ICM10 (Bab el Mandeb)

This experiment produced

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.

First Deployment (May 1995 - April 1996)

mooringinstr depthinstr typedatesmetadatadownload
A0 22 meters Aanderaa RCM 29 May 95 - 05 Jan 96 view metadata download record
A1 60 meters Aanderaa RCM 29 May 95 - 05 Jan 96 view metadata download record
A1 100 meters Aanderaa RCM 29 May 95 - 29 Nov 95 view metadata download record
A1 130 meters Aanderaa RCM 30 May 95 - 05 Jan 96 view metadata download record
A2A 41 meters Seacat 29 May 95 - 31 Mar 96 view metadata download record
A2A 61 meters Seacat 29 May 95 - 31 Mar 96 view metadata download record
A2A 89 meters TSKA data recorder 29 May 95 - 31 Mar 96 view metadata download record
A2B 20 meters ADCP 30 May 95 - 31 Mar 96 view metadata download record
A2B 30 meters ADCP 30 May 95 - 31 Mar 96 view metadata download record
A2B 40 meters ADCP 30 May 95 - 31 Mar 96 view metadata download record
A2B 50 meters ADCP 30 May 95 - 31 Mar 96 view metadata download record
A2B 60 meters ADCP 30 May 95 - 31 Mar 96 view metadata download record
A2B 70 meters ADCP 30 May 95 - 31 Mar 96 view metadata download record
A2B 80 meters ADCP 30 May 95 - 31 Mar 96 view metadata download record
A2B 90 meters ADCP 30 May 95 - 31 Mar 96 view metadata download record
A2B 100 meters ADCP 30 May 95 - 31 Mar 96 view metadata download record
A2B 110 meters ADCP 30 May 95 - 31 Mar 96 view metadata download record
A2B 120 meters ADCP 30 May 95 - 31 Mar 96 view metadata download record
A2B 130 meters ADCP 30 May 95 - 31 Mar 96 view metadata download record
A2B 140 meters ADCP 30 May 95 - 31 Mar 96 view metadata download record
A2B 150 meters ADCP 30 May 95 - 31 Mar 96 view metadata download record
A2B 160 meters ADCP 30 May 95 - 31 Mar 96 view metadata download record
A2B 170 meters ADCP 30 May 95 - 31 Mar 96 view metadata download record
A2B 180 meters ADCP 30 May 95 - 31 Mar 96 view metadata download record
A2B 190 meters ADCP 30 May 95 - 31 Mar 96 view metadata download record
A2B 204 meters Aanderaa RCM 30 May 95 - 28 Dec 95 view metadata download record
A3 29 meters Aanderaa RCM 02 Jun 95 - 05 Jan 96 view metadata download record
A3 41 meters Aanderaa RCM 01 Jun 95 - 05 Jan 96 view metadata download record
B1 23 meters Aanderaa RCM 28 May 95 - 05 Jan 96 view metadata download record
B1 45 meters Aanderaa RCM 28 May 95 - 05 Jan 96 view metadata download record
B1 76 meters Aanderaa RCM 28 May 95 - 05 Jan 96 view metadata download record
B2A 22 meters Seacat 27 May 95 - 29 Mar 96 view metadata download record
B2A 61 meters Seacat 27 May 95 - 29 Mar 96 view metadata download record
B2A 89 meters Seacat 27 May 95 - 29 Mar 96 view metadata download record
B2A 117 meters Seacat 27 May 95 - 29 Mar 96 view metadata download record
B2A 145 meters Seacat 27 May 95 - 29 Mar 96 view metadata download record
B2B 10 meters ADCP 28 May 95 - 29 Mar 96 view metadata download record
B2B 20 meters ADCP 28 May 95 - 29 Mar 96 view metadata download record
B2B 30 meters ADCP 28 May 95 - 29 Mar 96 view metadata download record
