Fig. 9- Current meter G-l8l current histogram 



Fig. 10. Current meter G-I90 current histogram. 



ordinate. Of particular importance is the sig- 

 nificant difference between the peaks for meter 

 G-I85 (the standard mount) and G-I90 (meter 

 housing with fin) . The smooth well distributed 

 current peaks (Fig. 10 ) of the latter were found 

 to correspond exactly to the coastline directions 

 and presumed actual flow orientations. Analysis 

 of the records has not been completed; however, 

 it is already obvious that stabilizing fins 

 improve the quality of the data and should be 

 used. 



Oceanographic Institution who joined us in the 

 Vineyard Sound experiment . Special thanks is 

 due W. S. Richardson whose advice, encouragement 

 and criticism were invaluable . 



REFERENCES 



1. RICHARDSON, W. S., Instruction manual for 

 recording current meter, Tech. Rept. 62-6, 

 Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, I962. 

 UNPUBLISHED. 



CONCLUSIONS 



The special case of the Richardson current 

 meter coupled with an automatic data reading- 

 computer system illustrates the many advantages 

 that can be derived from a close alliance between 

 instrument design and data system utilization. 

 The feasibility of this complete system has been 

 demonstrated and a wide range of analytical tech- 

 niques can be implemented through use of computer 

 capabilities. 



Considerable effort is being devoted to exploi- 

 tation of the expanding possibilities of this 

 special combination of a transducer and a com- 

 puter in the marine sciences. Its use is not 

 limited to the Richardson current meter but also 

 may be extended to wind, wave and temperature 

 instruments that employ the same simple reliable 

 film recording format. 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 



We wish to acknowledge not only the assistance 

 of our colleagues at Geodyne and Information 

 International, without whom this work would have 

 been impossible, but also those at the Woods Hole 



86 



