ADCP's Application to Ocean Current Measurement in Santos Port

1. Where is Santos Port?

Santos Port is located in the city of Santos, in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. It is one of the largest ports in Latin America.

Ports scale, and Throughput

Santos has an extensive structure including lots of berths and terminals; throughput is fairly high, comprising huge yearly cargo, with enormous amount of agricultural products such as soybeans, coffee, sugar; containerized cargo; petroleum and related produce and many more. Since some years it occupies positions among the first in South America on the Annual Carriage.

Routes and Services

Operating a direct shipping line to various parts of the world, thereby connecting Brazil to the main economic regions of Asia, Europe, and the Americas, in addition to full port services, ranging from loading/unloading to storage, customs clearing, and logistic services.

Port Management and Operation

It is governed by Companhia Docas de Santos, S.A. - CDS. It espouses adoption of modern management system and technology, thus offering the port the potential to achieve greater efficiency in its operations. The company upgrades and expands continuously in view of increasing demands by shipping.

Port Facilities

The port is equipped with modern cranes, conveyor belts, and other equipment for loading and unloading. Besides, it has large areas of warehouses and storage yards against the storage requirements of various types of cargo.

Waterways and Direct Navigation

The deep and wide waterways of the port allow big ships to conveniently enter the terminals. It possesses good direct navigation conditions, and this helps in reducing the waiting time that is required while the entry and exit of ships happen.

2. Por qu deberiamos medir las corrientes ocenicas del Puerto de Santos?

Measurement of ocean currents in Santos Port is important for operational and managerial purposes of this port:

Safety of Ship Navigation: Accurate ocean current data will help ship captains understand the nature of water flow so that the captains can make more accurate navigation decisions and thereby avoid possible dangers brought about by strong currents; this will ensure the safety of the entry and exit of ships.

Optimization of Berthing Operations: The current situation knowledge will enable the port to arrange more reasonable berthing time and position of ships, enhance the efficiency of the berthing operations, and reduce the waiting time.

Management of Marine Environment: Ocean current data can provide the very essential information to the spread of pollutants and marine current circulation in port areas, aiding the port to do better in the work of environment protection and pollution prevention.

Design and Maintenance of Port Facilities: Characteristics relating to ocean currents shall form the basis useful in the building and design processes in port facilities, such as breakwaters and wharves, which can allow their raising of stability by improving durability; besides the improvement of those already in use-its importance is huge.

The ADCP current meter is a very advanced and convenient measurement method at present, which can provide high-precision and real-time ocean current data.

3. How do ADCPs using the Doppler principle work?

ADCPs work based on the principle of the Doppler effect: a device emits acoustic waves into the water. When these acoustic waves meet the moving water particles, the frequency of the reflected waves will shift due to the Doppler effect. It is possible to calculate the velocity of the water particles by measuring this shift in frequency.

Shipborne ADCP: Shipborne ADCPs are installed on the bottom of ships. In motion, it continuously emits and receives acoustic waves to measure the current velocity at different depths below the ship. This method is suitable for measuring ocean currents in a wide range and can obtain current data along the ship's route.

Fixed ADCP: The fixed ADCPs are normally installed on the seabed or fixed constructions in the port. It can monitor, in real time, the current condition of a certain area continuously. They are often used to obtain long-term and stable current data in key areas of the port, such as near the wharf or in the waterway.

4. What's needed for high-quality measurement of Santos Port currents?

The following should be met to have high-quality measurement of currents in Santos Port: Material Reliability: It should be fabricated with materials resistant to the corrosive effect of seawater and the impact from marine environments. In this case, titanium alloy is an excellent material for an ADCP current profiler casing. Titanium alloy features excellent corrosion resistance, high strength, and low density, which will enable long-term operation of the equipment in marine conditions.

Small in Size and Light in Weight: The equipment is designed to be small in size and light enough for easy installation and operation. Particularly, shipborne and floating ADCPs must be small to avoid loading ships or floating devices so as to keep carriage and installation easier.

Low Power Consumption: Because some ADCPs need to work for a very long time in the ocean, their power consumption is very important. It can reduce the demand for power supply equipment and extend the working time of the equipment.

Low Price: As the large scale ocean current measurement is of utmost importance, it requires hundreds of equipment's doing the job. Lesser the price of equipment, more ADCPs can be deployed for carrying out extensive measurement.

5. How to choose the right equipment for current measurement?

Depend on Purpose

Shipborne ADCP, which can only be used during ocean current measurements over a wide range while the ship is moving. Generally used in route investigations and large-scale charting of ocean currents.

Bottom-mounted: Bottom-mounted, mainly used in fixed area observations for long-time current conditions: near wharfs or within the waterways.

Buoyant ADCP: It is also applied to monitoring the current in open waters and can shift along with water flows to get more dynamic data in the currents.

Determined by Frequency

600kHz: This is within the range of water depth below 70m, generally applicable for shallow waters, like those in ports or bays.

300kHz: It is suitable for a water depth of about 110m and can be used in some medium-depth water areas.

75kHz: It is suitable for a water depth of 1000m and is mainly used in deep sea areas.

The well-known brands of ADCPs in the world are Teledyne RDI, Nortek, and Sontek. In addition, there is a cost-effective Chinese ADCP brand called China Sonar PandaADCP. This is made of all titanium alloy materials with incredible cost performance. For more information, visit the website: https://china-sonar.com/.

Here is a table with some well known ADCP instrument brands and models.