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SailBuoy Ocean Currents: Low-Cost Upper-Layer Ocean Current Measurements

This study introduces an alternative to the existing methods for measuring ocean currents based on a recently developed technology. The SailBuoy is an unmanned surface vehicle powered by wind and solar panels that can navigate autonomously to predefined waypoints and record velocity profiles using a...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Wullenweber, Nellie, Hole, Lars R., Ghaffari, Peygham, Graves, Inger, Tholo, Harald, Camus, Lionel
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9370917/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35898056
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s22155553
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author Wullenweber, Nellie
Hole, Lars R.
Ghaffari, Peygham
Graves, Inger
Tholo, Harald
Camus, Lionel
author_facet Wullenweber, Nellie
Hole, Lars R.
Ghaffari, Peygham
Graves, Inger
Tholo, Harald
Camus, Lionel
author_sort Wullenweber, Nellie
collection PubMed
description This study introduces an alternative to the existing methods for measuring ocean currents based on a recently developed technology. The SailBuoy is an unmanned surface vehicle powered by wind and solar panels that can navigate autonomously to predefined waypoints and record velocity profiles using an integrated downward-looking acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP). Data collected on two validation campaigns show a satisfactory correlation between the SailBuoy current records and traditional observation techniques such as bottom-mounted and moored current profilers and moored single-point current meter. While the highest correlations were found in tidal signals, strong current, and calm weather conditions, low current speeds and varying high wave and wind conditions reduced correlation considerably. Filtering out some events with the high sea surface roughness associated with high wind and wave conditions may increase the SailBuoy ADCP listening quality and lead to better correlations. Not yet resolved is a systematic offset between the measurements obtained by the SailBuoy and the reference instruments of ±0.03 m/s. Possible reasons are discussed to be the differences between instruments (various products) as well as changes in background noise levels due to environmental conditions.
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spelling pubmed-93709172022-08-12 SailBuoy Ocean Currents: Low-Cost Upper-Layer Ocean Current Measurements Wullenweber, Nellie Hole, Lars R. Ghaffari, Peygham Graves, Inger Tholo, Harald Camus, Lionel Sensors (Basel) Article This study introduces an alternative to the existing methods for measuring ocean currents based on a recently developed technology. The SailBuoy is an unmanned surface vehicle powered by wind and solar panels that can navigate autonomously to predefined waypoints and record velocity profiles using an integrated downward-looking acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP). Data collected on two validation campaigns show a satisfactory correlation between the SailBuoy current records and traditional observation techniques such as bottom-mounted and moored current profilers and moored single-point current meter. While the highest correlations were found in tidal signals, strong current, and calm weather conditions, low current speeds and varying high wave and wind conditions reduced correlation considerably. Filtering out some events with the high sea surface roughness associated with high wind and wave conditions may increase the SailBuoy ADCP listening quality and lead to better correlations. Not yet resolved is a systematic offset between the measurements obtained by the SailBuoy and the reference instruments of ±0.03 m/s. Possible reasons are discussed to be the differences between instruments (various products) as well as changes in background noise levels due to environmental conditions. MDPI 2022-07-25 /pmc/articles/PMC9370917/ /pubmed/35898056 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s22155553 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Wullenweber, Nellie
Hole, Lars R.
Ghaffari, Peygham
Graves, Inger
Tholo, Harald
Camus, Lionel
SailBuoy Ocean Currents: Low-Cost Upper-Layer Ocean Current Measurements
title SailBuoy Ocean Currents: Low-Cost Upper-Layer Ocean Current Measurements
title_full SailBuoy Ocean Currents: Low-Cost Upper-Layer Ocean Current Measurements
title_fullStr SailBuoy Ocean Currents: Low-Cost Upper-Layer Ocean Current Measurements
title_full_unstemmed SailBuoy Ocean Currents: Low-Cost Upper-Layer Ocean Current Measurements
title_short SailBuoy Ocean Currents: Low-Cost Upper-Layer Ocean Current Measurements
title_sort sailbuoy ocean currents: low-cost upper-layer ocean current measurements
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9370917/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35898056
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s22155553
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