Many of the field studies that have undertaken an investigation of surf zone dynamics (e.g., Nearshore Sediment Transport Study, Canadian Coastal Sediment Study) have relied on Marsh-McBirney electromagnetic current meters to measure the velocity field. Data from these instruments have been used to compute higher order moments of the velocity field, which are used as an input in many sediment transport models. However, recent laboratory measurements by Aubrey and Trowbridge (1985) have raised questions regarding the suitability of Marsh-McBirney current meters for surf zone studies and the accuracy of higher order velocity moments. Fortunately, colocated pressure and velocity measurements were made during field programs. In effect, this provides a calibration check in the field of the performance of these instruments. A cross-spectral analysis indicates that colocated Marsh-McBirney current meter measurements are highly coherent; this is true for measurements from inside and outside the surf zone. As a results, normalized skewness estimates computed (with the aid of the bispectrum) from these colocated current meter measurements differ by only a few percent. A cross-spectral analysis between colocated pressure and velocity measurements show a similar distribution of variance for wind wave frequencies. Observe differences between normalized skewness estimates from colocated pressure and velocity measurements are shown to be consistent with the theoretical expectation that pressure has a nonlinear dependence on velocity. These results suggest that the Marsh-McBirney current meter is suitable for the estimation of nondimensional velocity moments, even in breaking wave conditions. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1987