Sailor's and Boater's Help

Navigating with Ocean Surface Current Plots from CODAR

(printable version)

What is the Sea Surface Current Radar?
The image below is from CODAR.

View a real-time image from the CODAR system.

The CODAR (Coastal Ocean RADAR) system is a series of antennas (shown here) along the New Jersey Coast that measure the surface currents of the ocean using radio waves. In the image above, you can see a piece of the southern New Jersey coast, and a large group of arrows offshore. The size of the arrows represents the speed of the current, as does the color (red=fast, blue slow), and the direction the arrow is pointing is the direction of the surface current. Not too difficult, huh? In this image, all the surface currents are moving to the southwest.

How to Navigate using CODAR
Navigating your course with surface currents obtained from CODAR is easy. Simply use the plots to gauge the velocity of the surface currents for the waters that you are in. The arrows on the plots show the direction of the current flow, and the size and color of the arrows both depict the speed of the currents. If you need a rough estimate of the magnitude of the speed, use the attached color bar to find the value.

You can also lean more about how CODAR works.