Observation of the sea surface skin current using a GPS-drifter

Abstract

A GPS-drifter was newly designed to observe the sea surface skin current and to estimate the direct wind effect on the sea surface. After conducting a test to establish and verify the accuracy of the GPS itself in the laboratory, in-situ experimental campaigns at Saemangeum in Gunsan city and Haeundae in Busan city, Korea, were carried out to ascertain the drifter track and to estimate the velocity data set on Oct. 3, 15, 23, 27 and Nov. 25, 2011. The current meters, RCM9 and ADCP, were moored together to remove the background current field, and the wind data were obtained from several marine stations such as towers and buoys in these areas. The drifter-observed velocity show good agreement with the flow obtained by the HF radar in the Saemangeum area. The direction of the wind-driven current extracted from the drifterobserved velocity was completely deflected to the right, however the degree of the angle was different according to the drift types. The average speed of the wind-driven current matched with 2.19~2.81% of the wind speed and the deflection angle was about 8.0~10.9° without adjustment for the land-sea effect, and about 2.19~2.84% and 4.1~6.0° with the adjustment for the land-sea effect.