Oceanography

Current meters

Ocean currents can be measured in two ways. An instrument can record the speed and direction of the current, or it can record the east-west and north-south components of the current. Both methods require directional information. All currents meters therefore incorporate a magnetic compass to determine the orientation of the instrument with respect to magnetic north. Four classes of current meters can be distinguished, based on the method used for measuring current magnitude.

Mechanical current meters use a propeller-type device,a Savonius rotor or a paddle-wheel rotor to measure the current speed, and a vane to determine current direction. Propeller sensors often measures speed correctly only if they point into the current and have to be oriented to face the current all the time. Such instruments are therefore fitted with a large vane, which turns the entire instrument and with it the propeller into the current.

Propellers can be designed to have cosine response with the angle of incidence of the flow. Two such propellers arranged at 90º will resolve current vectors and do not require an orienting vane.

The advantage of the Savonius rotor is that its rotation rate is independent of the direction of exposure to the current. A Savonius rotor current meter therefore does not have to face the current itn any particular way, and its vane can rotate independently and be quite small, just large enough to follow the current direction reliably.

With the exception of the current meter that uses two propellers with cosine response set at 90⁰ to each other, mechanical current meters measure current speed by counting propeller or rotor revolutions per unit time and current direction by determining the vane orientation at fixed intervals. In other words, these current meters combine a time integral or mean speed over a set time interval (the number of revolutions between recordings) with an instantaneous reading of current direction (the vane orientation at the time of recording). This gives only a reliable recording of the ocean current if the current changes slowly in time. Such mechanical current meters are therefore not suitable for current measurement in the oceanic surface layer where most of the oceanic movement is due to waves.

The Savonius rotor is particularly problematic in this regard. Suppose that the current meter is in a situation where the only water movement is from waves. The current then alternates back and forth, but the mean current is zero. A Savonius rotor will pick up the wave current irrespective of its direction, and the rotation count will give the impression of a strong mean current. The paddle-wheel rotor is designed to rectify this; the paddle wheel rotates back and forth with the wave current, so that its count represents the true mean current.

Mechanical current meters are robust, reliable and comparatively low in cost. They are therefore widely used where conditions are suitable, for example at depths out of reach of surface waves.

Electromagnetic current meters exploit the fact that an electrical conductor moving through a magnetic field induces an electrical current. Sea water is a very good conductor, and if it is moved between two electrodes the induced electrical current is proportional to the ocean current velocity between the electrodes. An electromagnetic current meter has a coil to produce a magnetic field and two sets of electrodes, set at right angle to each other, and determines the rate at which the water passes between both sets. By combining the two components the instrument determines speed and direction of the ocean current.

Acoustic current meters are based on the principle that sound is a compression wave that travels with the medium. Assume an arrangement with a sound transmitter, and let receiver B located downstream. If a burst of sound is generated at the transmitter it will arrive at receiver B earlier than at receiver A, having been carried by the ocean current.

A typical acoustic current meter will have two orthogonal sound paths of approximately 100mm length with a receiver/transmitter at each end. A high frequency sond pulse is transmitted simultaneously from each transducer and the difference in arrival time for the sound travelling in opposite directions gives the water velocity along the path.

Electromagnetic and acoustic current meters have no moving parts and can therefore take measurements at a very high sampling rate (up to tens of readings per second ). This makes them useful not only for the measurement of ocean currents but also for wave current and turbulence measurements.

Acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCPs) operate on the same principle as acoustic current meters but have transmitter and receiver in one unit and use reflections of the sound wave from drifting particles for the measurement. Seawater always contains a multitude of small suspended particles and other solid matter that may not all be visible to the naked eye but reflects sound. If sound is transmitted in four inclined beams at right angle to each other, the Doppler frequency shift of the reflected sound gives the reflecting particle velocity along the beam. With at least 3 beams inclined to the vertical the three components of flow velocity can be determined. Different arrival times indicate sound reflected at different distances from the transducers, so an ADCP provides information on current speed and direction not just at one point in the ocean but for a certain depth range; in other words, an ADCP produces a current profile over depth.

Different ADCP designs serve different purposes. Deep ocean ADCPs have a vertical resolution of typically eight meters (they produce one current measurement for every eight meters of depth increase) and a typical range of up to 400m. ADCPs designed for measurements in shallow water have a resolution of typically 0.5m and a range of up to 30m. ADCPs can be placed in moorings, installed in ships for underway measurements, or lowered with a CTD and multi-sample device to give a current profile over a large depth range.