SailBuoy Ocean Currents: Low-Cost Upper-Layer Ocean Current Measurements.

This study introduces an alternative to the existing methods for measuring ocean currents based on a recently developed technology. The SailBuoy is an unmanned surface vehicle powered by wind and solar panels that can navigate autonomously to predefined waypoints and record velocity profiles using an integrated downward-looking acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP). Data collected on two validation campaigns show a satisfactory correlation between the SailBuoy current records and traditional observation techniques such as bottom-mounted and moored current profilers and moored single-point current meter.