Abstract: A magnetic resonance method and device for method for characterizing the pattern of flow of a flowing fluid including processing at least one odd echo acquired from radio frequency pulses of a measurement volume containing a flowing fluid, wherein the echo includes signals from streamlines in the flowing fluid in the measurement volume, processing the signals to concurrently determine a signal magnitude and a net phase accumulation and using the signal magnitude and the net phase accumulation to determine a flow behaviour index and an average velocity for the flowing fluid, and calculating velocity as a function of the radius of the conduit using the flow behaviour index and the average velocity and relating the function to a pattern of flow to characterize the pattern of flow exhibited by the flowing fluid.