About

The ADCP Lab is responsible for collecting and managing currents, wave and weather data at Sebastian Inlet State Park.

The collection of data at Sebastian Inlet State Park, Florida was initiated in 1996 by the late Dr. Lee Harris of Florida Institute of Technology. The program first began with the installation of oceanographic instrumentation and was followed by an installation of sensors for weather monitoring at the end of the north jetty in 1997. The data collected aids the Sebastian Inlet District in inlet management decisions and is used to perform calculations for longshore transport of sand as well as to develop and test hydrodynamic and sediment transport numerical models.

The oceanographic instrumentation are located ~1,500 feet north  of Sebastian Inlet and ~1,000 feet offshore, in a water depth of 28 feet. An R.D. Instruments Workhorse Sentinel and Nortek Aquadopp series ADCPs are co-deployed for six month intervals. The real-time ADCP data is from the RDI Sentinel which is cabled to shore and the data sent to FIT via a cellular modem.

The weather station is located 33 feet above the water (which is the standard reference height for wind data collection) at the seaward end of the Sebastian Inlet State Park north jetty. This system includes an R.M. Young anemometer, barometric pressure sensor, air temperature sensor, a YSI sonde that measures water level and temperature and a Campbell Scientific data logger, sending the data to FIT via cellular modem.

Funding provided by: