Acoustic doppler system and method

A system for estimating water current flows, the system comprising:

• a stationary multibeam echo sounder in a water column;
• an acoustic transceiver of the echo sounder configured to communicate with a) plural transducers in one projector array and b) plural transducers in one hydrophone array;
• the acoustic transceiver synthesizes one transmitter message and excites the projector array with the transmitter message such that multiple fans ensonify the water column;
• the transmitter message includes at least one pulse pair for each fan;
• and,
• the acoustic transceiver and hydrophone array form multiple hydrophone array receive beams and a plurality of hydrophone array receive beams intersect each fan;
• wherein the hydrophone array receives transmitter message echoes from scattering centers entrained in the water column.