B2B 40 meters ADCP 28 May 95 - 29 Mar 96 view metadata download record
B2B 50 meters ADCP 28 May 95 - 29 Mar 96 view metadata download record
B2B 60 meters ADCP 28 May 95 - 29 Mar 96 view metadata download record
B2B 70 meters ADCP 28 May 95 - 29 Mar 96 view metadata download record
B2B 80 meters ADCP 28 May 95 - 29 Mar 96 view metadata download record
B2B 90 meters ADCP 28 May 95 - 29 Mar 96 view metadata download record
B2B 100 meters ADCP 28 May 95 - 29 Mar 96 view metadata download record
B2B 110 meters ADCP 28 May 95 - 29 Mar 96 view metadata download record
B2B 120 meters ADCP 28 May 95 - 29 Mar 96 view metadata download record
B2B 130 meters ADCP 28 May 95 - 29 Mar 96 view metadata download record
B2B 152 meters Aanderaa RCM 28 May 95 - 29 Mar 96 view metadata download record
B3 27 meters Aanderaa RCM 27 May 95 - 20 Dec 95 view metadata download record
B3 49 meters Aanderaa RCM 27 May 95 - 05 Jan 96 view metadata download record
C 10 meters ADCP 03 Jun 95 - 04 Apr 96 view metadata download record
C 20 meters ADCP 03 Jun 95 - 04 Apr 96 view metadata download record
C 30 meters ADCP 03 Jun 95 - 04 Apr 96 view metadata download record
C 40 meters ADCP 03 Jun 95 - 04 Apr 96 view metadata download record
C 50 meters ADCP 03 Jun 95 - 04 Apr 96 view metadata download record
C 60 meters ADCP 03 Jun 95 - 04 Apr 96 view metadata download record
C 70 meters ADCP 03 Jun 95 - 04 Apr 96 view metadata download record
C 80 meters ADCP 03 Jun 95 - 04 Apr 96 view metadata download record
C 90 meters ADCP 03 Jun 95 - 04 Apr 96 view metadata download record
C 100 meters ADCP 03 Jun 95 - 04 Apr 96 view metadata download record
C 110 meters ADCP 03 Jun 95 - 04 Apr 96 view metadata download record
C 120 meters ADCP 03 Jun 95 - 04 Apr 96 view metadata download record
C 130 meters ADCP 03 Jun 95 - 04 Apr 96 view metadata download record
C 140 meters ADCP 03 Jun 95 - 04 Apr 96 view metadata download record
C 150 meters ADCP 03 Jun 95 - 04 Apr 96 view metadata download record
C 160 meters ADCP 03 Jun 95 - 04 Apr 96 view metadata download record
C 170 meters ADCP 03 Jun 95 - 04 Apr 96 view metadata download record
C 180 meters ADCP 03 Jun 95 - 04 Apr 96 view metadata download record
C 190 meters ADCP 03 Jun 95 - 04 Apr 96 view metadata download record
C 204 meters Aanderaa RCM 03 Jun 95 - 08 Jan 96 view metadata download record
D 36 meters Aanderaa RCM 02 Jun 95 - 08 Jan 96 view metadata download record
D 191 meters Aanderaa RCM 02 Jun 95 - 07 Jan 96 view metadata download record
D 277 meters Aanderaa RCM 02 Jun 95 - 03 Apr 96 view metadata download record
E 477 meters VACM 31 May 95 - 02 Apr 96 view metadata download record
F 426 meters VACM 31 May 95 - 02 Apr 96 view metadata download record
Gulf East 13 meters Seagauge tide recorder 31 May 95 - 21 Feb 96 view metadata download record
Hanish West 13 meters Seagauge tide recorder 04 Jun 95 - 25 Feb 96 view metadata download record
Perim East 12 meters Seagauge tide recorder 02 Jun 95 - 22 Feb 96 view metadata download record
Perim West 14 meters Seagauge tide recorder 01 Jun 95 - 22 Feb 96 view metadata download record

