System of Reciprocal Acoustic Sensors for Monitoring Sea Currents

In this paper we propose to monitor sea currents over a large region by using few acoustic sensors distributed in the contour of the region. The method is based on the measurement of the travel time of the acoustic wave between sensors in communication. The travel time difference of the forward and backward propagations between acoustic transducers depends on the sea current. From the information of a set of sensors, it is possible to determine the sea current. Here, the basis of the technique is described and different considerations for the design of the system are discussed. Finally, we show the application and validation of the proposed method with data from a set of acoustic sensors in the deep sea ANTARES neutrino telescope.