Use of nautical radar as a wave monitoring instrument

Common marine X-Band radars can be used as a sensor to survey ocean wave fields. The wave field images provided by the radars are sampled and analysed by a wave monitoring system (called WaMoS II) developed by the German research institute GKSS. This measuring system can be mounted on a ship, on offshore stations or at coastal locations. The measurement is based on the backscatter of microwaves from the ocean surface, which is visible as ‘sea clutter' on the radar screen. From this observable sea clutter, a numerical analysis is carried out. The unambiguous directional wave spectrum, the surface currents and sea state parameters such as wave periods, wave lengths, and wave directions can be derived. To provide absolute wave heights, the response of the nautical radar must be calibrated. Similar to the wave height estimations for Synthetic Aperture Radars, the so-called ‘Signal to Noise Ratio' leads to the determination of the significant wave height (H_S). In this paper, WaMoS II results are compared with directional buoy data to show the capabilities of nautical microwave radars for sea state measurements.