Unmanned aerial system (UAS) current mapping in Bear Cut, Florida from 2018-02-19 to 2018-02-23

This study developed a novel approach to unmanned aerial system (UAS) current mapping based on optical video data of the sea surface. Three-dimensional fast Fourier transform and least-squares fitting were used to measure surface waves’ phase velocities and thereby derive currents via the linear dispersion relationship. The UAS used was a low-cost consumer-grade quadcopter whose camera position and attitude measurements may cause spurious currents as large as the signal. A novel wave-based UAS heading and position correction technique was developed, improving the image rectification accuracy by a factor of ~3.5 and the current measurements’ temporal repeatability by a factor of 1.8 to 4.8. This technique was validated using the data included herein. The UAS mapped the currents across the ~700 m wide tidally dominated Bear Cut channel in Miami, Florida over several days in February 2018. The UAS currents were validated by flotsam tracks, obtained through automated UAS video object detection and tracking, drifter tracks, and Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) measurements. All of these data sources are included here in this dataset, and the video files used are also available in GRIIDC under Unique Dataset Identifier (UDI) R6.x806.000:0012 (DOI: 10.7266/n7-11te-m018). This dataset supports the publication: Lund, B., Carrasco, R., Dai, H., Graber, H. C., Guigand, C. M., Haus, B. K., Horstmann, J., Lodise, J. A., Novelli G, Özgökmen T., Rebozo M. A., Ryab E. H. and Streßer, M. (2021). UAS current mapping: A wave-based heading and position correction. Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology. doi:10.1175/jtech-d-20-0123.1.