A Comparison between Drifter and X-Band Wave Radar for Sea Surface Current Estimation

Giovanni Ludeno,Francesco Serafino,Francesco Raffa,Carmelo Nasello,Francesco Soldovieri,Giuseppe Ciraolo

doi:10.3390/rs8090695

Abstract

This paper deals with exploitation of the wave radar system for sea surface current estimation in a coastal zone. In particular, we present the results of the processing of the radar data collected by an X-band marine radar installed in Capo Granitola site, which is located in the south-west part of Sicily, on 15 May 2015. The effectiveness of the data processing is analyzed by comparing the wave radar estimated sea surface current with that provided by the Lagrangian drifters along its movement trajectory. During the measurement campaign, three drifter releases are carried out and for each one the comparison is provided in terms of the mean error and standard deviation. In addition, we report the characteristic sea state parameters, in terms of peak wavelength (λp), peak direction propagation (θp), peak period (Tp) and significant wave height (Hs) of the dominant waves estimated by the wave radar system.

Highlights

Monitoring of wind, sea waves and sea surface current is more challenging in coastal areas, because of the interaction among these factors on smaller spatial scales with respect to the case of open sea
The comparison is provided in terms of the mean error and standard deviation for each drifter’s release; we evaluate the total mean error percentage for the overall comparison
The wind parameters have been computed by the meteorological station of the network Informativo Agrometeorologico Siciliano) of Mazara del Vallo (TP), at about 13 km from the area (Servizio Informativo Agrometeorologico Siciliano) of Mazara del Vallo (TP), at about 13 km from investigated in this work

Summary

Introduction

Monitoring of wind, sea waves and sea surface current is more challenging in coastal areas, because of the interaction among these factors on smaller spatial scales with respect to the case of open sea. For this reason, in a coastal environment the sea state parameters as well as the sea surface currents are challenging to measure with the accuracy and spatial resolution requested by the relevant applications. The ADV measures refer to a fixed point, but it is very difficult to keep the instrument stationary in a prefixed location of the sea

Results

Discussion

Conclusion