Evaluation and Validation of HF Radar Swell and Wind wave Inversion Method

Zaid R. Al-Attabi*, George Voulgaris, Daniel C. Conley

*Corresponding author for this work

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Abstract

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>An examination of the applicability and accuracy of the empirical wave inversion method in the presence of swell waves is presented. The ability of the method to invert Doppler spectra to wave directional spectra and bulk wave parameters is investigated using one-month data from a 12 MHz WERA High Frequency (HF) radar system and in-situ data from a wave buoy. Three different swell inversion models are evaluated: LPM (Lipa et al. 1981), WFG (Wang et al. 2016) and EMP, an empirical approach introduced in this study. The swell inversions were carried out using two different scenarios: (1) a single beam from a single radar site and two beams from a single radar site, and (2) two beams from two sites (a single beam per site) intersecting each other at the buoy location. The LPM method utilized using two beams from two different sites was found to provide the best estimations of swell parameters (swell height RMS error 0.24m) and showed a good correlation with the partitioned swell in-situ values. For the wind wave inversion, the empirical method presented here is used with an empirical coefficient of 0.3 which seems to be suitable for universal application for all radar operating frequencies. The inverted swell parameters are used to create a swell spectrum which is combined with the inverted wind wave spectrum to create a full directional wave spectrum. The wave inversion method presented in this study although empirical does not require calibration with in situ data and can be applied to any beam forming system and operating frequency.</jats:p>
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1747-1775
Number of pages0
JournalJournal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology
Volume38
Issue number10
Early online date27 Sept 2021
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Oct 2021

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