Wind direction data from a coastal HF radar system in the gulf of naples (central mediterranean sea)

Results on the accuracy of SeaSonde High Frequency (HF) radar wind direction measurements in the Gulf of Naples (Southern Tyrrhenian Sea, Central Mediterranean Sea) are here presented. The investigation was carried out for a winter period (2 February-6 March) and for one summer month (August) of the reference year 2009. HF radar measurements were compared with in situ recordings from a weather station and with model data, with the aim of resolving both small scale and large scale dynamics. The analysis of the overall performance of the HF radar system in the Gulf of Naples shows that the data are reliable when the wind speed exceeds a 5 m/s threshold. Despite such a limitation, this study confirms the potentialities of these systems as monitoring platforms in coastal areas and suggests further efforts towards their improvement

Remote Sensing of Ocean Winds and Waves with Bistatic HF Radar

High frequency, or HF, coastal radars collect a vast amount of data on ocean currents, winds and waves. The technology continuously measures the parameters, by receiving and interpreting electromagnetic waves scattered by the ocean surface. Formulating the methods to interpret the radar data, to obtain accurate measurements, has been the focus of many researchers since the 1970s. Much of the existing research has been in monostatic radar theory, where the transmitter and receiver are stationed together. However, a larger, higher quality dataset can be obtained by utilising bistatic radar theory, whereby the transmitter and receiver are located at separate sites. In this work, the focus is on bistatic radar, where the most commonly used mathematical model for monostatic radar is adapted for bistatic radar. Methods for obtaining current, wind and wave information from the model are then described and in the case of winds and waves, tested. Investigating the derived model shows that it does not always fit the real data well, due to undesirable effects of the radar. These effects can be incorporated into the model but then the existing methods used to obtain ocean information may not be applicable. Therefore, a new method for measuring ocean waves from the model is developed. The recent advances in machine learning have been substantial, with the neural network becoming proficient at finding the link between complexly related datasets. In this work, a neural network is used to model the relationship between the developed radar model and the directional ocean spectrum. It is shown to successfully invert both monostatic and (for the first time) bistatic HF radar data and with this success, it becomes a viable option for obtaining ocean surface parameters from radar data

Retrieval of Ocean Surface Currents and Winds Using Satellite SAR backscatter and Doppler frequency shift

Ocean surface winds and currents play an important role for weather, climate, marine life, ship navigation, oil spill drift and search and rescue. In-situ observations of the ocean are sparse and costly. Satellites provide a useful complement to these observations. Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) is particularly attractive due to its high spatial resolution and its capability to extract both sea surface winds and currents day and night and almost independent of weather.The work in this thesis involves processing of along-track interferometric SAR (ATI-SAR) data, analysis of the backscatter and Doppler frequency shift, and development of wind and current retrieval algorithms. Analysis of the Doppler frequency shift showed a systematic bias. A calibration method was proposed and implemented to correct for this bias. Doppler analysis also showed that the wave contribution to the SAR Doppler centroid often dominates over the current contribution. This wave contribution is estimated using existing theoretical and empirical Doppler models. For wind and current retrieval, two methods were developed and implemented.The first method, called the direct method, consists of retrieval of the wind speed from SAR backscatter using an empirical backscatter model. In order to retrieve the radial current, the retrieved wind speed is used to correct for the wave contribution. The current retrieval was assessed using two different (theoretical and empirical) Doppler models and wind inputs (model and SAR-derived). It was found that the results obtained by combining the Doppler empirical model with the SAR-derived wind speed were more consistent with ocean models.The second method, called Bayesian method, consists of blending the SAR observables (backscatter and Doppler shift) with an atmospheric and an oceanic model to retrieve the total wind and current vector fields. It was shown that this method yields more accurate estimates, i.e. reduces the models biases against in-situ measurements. Moreover, the method introduces small scale features, e.g. fronts and meandering, which are weakly resolved by the models.The correlation between the surface wind vectors and the SAR Doppler shift was demonstrated empirically using the Doppler shift estimated from over 300 TanDEM-X interferograms and ECMWF reanalysis wind vectors. Analysis of polarimetric data showed that theoretical models such as Bragg and composite surface models over-estimate the backscatter polarization ratio and Doppler shift polarization difference. A combination of a theoretical Doppler model and an empirical modulation transfer function was proposed. It was found that this model is more consistent with the analyzed data than the pure theoretical models.The results of this thesis will be useful for integrating SAR retrievals in ocean current products and assimilating SAR observables in the atmospheric, oceanic or coupled models. The results are also relevant for preparation studies of future satellite missions

MF and HF radar techniques for investigating the dynamics and structure of the 50 to 110 km height region: a review

Published online: 19 October 2015The application of medium-frequency (MF) and high-frequency (HF) partial reflection radar to investigate the neutral upper atmosphere is one of the oldest such techniques still regularly in use. The techniques have been continuously improved and remain a robust and reliable method of obtaining wind velocities, turbulence intensities, electron densities, and measurements of atmospheric structure in the mesosphere lower thermosphere (MLT) region (50 to 110 km). In this paper, we review recent developments, discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the technique, and consider possible improvements.Iain Murray Rei

Comparison of HF Radar Fields of Directional Wave Spectra Against In Situ Measurements at Multiple Locations

