Single station ocean current vector measurement: Application of the Spaced Antenna (SA) Technique

Abstract

The Spaced Antenna (SA) technique is applied to measuring ocean surface currents for the first time. This allows the measurement of the ocean surface current transverse to the radar beam as well as the radial current and thus eliminates the requirement of two separate radars to measure the full current vector as with present ocean surface current radar systems. Therefore, this technique offers considerable advantages for ocean current mapping in terms of simplicity for real‐time operational systems and could have wide applications, for example at sites where it is not practical to have two separate radars.