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High frequency radar measurements of tidal currents flowing through San Pablo Strait, San Francisco Bay 1
Author(s) -
Maresca Joseph W.,
Padden Robin R.,
Cheng Ralph Tashun,
Seibel Erwin
Publication year - 1980
Publication title -
limnology and oceanography
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.7
H-Index - 197
eISSN - 1939-5590
pISSN - 0024-3590
DOI - 10.4319/lo.1980.25.5.0929
Subject(s) - current meter , current (fluid) , radar , drifter , geology , tidal current , ocean current , san joaquin , acoustic doppler current profiler , oceanography , hydrology (agriculture) , telecommunications , physics , geotechnical engineering , lagrangian , computer science , mathematical physics , soil science
High frequency (HF) radar measurements of the surface current averaged over the upper 0.5 m in San Pablo Strait were compared with current meter measurements of the subsurface current made at 9.4 m below mean lower low water (MLLW) over two 12.4‐h tidal cycles. After averaging the radar and current meter data over two tidal cycles, a southerly (ebbing direction) surface current of 32 cm·s −1 was deduced from the radar measurements and a northerly (flooding direction) subsurface current of 7 cm·s −1 from the current meter measurements. This nontidal flow is maintained by freshwater discharge from the Sacramento–San Joaquin Rivers into Suisun and San Pablo Bays. The radar measurement technique provides quantitative estimates of the surface currents that previously were determined only from surface drifter studies.