On the measurement of currents for real-time applications: An overview

The greatest benefit of some of the new current measurement techniques being developed may not be in the areas of improved accuracy or handling the dynamics better; it may simply be in their ability to avoid many of the problems that cause so much inconvenience and expense when using conventional methods. Some of these new techniques are either land-based or installed in the water at the edge of a waterway, and thus are no more difficult to maintain than a tide gage. Such techniques are, therefore, appropriate for permanent real-time systems in harbors and estuaries. In this paper various current measurement techniques are looked at from the point of view of their usefulness in real-time harbor applications. Various techniques for real-time applications over the continental shelf are also discussed.