Obtaining surface current field from drone imaging

Abstract

Knowledge of coastal hydrodynamics is essential for understanding the processes of transport of dissolved or particulate material since in these areas there are large ports and the vessel traffic with a greater possibility of accidents. Studies related to currents are of fundamental importance to support decision-making to mitigate environmental impacts. The present work aims to test the technique of measuring currents through drones, as it has the advantage of a quick response in obtaining and analyzing data. For this study, a field survey was carried out in the region of the mouth of Lagoa dos Patos, RS, Brazil. The method's validation was done through the use of a colored tracer in which it was used to measure the surface current velocities simultaneously with the vectors generated by the drone. The results obtained a percentage difference between the methods of 10%, both for speed and for current direction, showing to be very promising for the use of drones to obtain surface current fields. In this way, it opens a new perspective in carrying out field experiments, so new experiments will be carried out to verify the feasibility of using this technique in different conditions, such as in the surf zone and areas with the presence of density fronts.