2nd Deployment (April 1996 - November 1996)

mooringinstr depthinstr typedatesmetadatadownload
AA0 37 meters Aanderaa RCM 06 Apr 96 - 29 Nov 96 view metadata download record
AA1 20 meters ADCP 06 Apr 96 - 28 Nov 96 view metadata download record
AA1 30 meters ADCP 06 Apr 96 - 28 Nov 96 view metadata download record
AA1 40 meters ADCP 06 Apr 96 - 28 Nov 96 view metadata download record
AA1 50 meters ADCP 06 Apr 96 - 28 Nov 96 view metadata download record
AA1 60 meters ADCP 06 Apr 96 - 28 Nov 96 view metadata download record
AA1 70 meters ADCP 06 Apr 96 - 28 Nov 96 view metadata download record
AA1 80 meters ADCP 06 Apr 96 - 28 Nov 96 view metadata download record
AA1 90 meters ADCP 06 Apr 96 - 28 Nov 96 view metadata download record
AA1 100 meters ADCP 06 Apr 96 - 28 Nov 96 view metadata download record
AA1 110 meters ADCP 06 Apr 96 - 28 Nov 96 view metadata download record
AA1 120 meters ADCP 06 Apr 96 - 28 Nov 96 view metadata download record
AA1 130 meters ADCP 06 Apr 96 - 28 Nov 96 view metadata download record
AA1 140 meters ADCP 06 Apr 96 - 28 Nov 96 view metadata download record
AA1 154 meters Aanderaa RCM 06 Apr 96 - 28 Nov 96 view metadata download record
AA2 20 meters ADCP 06 Apr 96 - 28 Nov 96 view metadata download record
AA2 30 meters ADCP 06 Apr 96 - 28 Nov 96 view metadata download record
AA2 40 meters ADCP 06 Apr 96 - 28 Nov 96 view metadata download record
AA2 50 meters ADCP 06 Apr 96 - 28 Nov 96 view metadata download record
AA2 60 meters ADCP 06 Apr 96 - 28 Nov 96 view metadata download record
AA2 70 meters ADCP 06 Apr 96 - 28 Nov 96 view metadata download record
AA2 80 meters ADCP 06 Apr 96 - 28 Nov 96 view metadata download record
AA2 90 meters ADCP 06 Apr 96 - 28 Nov 96 view metadata download record
AA2 100 meters ADCP 06 Apr 96 - 28 Nov 96 view metadata download record
AA2 110 meters ADCP 06 Apr 96 - 28 Nov 96 view metadata download record
AA2 120 meters ADCP 06 Apr 96 - 28 Nov 96 view metadata download record
AA2 130 meters ADCP 06 Apr 96 - 28 Nov 96 view metadata download record
AA2 140 meters ADCP 06 Apr 96 - 28 Nov 96 view metadata download record
AA2 150 meters ADCP 06 Apr 96 - 28 Nov 96 view metadata download record
AA2 160 meters ADCP 06 Apr 96 - 28 Nov 96 view metadata download record
AA2 170 meters ADCP 06 Apr 96 - 28 Nov 96 view metadata download record
AA2 180 meters ADCP 06 Apr 96 - 28 Nov 96 view metadata download record
AA2 190 meters ADCP 06 Apr 96 - 28 Nov 96 view metadata download record
AA2 200 meters ADCP 06 Apr 96 - 28 Nov 96 view metadata download record
AA2 210 meters ADCP 06 Apr 96 - 28 Nov 96 view metadata download record
AA2 223 meters Aanderaa RCM 06 Apr 96 - 28 Nov 96 view metadata download record
AA3 30 meters Aanderaa RCM 07 Apr 96 - 28 Nov 96 view metadata download record
B1 41 meters Aanderaa RCM 09 Apr 96 - 30 Nov 96 view metadata download record
B1 71 meters Aanderaa RCM 09 Apr 96 - 30 Nov 96 view metadata download record
B2A 23 meters Seacat 08 Apr 96 - 30 Nov 96 view metadata download record
B2A 37 meters TSKA data recorder 08 Apr 96 - 30 Nov 96 view metadata download record
B2A 51 meters Seacat 08 Apr 96 - 30 Nov 96 view metadata download record
B2A 63 meters Seacat 08 Apr 96 - 30 Nov 96 view metadata download record
B2A 115 meters Seacat 08 Apr 96 - 30 Nov 96 view metadata download record
B2A 142 meters Seacat 08 Apr 96 - 30 Nov 96 view metadata download record
B2B 10 meters ADCP 08 Apr 96 - 30 Nov 96 view metadata download record
B2B 20 meters ADCP 08 Apr 96 - 30 Nov 96 view metadata download record
B2B 30 meters ADCP 08 Apr 96 - 30 Nov 96 view metadata download record
B2B 40 meters ADCP 08 Apr 96 - 30 Nov 96 view metadata download record
B2B 50 meters ADCP 08 Apr 96 - 30 Nov 96 view metadata download record
B2B 60 meters ADCP 08 Apr 96 - 30 Nov 96 view metadata download record
B2B 70 meters ADCP 08 Apr 96 - 30 Nov 96 view metadata download record
B2B 80 meters ADCP 08 Apr 96 - 30 Nov 96 view metadata download record
B2B 90 meters ADCP 08 Apr 96 - 30 Nov 96 view metadata download record
B2B 100 meters ADCP 08 Apr 96 - 30 Nov 96 view metadata download record
B2B 110 meters ADCP 08 Apr 96 - 30 Nov 96 view metadata download record
B2B 120 meters ADCP 08 Apr 96 - 30 Nov 96 view metadata download record
B2B 130 meters ADCP 08 Apr 96 - 30 Nov 96 view metadata download record
B3 23 meters Aanderaa RCM 09 Apr 96 - 30 Nov 96 view metadata download record
B3 45 meters Aanderaa RCM 09 Apr 96 - 30 Nov 96 view metadata download record
D 37 meters Aanderaa RCM 07 Apr 96 - 24 Nov 96 view metadata download record
E 470 meters VACM 07 Apr 96 - 25 Nov 96 view metadata download record
E 470 meters Seacat 07 Apr 96 - 25 Nov 96 view metadata download record
F 427 meters VACM 07 Apr 96 - 25 Nov 96 view metadata download record
F 427 meters Seacat 07 Apr 96 - 25 Nov 96 view metadata download record
Hanish West 13 meters Seagauge tide recorder 29 Mar 96 - 02 Dec 96 view metadata download record

