record
8702 1548 meters Aanderaa RCM5 27 Jun 87 - 01 Jul 88 view metadata download record
8703 1585 meters Aanderaa RCM5 27 Jun 87 - 30 Jun 88 view metadata download record
8703 1886 meters Aanderaa RCM5 27 Jun 87 - 30 Jun 88 view metadata download record
8704 1754 meters Aanderaa RCM5 27 Jun 87 - 30 Jun 88 view metadata download record
8704 2255 meters Aanderaa RCM5 27 Jun 87 - 30 Jun 88 view metadata download record
8705 1869 meters Aanderaa RCM5 28 Jun 87 - 30 Jun 88 view metadata download record
8705 2472 meters Aanderaa RCM5 28 Jun 87 - 30 Jun 88 view metadata download record
8706 1903 meters Aanderaa RCM5 28 Jun 87 - 30 Jun 88 view metadata download record
8706 2606 meters Aanderaa RCM5 28 Jun 87 - 30 Jun 88 view metadata download record
8707 2032 meters Aanderaa RCM5 28 Jun 87 - 30 Jun 88 view metadata download record
8707 2735 meters Aanderaa RCM5 28 Jun 87 - 30 Jun 88 view metadata download record

1988 Moorings

mooringinstr depthinstr typedatesmetadatadownload
8801 1622 meters Aanderaa RCM5 02 Aug 88 - 21 May 89 view metadata download record
8801 1924 meters Aanderaa RCM5 03 Jul 88 - 29 Jun 89 view metadata download record
8801 1965 meters Aanderaa RCM5 03 Jul 88 - 29 Jun 89 view metadata download record
8802 1298 meters Aanderaa RCM5 03 Jul 88 - 29 Jun 89 view metadata download record
8802 1641 meters Aanderaa RCM5 03 Jul 88 - 29 Jun 89 view metadata download record
8803 998 meters Aanderaa RCM7 03 Jul 88 - 02 Mar 89 view metadata download record
8803 1241 meters Aanderaa RCM7 03 Jul 88 - 29 Jun 89 view metadata download record
8804 1733 meters Aanderaa RCM5 04 Jul 88 - 29 Jun 89 view metadata download record
8804 2285 meters Aanderaa RCM5 04 Jul 88 - 26 Aug 88 view metadata download record
8804 2326 meters Aanderaa RCM5 04 Jul 88 - 29 Jun 89 view metadata download record
8805 1895 meters Aanderaa RCM5 04 Jul 88 - 09 Jun 89 view metadata download record
8805 2509 meters Aanderaa RCM5 04 Jul 88 - 29 Jun 89 view metadata download record
8806 1871 meters Aanderaa RCM5 04 Jul 88 - 28 Jun 89 view metadata download record
8806 2646 meters Aanderaa RCM5 04 Jul 88 - 28 Jun 89 view metadata download record
8806 2687 meters Aanderaa RCM5 04 Jul 88 - 20 Sep 88 view metadata download record
8807 2052 meters Aanderaa RCM5 04 Jul 88 - 28 Jun 89 view metadata download record
8807 2767 meters Aanderaa RCM5 04 Jul 88 - 28 Jun 89 view metadata download record
8807 2808 meters Aanderaa RCM5 04 Jul 88 - 28 Jun 89 view metadata download record
8808 2042 meters Aanderaa RCM5 05 Jul 88 - 05 Feb 89 view metadata download record
8808 2857 meters Aanderaa RCM5 05 Jul 88 - 26 Mar 89 view metadata download record
8808 2898 meters Aanderaa RCM5 05 Jul 88 - 26 Jun 89 view metadata download record

1989 Moorings

mooringinstr depthinstr typedatesmetadatadownload
8906 2421 meters Aanderaa RCM5 02 Jul 89 - 06 Mar 90 view metadata download record
8906 2736 meters Aanderaa RCM5 02 Jul 89 - 12 Nov 89 view metadata download record
8907 2229 meters Aanderaa RCM5 02 Jul 89 - 06 Mar 90 view metadata download record
8907 2571 meters Aanderaa RCM5 02 Jul 89 - 06 Mar 90 view metadata download record
8907 2614 meters Aanderaa RCM5 02 Jul 89 - 06 Mar 90 view metadata download record
8908 2026 meters Aanderaa RCM5 02 Jul 89 - 06 Aug 90 view metadata download record
8908 2443 meters Aanderaa RCM5 02 Jul 89 - 22 Oct 89 view metadata download record
8909 1788 meters Aanderaa RCM4S 03 Jul 89 - 07 Mar 90 view metadata download record
8909 2090 meters Aanderaa RCM5 03 Jul 89 - 07 Mar 90 view metadata download record
8909 2133 meters Aanderaa RCM5 03 Jul 89 - 07 Mar 90 view metadata download record
8910 1402 meters Aanderaa RCM4S 03 Jul 89 - 08 Mar 90 view metadata download record
8910 1704 meters Aanderaa RCM5 03 Jul 89 - 06 Sep 89 view metadata download record
8910 1747 meters Aanderaa RCM5 03 Jul 89 - 01 Nov 90 view metadata download record
8911 1180 meters Aanderaa RCM4S 04 Jul 89 - 05 Sep 89 view metadata download record
8911 1382 meters Aanderaa RCM4S 04 Jul 89 - 08 Mar 90 view metadata download record
8911 1425 meters Aanderaa RCM4S 04 Jul 89 - 20 Aug 89 view metadata download record

