Improvement of Mean Wave Period Based on Dispersion Relation Filter Using Shore-Based Coherent S-Band Radar

Abstract

Abstract Wavenumber–frequency spectra obtained with coherent microwave radar at upwind-grazing angle consist of energy along the ocean wave dispersion relation and additional features that lie above this relation labeled as “high-order harmonic” and below this relation known as “group line.” Due to these nonlinear features, low-frequency components appear in the radar-estimated wave spectrum and the energy and peak frequency of the dominant wave spectrum decrease, which are responsible for the overestimation of radar-measured wave period. According to the component distribution in the wavenumber–frequency spectrum, a mean wave period inversion method based on a dispersion relation filter for coherent S-band radar is proposed. The method filters out the “group line” and preserves the high-order harmonic to compensate for the energy loss caused by the decrease of peak frequency of the dominant wave spectrum. A two-dimensional inverse Fourier transform is applied to the filtered wavenumber–frequency spectrum. Then the radar-measured velocity sequence is selected to obtain the velocity spectrum via a one-dimension Fourier transform. The wave height spectrum is estimated from the one-dimensional velocity spectrum by the direct transform relationship between the one-dimensional velocity spectrum and the wave height spectrum. Later, mean wave periods can be derived by the first moment of the wave height spectrum. A 13-day dataset collected with a shore-based coherent S-band radar deployed at Zhelang, China, is reanalyzed and used to retrieve mean wave periods. Comparisons between the measurements of radar and wave buoy are conducted. The results indicate that the proposed method improves the wave period measurement for coherent S-band radar. Significance Statement This work provides a mean wave period inversion method for coherent S-band radar. The mean wave period is always overestimated due to the “group line” in the wavenumber–frequency spectrum and the energy loss caused by the decrease of peak frequency of the dominant wave spectrum. Therefore, dealing with these estimation errors is important.