The NOS Experience in Real-Time Measurements of Tidal Currents

by Gerald F. Appell, NOAA, Portland, OR, USA,
Robert G. Williams, NOAA, Portland, OR, USA,



Document Type: Proceeding Paper

Part of: Hydraulic Engineering

Abstract:

NOAA'S National Ocean Service (NOS) uses the term RADS, Remote Acoustic Doppler Sensing, for a new class of oceanographic instruments that uses acoustic backscatter to probe the ocean. RADS measures profiles of water current and acoustic backscatter at ranges of up to 300 meters by estimating the Doppler shifted return frequency caused by the movement of acoustic scatterers, which are coupled to the water volume. RADS systems were developed for both shipboard and bottom-mounted applications. This paper describes the NOS experience with bottom-mounted RADS applications at three sites on the U. S. east coast: New York Bay, Miami Harbor, and Delaware Bay. For each application, the measurement configuration and the results of engineering reliability and intercomparison studies are presented.

Subject Headings: Acoustics | Wave measurement | Sensors and sensing | Doppler systems | Tides | Oceanography | Ocean engineering | United States | New York | Miami | Florida | Delaware

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