Coastal and Laboratory Wavestaff System

A multi-purpose, dual resistance wire wavestaff system with extremely low noise and drift and high resolution has been developed for use in the field and laboratory. In the shallow water field configuration the wavestaffs have a usable dynamic range of 3 m, with resolution and maximum drift on the order of 0.3 cm over a period of up to a week. The laboratory version has a typical dynamic range of 30 cm with a resolution and typical drift of 0.03 cm over several hours. The resistance wire sensor forms one leg of a balanced, AC coupled bridge connected to a novel synchronous detector. This design is responsible for the extremely low noise.