The coastal zone hosts a great number of activities that require knowledge of the spatial characteristics of the wave field, which in coastal seas can be highly heterogeneous. Information of this type can be obtained from HF radars, which offer attractive performance characteristics in terms of temporal and spatial resolution. This paper presents the validation of radar-derived fields of directional wave spectra. These were retrieved from measurements collected with an HF radar system specifically deployed for wave measurement, using an established inversion algorithm. Overall, the algorithm reported accurate estimates of directional spectra, whose main distinctive characteristic was that the spectral energy was typically spread over a slightly broader range of frequencies and directions than in their in situ-measured counterparts. Two errors commonly reported in previous studies, namely the overestimation of wave heights and noise related to short measurement periods, were not observed in our results. The maximum wave height recorded by two in situ devices differed by 30 cm on average from the radar-measured values, and with the exception of the wave spreading, the standard deviations of the radar wave parameters were between 3% and 20% of those obtained with the in situ datasets, indicating the two were similarly grouped around their means. At present, the main drawback of the method is the high quality signal required to perform the inversion. This is in part responsible for a reduced data return, which did not exceed 55% at any grid cell over the eight-month period studied here.</jats:p

An investigation of small-scale relationships between optical and HF radar aurora

Thesis (Ph.D.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2000An investigation is undertaken of the relationship between visual aurora and the occurrence of radar-detectable irregularities in the nightside ionosphere. Understanding how auroral signatures appear in HF radar backscatter could combine the advantages of detailed information about auroral fluxes in optical measurements with extended coverage of HF radars. Auroral particle precipitation ionizes the ionosphere and creates localized plasma density enhancements. Irregularities with various smaller sizes are generated from larger density structures through instability-induced cascading. HF waves are coherently scattered by decameter structures within the ionospheric plasma. Hence aurorally induced irregularities can be seen by the radar in the form of "HF radar aurora." A statistical treatment of the occurrence of optical and HF radar aurora reveals a high degree of variability in backscatter patterns even under seemingly similar auroral displays. The small-scale correspondence between visual aurora and HF backscatter thus represents a more differentiated picture than the spatially and temporally averaged data of earlier studies. The relationship between the occurrence or the characteristics of aurora and the occurrence of HF echoes can therefore not be quantified. An analysis of single events isolates processes that lead to the observed variety of backscatter patterns in the presence of aurorally induced irregularities. They involve the ambient ionospheric density and localized enhanced densities at different altitude regimes and locations in the path of the radar signal. Conditions for HF wave propagation are partly determined by the aurora itself, partly they are imposed by ambient ionospheric density levels. It is found that low or high ambient densities have a dominating effect on the success of ionospheric probing. Low densities hamper the return of radar signals despite the presence of irregularities. High ambient densities can overcome some of the adverse effects on HF wave propagation associated with sporadic E. The information contained in the diversity of the relationships between optical and HF backscatter improves thus our knowledge about the nighttime ionosphere. A more detailed specification of ionospheric parameters is necessary to gain better insight into these relationships

Measuring ocean surface velocities with the KuROS and KaRADOC airborne near-nadir Doppler radars: a multi-scale analysis in preparation of the SKIM mission, Submitted to Ocean SCience, July 2019

Surface currents are poorly known over most of the oceans. Satellite-borne Doppler Waves and Current Scatterom-eters (DWCS) can be used to fill this observation gap. The Sea surface KInematics Multiscale (SKIM) proposal, is the first satellite concept built on a DWCS design at near-nadir angles, and now one of the two candidates to become the 9th mission of the European Space Agency Earth Explorer program. As part of the detailed design and feasibility studies (phase A) funded by ESA, airborne measurements were carried out with both a Ku-Band and a Ka-Band Doppler radars looking at the sea surface at 5 near nadir-incidence in a real-aperture mode, i.e. in a geometry and mode similar to that of SKIM. The airborne radar KuROS was deployed to provide simultaneous measurements of the radar backscatter and Doppler velocity, in a side-looking configuration , with an horizontal resolution of about 5 to 10 m along the line of sight and integrated in the perpendicular direction over the real-aperture 3-dB footprint diameter (about 580 m). The KaRADOC system has a much narrower beam, with a circular footprint only 45 m in diameter. 10 The experiment took place in November 2018 off the French Atlantic coast, with sea states representative of the open ocean and a well known tide-dominated current regime. The data set is analyzed to explore the contribution of non-geophysical velocities to the measurement and how the geophysical part of the measured velocity combines wave-resolved and wave-averaged scales. We find that the measured Doppler velocity contains a characteristic wave phase speed, called here C 0 that is analogous to the Bragg phase speed of coastal High Frequency radars that use a grazing measurement geometry, with little 15 variations ∆ C associated to changes in sea state. The Ka-band measurements at an incidence of 12 • are 10% lower than the theoretical estimate C 0 2.4 m/s for typical oceanic conditions defined by a wind speed of 7 m/s and a significant wave height of 2 m. For Ku-band the measured data is 1 https://doi. 30% lower than the theoretical estimate 2.8 m/s. ∆ C is of the order of 0.2 m/s for a 1 m change in wave height, and cannot be confused with a 1 m/s change in tidal current. The actual measurement of the current velocity from an aircraft at 4 to 18 • incidence angle is, however, made difficult by uncertainties on the measurement geometry, which are much reduced in satellite measurements