Direct Measurement Systems News

06 May 2014

NOAA Offers a New Way to See Currents

HFRadar like this one shown off the entrance to San Francisco provides the data for NOAA's news ocean surface current product. (Image credit: With permission from San Francisco State University.)

A new NOAA National Ocean Service website will provide mariners near real-time coastal ocean surface current observations and tidal current predictions in coastal waters using high frequency (HF) radar, making marine navigation safer for mariners and commercial shippers. The web-based observations are now available for the Chesapeake and San Francisco Bays in areas vital for marine navigation, with additional locations to follow. The product was made possible by NOAA’s Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services (CO-OPS) using data from the NOAA-led U.S.