1990 Moorings

mooringinstr depthinstr typedatesmetadatadownload
9001 1198 meters Aanderaa RCM5 09 Mar 90 - 10 Jul 90 view metadata download record
9001 1679 meters Aanderaa RCM5 09 Mar 90 - 10 Jul 90 view metadata download record
9001 2180 meters Aanderaa RCM5 09 Mar 90 - 10 Jul 90 view metadata download record
9002 1155 meters Aanderaa RCM5 09 Mar 90 - 10 Jul 90 view metadata download record
9002 1906 meters Aanderaa RCM5 09 Mar 90 - 10 Jul 90 view metadata download record
9002 1987 meters Aanderaa RCM5 09 Mar 90 - 10 Jul 90 view metadata download record
9003 880 meters Aanderaa RCM5 09 Mar 90 - 10 Jul 90 view metadata download record
9003 1231 meters Aanderaa RCM5 09 Mar 90 - 10 Jul 90 view metadata download record
9003 1482 meters Aanderaa RCM5 09 Mar 90 - 10 Jul 90 view metadata download record
9004 750 meters Aanderaa RCM5 09 Mar 90 - 10 Jul 90 view metadata download record
9004 1182 meters Aanderaa RCM5 09 Mar 90 - 10 Jul 90 view metadata download record
9005 680 meters Aanderaa RCM5 09 Mar 90 - 10 Jul 90 view metadata download record
9005 981 meters Aanderaa RCM5 09 Mar 90 - 15 Apr 90 view metadata download record
9005 1062 meters Aanderaa RCM5 09 Mar 90 - 10 Jul 90 view metadata download record
9006 1634 meters Aanderaa RCM5 12 Jul 90 - 30 Jul 91 view metadata download record
9006 2136 meters Aanderaa RCM5 12 Jul 90 - 30 Jul 91 view metadata download record
9006 2638 meters Aanderaa RCM5 12 Jul 90 - 12 Jul 91 view metadata download record
9006 2720 meters Aanderaa RCM5 12 Jul 90 - 06 Sep 90 view metadata download record
9008 1249 meters Aanderaa RCM5 12 Jul 90 - 16 Jul 91 view metadata download record
9008 1631 meters Aanderaa RCM5 12 Jul 90 - 20 Jul 91 view metadata download record
9008 1983 meters Aanderaa RCM5 12 Jul 90 - 09 Jun 91 view metadata download record
9009 1528 meters Aanderaa RCM5 12 Jul 90 - 30 Jul 91 view metadata download record
9009 1670 meters Aanderaa RCM5 12 Jul 90 - 30 Jul 91 view metadata download record
9009 1712 meters Aanderaa RCM5 12 Jul 90 - 22 Oct 90 view metadata download record
9010 992 meters Aanderaa RCM4S 12 Jul 90 - 19 Jul 91 view metadata download record
9010 1394 meters Aanderaa RCM4S 12 Jul 90 - 14 Jul 91 view metadata download record
9010 1476 meters Aanderaa RCM5 12 Jul 90 - 30 Jul 91 view metadata download record
9011 940 meters Aanderaa RCM4S 12 Jul 90 - 30 Jul 91 view metadata download record
9011 1124 meters Aanderaa RCM5 12 Jul 90 - 30 Jul 91 view metadata download record

1995 Moorings

mooringinstr depthinstr typedatesmetadatadownload
9501 2221 meters Aanderaa RCM8 24 Feb 95 - 29 Nov 95 view metadata download record
9501 2262 meters Aanderaa RCM8 24 Feb 95 - 29 Nov 95 view metadata download record
9501 2303 meters Aanderaa RCM8 24 Feb 95 - 29 Nov 95 view metadata download record
9503 1850 meters Aanderaa RCM8 25 Feb 95 - 29 Nov 95 view metadata download record
9503 1891 meters Aanderaa RCM8 25 Feb 95 - 29 Nov 95 view metadata download record
9503 1932 meters Aanderaa RCM8 25 Feb 95 - 29 Nov 95 view metadata download record

