Application of ADCP in Measuring Ocean Current in Buenos Aires Port

1. Where is Buenos Aires Port?

Buenos Aires Port is located on the western bank of the Río de la Plata estuary in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is one of the most important gates of Argentina's international trade and a main transportation center in South America.

Port Scale and Throughput: It is big in terms of size, with a large number of terminals and berths. It has a very high annual average throughput; that is, large containerized volumes, agricultural products such as grains and soybeans, and petroleum and by-products. It's one of the most important ports in South America due to its cargo volume.

Shipping Routes and Services: It has well-established shipping routes that connect to all major continents. Regular services to Europe, Asia, and the Americas are provided. The port offers comprehensive services like cargo handling, storage, customs clearance, and logistics support.

Port Management and Operation: The Port of Buenos Aires Authority is responsible for the management, while the operations are professionally run with advanced management systems and a professional labor force. It applies modern technology in cargo handling and port operations to attain high efficiency.

Port Facilities: The port is also complemented with modern cranes, conveyor systems, and storage facilities. Specialized terminals like container terminals, liquid bulk terminals, and dry bulk terminals are present.

Waterways and Direct Navigation: It has very good access for ships through the Río de la Plata. The waterways and channels are pretty well maintained and enable large vessels to navigate them directly for the easy flow of cargo.

2. Why measure ocean currents in Buenos Aires Port?

Measuring ocean currents in Buenos Aires Port is very important for several reasons:

• Safe Navigation: Ocean currents knowledge is very important for safe navigation. Ocean currents affect the ship's speed, course, and maneuverability. Correct measurements help ship captains make the right decisions when deciding to avoid other ships that may come close to it or when grounding in the busy port area.
• Optimize Cargo Handling: The Understanding of Currents Helps in the Optimal Performance of Cranes and Other Heavy Lifting Equipped within Ports. With Currents Assured, Proper Cargo Loading and Unloading Operations Will Thus Be Achieved While Reducing the Actual Time Spent or Effort on Their Part for Optimum Port Performance.
• Port Expansion and Maintenance Support: Ocean current data is highly valuable in port planning and expansion works. It lets the engineers design the most stable and efficient port facilities like breakwaters and berths with the force of currents. Also, it will aid in the maintenance of facilities as it would help predict patterns of erosion and deposition.
• Protection of Marine Environment: Monitoring ocean currents is essential in understanding the spread of pollutants to protect the marine ecosystem in and around the port. It enables prevention and control of oil spills and other environmental catastrophes through predicting the direction and speed of pollutant dispersal.

ADCP current profiler provides a more advanced and convenient solution in obtaining accurate, real-time ocean current data compared to the traditional measurement method.

3. How do ADCPs work on the Doppler principle?

The working principle of an ADCP current meter is the Doppler principle. Water particles reflect back to the instrument the signal emitted into the water by an ADCP. The frequency of the returned signal varies with the velocity of the particles relative to the ADCP. The velocity of the water currents is computed from the measured shift in frequency.

• Shipborne ADCP: In shipborne ADCP, it is usually installed on the hull of a ship, normally at the bottom. While the ship is in motion through the water, the ADCP sends acoustic beams downwards at some angle. The returning signals from the bottom at different depths are received by the ADCP profiler, and the Doppler shifts are analyzed to obtain a profile of the current velocities at various depths along the ship's path.
• Fixed ADCP: These ADCPs are generally mounted on the sea floor or attached to buoys or piers in a port. It continuously transmits acoustic beams in all directions and measures the Doppler shifts of the backscattered signals. This gives them information about the ocean current at any particular place over a long period of time, so that detailed information about the current patterns and changes in this region can be obtained.

4. What is needed for high-quality measurement of Buenos Aires port currents?

Regarding the measuring equipment, the following aspects are relevant for high-quality measurements of currents in Buenos Aires Port:

• Material Reliability: The equipment should be made from materials that can resist the corrosive and harsh marine environment of the port. For this reason, the casing of ADCPs is better made from Titanium alloy. It has excellent corrosion resistance, thus guaranteeing the longevity of the equipment in seawater. Besides this, it has high strength and fatigue resistance that enables the ADCP flow meter to operate reliably in strong currents and rough seas.
• Compact Size and Light Weight: A small and lightweight design is advantageous because it allows for easy installation and deployment. It can be more easily integrated into different platforms without causing excessive load or affecting the stability of the installation. This is particularly important for shipborne and buoy-mounted ADCPs.
• Low Power Consumption: Low power consumption is very much needed in the case of a fixed or autonomously mounted system. This results in a means of keeping an ADCP meter in operation for hundreds of hours, meaning that there's continuous reliable port monitoring with no loss of integrity of the information collected.
• Cost-Effectiveness: Reasonable cost allows for large-scale deployment of ADCPs in the port, measurement coverage can be more comprehensive, and multiple units can be used to get more accurate and detailed current data. This would be beneficial for understanding the complex current patterns in the port area.

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

Based on Usage

• Shipborne ADCP: This is good for large-scale ocean current surveys in and around the port. It is ideal where quick and wide-ranging data collection is required, such as in port mapping or when assessing the overall current patterns in the shipping lanes.
• Bottom-mounted ADCP: it is suitable for time series long-term monitoring in special areas of a port, especially near the berths, which are very critical infrastructures within a port and where continuous detailed data on current conditions are required for safe operations.
• Buoy-mounted ADCP: It is advantageous for current measurement in locations where fixed installation is not easy or when the instrument requires mobility. Buoy-mounted ADCPs are capable of real-time data transmission and are thus easily relocatable to other parts of the port to monitor changes in current conditions.

Frequency-Based

• 600kHz: Shall not exceed a water depth of 70m for this frequency. Normally, it is used in shallow water areas of the port, like nearshore or in inner harbors where the depth of water is pretty shallow.
• 300kHz: This frequency is suitable for a water depth of approximately 110m. It can be used in deeper parts of the port channels or in areas with moderate water depth to provide more detailed information about the current profiles.
• 75kHz: It is more adapted to water depth to a depth of 1000m, being used to perform the measurement in the outer port or deepest areas of the Río de la Plata for which longer ranges and deeper penetrations are needed.

Some well-known brands in the market, such as Teledyne RDI, Nortek, and Sontek. Of course, there is also a well-known Chinese brand: China Sonar PandaADCP, of very good quality but relatively cheap. The body is made of all-titanium alloy, which is highly reliable and performs excellently. You can find more information on their website: https://china-sonar.com/.

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