Waves at Holderness from X-band radar

Abstract During the Holderness Experiment of 1994–1995 and 1995–1996, data were collected by a coastal deployment of an X-band radar with simultaneous deployments of various moored and bottom-mounted wave measurement devices. The radar data consist of sequences of images of the sea surface at intervals of 1.5 h over several months. Three-dimensional wave number-frequency spectra were derived from the sequences of captured images using an analysis method developed by Young et al. [J. Geophys. Res. 90(C1) (1985) 1049]. Some aspects of this analysis were refined. An empirical transfer function was derived relating the radar image spectra to the wave spectra measured by other instruments. A new calibration procedure for obtaining wave height from the radar spectra was also derived. The radar spectra were compared with directional spectra collected by a bottom-mounted InterOcean S4DW directional wave-current meter and with Datawell Waverider data. The capabilities of X-band radar in a coastal situation are discussed including the derivation of water depth required to optimise the analysis.

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