VEINS: Inverted Echo Sounders in the Denmark Strait, as part of, FS "Poseidon" Cruise 222/1, August 5, 1996 - August 12, 1996

The overflow of cold dense water from the Denmark Strait is one of the key elements of the North Atlantic thermohaline circulation and has important consequences for global climate change. It is important to measure the transport of this water and to understand its variability on seasonal and longer time scales. The european funded project "Variability of Exchanges in Northern Seas" (VEINS MAS3CT960070) is an attempt to measure variations in the Arctic circulation using modern oceanographic instrumentation. An Inverted Echo Sounder and Bottom Pressure Recorder were successfully deployed to measure the thickness of this cold dense water and thus determine transport.