Surface Current Mapping in the Lower Chesapeake Bay - Mid-Atlantic Regional Association Coastal Ocean Observing System
Original (non-English) name
Acronym
Surface Current Mapping in the Lower Chesapeake Bay - MARACOOS
Citation
Abstract
Surface water currents in the lower Chesapeake Bay are observed with the use of land-based HF radar antennas located at three sites: Ocean View Community Beach, First Landing State Park and Sunset Beach Resort on the southwestern tip of the Eastern Shore. The antennas transmit radio signals across the water and listen for strong return signals reflected off of waves of a particular wavelength (dependent on the transmit frequency). The measured Doppler shift between the transmitted and received signals allows for calculation of an observed speed which represents both the wave speed and the speed of surface currents underlying the wave. Surface current speeds are then computed as the difference between the Doppler-measured speed and the theoretical wave speed based on the deep water dispersion relation. Each antenna site supplies "radials" or current velocity information going directly towards or away from the antenna in all directions. Radial information from two or more sites is combined on a grid in order to produce a 2D map of total current velocities.
This is a project of the Center for Coastal Physical Oceanography, Department of Ocean, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Old Dominion University.
Funded by the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration through the Mid-Atlantic Regional Association Coastal Ocean Observing System (MARACOOS). Special thanks to the City of Norfolk, Sunset Beach Resort and First Landing State Park for providing sites for the antennas.