Open AccessObserving Finescale Oceanic Velocity Structure with an Autonomous Nortek Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler
Author(s) -
Andrey Shcherbina,
Eric A. D’Asaro,
Sven Nylund
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
journal of atmospheric and oceanic technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.774
H-Index - 124
eISSN - 1520-0426
pISSN - 0739-0572
DOI - 10.1175/jtech-d-17-0108.1
Subject(s) - acoustic doppler current profiler , doppler effect , remote sensing , geology , instrumentation (computer programming) , current (fluid) , turbulence , geodesy , meteorology , computer science , physics , oceanography , astronomy , operating system
This paper describes the instrumentation and techniques for long-term targeted observation of the centimeter-scale velocity structure within the oceanic surface boundary layer, made possible by the recent developments in capabilities of autonomous platforms and self-contained pulse-coherent acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCPs). Particular attention is paid to the algorithms of ambiguity resolution (“unwrapping”) of pulse-coherent Doppler velocity measurements. The techniques are demonstrated using the new Nortek Signature1000 ADCP mounted on a Lagrangian float, a combination shown to be capable of observing ocean turbulence in a number of recent studies. Statistical uncertainty of the measured velocities in relation to the ADCP setup is also evaluated. Described techniques and analyses should be broadly applicable to other autonomous and towed applications of pulse-coherent ADCPs.