CODAR Operations in the Straits of Florida

In a program sponsored jointly by NOAA and the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) 7th District in Miami, two Coastal Ocean Dynamics Application Radar (CODAR) systems have been installed and are being operated in southeast Florida. The program objective is to provide NOAA with an operational CODAR demonstration capability to generate and disseminate, via the National Weather Service, sea surface current and wave measurement products on a routine and continuing basis. CODAR Systems Inc. is providing scientific and technical support to the program under contract to NOAA. The north CODAR site is at the U.S. Naval Surface Weapons Center (NSWC) in Port Everglades and the south site is at the easternmost point of Fisher Island in Miami. Maps of the surface current in the Straits of Florida covering 2,800 square kilometers of ocean at ranges up to 60 km from shore are generated every 3 hours, 24-hours per day. The "experimental" data products are used by NOAA in support of marine weather forecasting and Gulf Stream reports and by the USCG for Search and Rescue (SAR) operations.