diff --git a/lib/iris/tests/unit/util/test_array_equal.py b/lib/iris/tests/unit/util/test_array_equal.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..6c20fafe04
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/iris/tests/unit/util/test_array_equal.py
@@ -0,0 +1,117 @@
+# (C) British Crown Copyright 2014, Met Office
+#
+# This file is part of Iris.
+#
+# Iris is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
+# the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as published by the
+# Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+# (at your option) any later version.
+#
+# Iris is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+# GNU Lesser General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public License
+# along with Iris.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+"""Test function :func:`iris.util.array_equal`."""
+
+# import iris tests first so that some things can be initialised before
+# importing anything else
+import iris.tests as tests
+
+import numpy as np
+import numpy.ma as ma
+
+from iris.util import array_equal
+
+
+class Test(tests.IrisTest):
+    def test_0d(self):
+        array_a = np.array(23)
+        array_b = np.array(23)
+        array_c = np.array(7)
+        self.assertTrue(array_equal(array_a, array_b))
+        self.assertFalse(array_equal(array_a, array_c))
+
+    def test_0d_and_scalar(self):
+        array_a = np.array(23)
+        self.assertTrue(array_equal(array_a, 23))
+        self.assertFalse(array_equal(array_a, 45))
+
+    def test_1d_and_sequences(self):
+        for sequence_type in (list, tuple):
+            seq_a = sequence_type([1, 2, 3])
+            array_a = np.array(seq_a)
+            self.assertTrue(array_equal(array_a, seq_a))
+            self.assertFalse(array_equal(array_a, seq_a[:-1]))
+            array_a[1] = 45
+            self.assertFalse(array_equal(array_a, seq_a))
+
+    def test_nd(self):
+        array_a = np.array(np.arange(24).reshape(2, 3, 4))
+        array_b = np.array(np.arange(24).reshape(2, 3, 4))
+        array_c = np.array(np.arange(24).reshape(2, 3, 4))
+        array_c[0, 1, 2] = 100
+        self.assertTrue(array_equal(array_a, array_b))
+        self.assertFalse(array_equal(array_a, array_c))
+
+    def test_masked_is_ignored(self):
+        array_a = np.ma.masked_array([1, 2, 3], mask=[1, 0, 1])
+        array_b = np.ma.masked_array([2, 2, 2], mask=[1, 0, 1])
+        self.assertFalse(array_equal(array_a, array_b))
+
+    def test_fully_masked_arrays(self):
+        array_a = np.ma.masked_array(np.arange(24).reshape(2, 3, 4), mask=True)
+        array_b = np.ma.masked_array(np.arange(24).reshape(2, 3, 4), mask=True)
+        self.assertTrue(array_equal(array_a, array_b))
+
+    def test_fully_masked_0d_arrays(self):
+        array_a = np.ma.masked_array(3, mask=True)
+        array_b = np.ma.masked_array(3, mask=True)
+        self.assertTrue(array_equal(array_a, array_b))
+
+    def test_fully_masked_string_arrays(self):
+        array_a = np.ma.masked_array(['a', 'b', 'c'], mask=True)
+        array_b = np.ma.masked_array(['a', 'b', 'c'], mask=[1, 1, 1])
+        self.assertTrue(array_equal(array_a, array_b))
+
+    def test_partially_masked_string_arrays(self):
+        array_a = np.ma.masked_array(['a', 'b', 'c'], mask=[1, 0, 1])
+        array_b = np.ma.masked_array(['a', 'b', 'c'], mask=[1, 0, 1])
+        self.assertTrue(array_equal(array_a, array_b))
+
+    def test_string_arrays_equal(self):
+        array_a = np.array(['abc', 'def', 'efg'])
+        array_b = np.array(['abc', 'def', 'efg'])
+        self.assertTrue(array_equal(array_a, array_b))
+
+    def test_string_arrays_different_contents(self):
+        array_a = np.array(['abc', 'def', 'efg'])
+        array_b = np.array(['abc', 'de', 'efg'])
+        self.assertFalse(array_equal(array_a, array_b))
+
+    def test_string_arrays_subset(self):
+        array_a = np.array(['abc', 'def', 'efg'])
+        array_b = np.array(['abc', 'def'])
+        self.assertFalse(array_equal(array_a, array_b))
+        self.assertFalse(array_equal(array_b, array_a))
+
+    def test_string_arrays_unequal_dimensionality(self):
+        array_a = np.array('abc')
+        array_b = np.array(['abc'])
+        array_c = np.array([['abc']])
+        self.assertFalse(array_equal(array_a, array_b))
+        self.assertFalse(array_equal(array_b, array_a))
+        self.assertFalse(array_equal(array_a, array_c))
+        self.assertFalse(array_equal(array_b, array_c))
+
+    def test_string_arrays_0d_and_scalar(self):
+        array_a = np.array('foobar')
+        self.assertTrue(array_equal(array_a, 'foobar'))
+        self.assertFalse(array_equal(array_a, 'foo'))
+        self.assertFalse(array_equal(array_a, 'foobar.'))
+
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    tests.main()
diff --git a/lib/iris/util.py b/lib/iris/util.py
index 3b2f78f3f6..0534c0bba8 100644
--- a/lib/iris/util.py
+++ b/lib/iris/util.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# (C) British Crown Copyright 2010 - 2013, Met Office
+# (C) British Crown Copyright 2010 - 2014, Met Office
 #
 # This file is part of Iris.
 #
@@ -369,16 +369,12 @@ def array_equal(array1, array2):
     additional support for arrays of strings.
 
     """
-    # Numpy provides an array_equal method but that does not support arrays of
-    # strings.
-    if array1.ndim == 0 or array2.ndim == 0:
-        eq = array1.ndim == 0 and array2.ndim == 0 and array1 == array2
-    elif len(array1) == len(array2):
-        eq = array1 == array2
-        if not isinstance(eq, bool):
-            eq = eq.all()
-    else:
+    array1, array2 = np.asarray(array1), np.asarray(array2)
+    if array1.shape != array2.shape:
         eq = False
+    else:
+        eq = bool(np.asarray(array1 == array2).all())
+
     return eq