Preliminary Side-Scan ADCP Measurements across a Ship's Wake

Abstract

A preliminary study shows how a standard acoustic Doppler current profiler, tilted so two beams scan horizontally beneath the surface, can he used to map characteristics of a ship's wake. For example, the measurements appear to resolve the flow of surface water outward from the wake centerline. This centerline divergence and the resulting convergence along the edges of the wake help form bands of relatively calm water that often appear in radar imagery of the sea surface.