HF radar wave and wind measurement over the Eastern China Sea

HF radar can be employed to measure sea surface state parameters such as waveheight, wind field and surface current velocity. This paper describes the application of the high frequency ground wave radar in remote sensing the surface conditions over the Eastern China Sea in October, 2000. The radar, referred to as the OSMAR2000, was developed by Wuhan University. Preliminary wave spectra, waveheights and wind fields estimated from the collected data are presented and compared with ship-recorded measurements where such are available. The range for wind direction sensing is up to 200 kilometers. Wave information and wind speed can be provided out to a range of 120 kilometers. The mean difference between radar and shipmeasured significant waveheight is 0.323 m, wind direction is measured within 20◦ and wind speed to within 0.6 m/s. With such agreement being fairly reasonable, the feasibility of the inversion algorithm and the ocean state real-time sensing capability of OSMAR2000 are demonstrated.