The Coastal Ocean Currents Monitoring Program in Northern California (COCMP-NC) is funded through the California Coast Conservancy via Propositions 40 and 50, passed in 2002. These funds are allocated to develop and deploy systems and infrastructure necessary for real-time monitoring of surface currents in California coastal waters. COCMP-NC will make these data available to the public, and enrich existing oceanographic monitoring programs.
The ocean sensors used to monitor these surface currents are manufactured by CODAR Ocean Sensors. The instruments are comprised of a compact, shore-based transmitter and receiver. These systems transmit radio waves over the ocean surface; these signals are scattered and subsequently received by the receive antenna. When the received signal is processed, the surface currents moving toward or away from the system are determined. By combining these “radial” data from several systems, the northerly and easterly current components can be calculated.
About
About SFSU
About COCMP
Currently, two SFSU HF technicians operate and maintain eight HF Ocean Sensors in and around the Bay. Regan Long, Project Coordinator and Oceanographer and Jim Pettigrew, Field Manager report to the lead Principal Investigator, Newell (Toby) Garfield. Their offices reside at SFSU’s marine lab, Romberg Tiburon Center for Enviromental Studies, in Tiburon.