1996 Moorings

mooringinstr depthinstr typedatesmetadatadownload
9603 1849 meters Aanderaa RCM8 11 Dec 96 - 30 Jul 97 view metadata download record
9603 1849 meters Aanderaa RCM8 30 Jul 97 - 18 Aug 97 view metadata download record
9603 1889 meters Aanderaa RCM8 11 Dec 96 - 04 Apr 97 view metadata download record
9603 1929 meters Aanderaa RCM8 11 Dec 96 - 25 Mar 97 view metadata download record
9604 2223 meters Aanderaa RCM8 11 Dec 96 - 18 Aug 97 view metadata download record
9604 2263 meters Aanderaa RCM8 11 Dec 96 - 25 Mar 97 view metadata download record
9604 2303 meters Aanderaa RCM8 11 Dec 96 - 06 Apr 97 view metadata download record

1997 Moorings

mooringinstr depthinstr typedatesmetadatadownload
9702 1683 meters Aanderaa RCM8 19 Aug 97 - 20 Aug 98 view metadata download record
9702 1724 meters Aanderaa RCM8 19 Aug 97 - 20 Aug 98 view metadata download record
9702 1765 meters Aanderaa RCM8 19 Aug 97 - 20 Aug 98 view metadata download record
9703 1892 meters Aanderaa RCM8 19 Aug 97 - 20 Aug 98 view metadata download record
9703 1933 meters Aanderaa RCM8 19 Aug 97 - 13 Apr 98 view metadata download record
9703 1974 meters Aanderaa RCM8 19 Aug 97 - 28 Jul 98 view metadata download record
9704 2085 meters Aanderaa RCM8 19 Aug 97 - 21 Aug 98 view metadata download record
9704 2136 meters Aanderaa RCM8 19 Aug 97 - 21 Aug 98 view metadata download record
9704 2188 meters Aanderaa RCM8 19 Aug 97 - 21 Aug 98 view metadata download record
9705 2266 meters Aanderaa RCM8 19 Aug 97 - 20 Aug 98 view metadata download record
9705 2307 meters Aanderaa RCM8 19 Aug 97 - 06 Aug 98 view metadata download record
9705 2348 meters Aanderaa RCM8 19 Aug 97 - 31 Jul 98 view metadata download record
9706 2467 meters Aanderaa RCM8 19 Aug 97 - 20 Aug 98 view metadata download record
9706 2518 meters Aanderaa RCM8 19 Aug 97 - 20 Aug 98 view metadata download record
9706 2570 meters Aanderaa RCM8 19 Aug 97 - 20 Aug 97 view metadata download record

1998 Moorings

mooringinstr depthinstr typedatesmetadatadownload
98UK1 1877 meters Aanderaa RCM8 24 Aug 98 - 19 Aug 99 view metadata download record
98UK1 1918 meters Aanderaa RCM8 24 Aug 98 - 19 Aug 99 view metadata download record
98UK1 1960 meters Aanderaa RCM8 24 Aug 98 - 19 Aug 99 view metadata download record
98UK2 2254 meters Aanderaa RCM8 24 Aug 98 - 19 Aug 99 view metadata download record
98UK2 2295 meters Aanderaa RCM8 24 Aug 98 - 19 Aug 99 view metadata download record
98UK2 2336 meters Aanderaa RCM8 24 Aug 98 - 19 Aug 99 view metadata download record

Return to top of page.


Brief Description

This experiment was designed to measure the flow of cold, dense water southwestward across the Denmark Strait and into the Irminger Basin, where it becomes a component of the North Atlantic Deep Water. The water is drawn from intermediate depths in the Norwegian Sea, crosses a sill about 600 meters deep in the Denmark Strait, and continues southwestward, following topography, along the Greenland Slope.

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.

Return to top of page.


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, WinZip or Pkunzip will do the job. Other utilities are available for the Unix and Macintosh environments. After expansion, you will have ascii files in OSU's stranger format.

The stranger format begins with several lines of header information that are meant to be machine-readable. They contain a Fortran format specification that will be useful in reading the file, a pointer to the first line of data, and a description of the data. Each line of the current record itself contains the time of the sample, the values recorded, and a line count.

You should know that end-of-line in these files is a carriage-return plus line-feed (the PC convention). This means that in a Unix environment (where a single line-feed serves as end-of-line) you may want to remove the carriage-returns.

Return to top of page.