In addition to the subsurface records listed above, RSMAS has made available wind data recorded at the Hanish West site. The meteorological station was in place throughout the experiment, from early June 1995 through mid-November 1996. Here, you can view metadata and download the record.

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Brief description of ICM10

The seasonal cycle of the Red Sea exchange through the Bab el Mandeb is driven primarily by the seasonal change in winds over the southern Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. In winter the southeasterly winds act to reinforce the thermohaline circulation of upper layer inflow and deep outflow. Conversely, in summer the northwesterly winds act in opposition to the thermohaline forcing and this may partly explain the reversal to outflow in the surface layer of the strait in summer. Upwelling in the western Gulf of Aden during summer is also believed to play a role in forcing the surface current reversal in the Strait and thermocline layer intrusion into the Red Sea, by changing the stratification and sea level in the western gulf and hence affecting the alongstrait pressure gradient. The relative importance of these two wind-forced effects, one direct and one indirect, is not yet clear. Seasonal changes in surface buoyancy forcing may also affect the seasonality of the exchange, but this possibility has yet to be investigated.

The ICM10 data were obtained during a comprehensive experiment at the southern end of the Red Sea during 1995-1996 (see map). The experiment, which involved moored current meters, T-S sensors and tide gauges, revealed the annual cycle of flow through Bab el Mandeb with a level of detail that had not been available before. The inflow and outflow transports were well resolved and showed a very repeatable transition between the winter two-layer regime and summer three-layer regime over the 17 months of continuous observation. The changing inflow/outflow conditions were clearly reflected in the salinity variations in the strait, which documented for the first time the extent and timing of the summertime intrusion of fresh Gulf of Aden thermocline water into the Red Sea. The annual mean outflow of Red Sea deep water through the strait was estimated to be 0.37 Sv, with maximum exchange reaching 0.7 Sv in February and average summer outflow of about 0.05 Sv.

Related publications

Murray, S.P. and W. Johns (1997): Direct observations of seasonal exchange through the Bab el Mandeb strait. Geophys. Res. Let., 24(21), 2557-2560.

Pratt, L.J., W. Johns, S.P. Murray and K. Katsumata (1999): Hydraulic interpretation of direct velocity measurements in the Bab al Mandab. J. Phys. Oceanogr., 29(11), 2769-2784.

Pratt, L.J., H. Deese, S.P. Murray and W. Johns (1999): Continuous dynamical modes in straits having arbitrary cross sections, with applications to the Bab al Mandab. J. Phys. Oceanogr. 30(10), 2515-2534.

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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.

Please be aware 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.

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