MAPPING SURFACE CURRENTS WITH CODAR

CODAR, standing for Coastal Ocean Dynamics Applications Radar, uses high-frequency (HF) radar echoes scattered from the sea surface to provide a unique Doppler frequency "signature" due to motions of the waves. Having progressed through the research, development and engineering phases, CODAR is now an operational real-time system capable of mapping surface currents and providing wave spectra information over areas of the order 100 x 100 square kilometres. The system has no instruments in the water and no moving parts, such as scanning antennae, to reduce reliability. Field application of the current-mapping aspect of the system is described.