Surface ocean velocities obtained by HF radar from stations located along coastal waters of Hawaii, North Slope Alaska, Puerto Rico/Virgin Islands, eastern US/Gulf of Mexico and western US
The National Data Buoy Center in collaboration with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography assembles the data from the Integrated Ocean Observing System Data Assembly Center's Data Stewardship Program and submits the data on a monthly basis to NCEI. Radial velocity files contain metadata in a key-value format while the measured velocities and associated ancillary data are reported in a tab-delimited format.
Remote sensing of ocean surface velocity from shore-based HF radar sites bridges an operational observational gap between point samples obtained from in-situ sampling and synoptic scale relatively low resolution data obtained from satellites by providing continuous mesoscale coverage at relatively high resolution near the coast. HF radar systems measure the speed of ocean surface currents in directions radial to the antenna in near real time. Radial measurements of ocean velocity may be used directly in some applications such as model assimilation but are commonly used in combination with overlapping sites to estimate the total vector ocean velocity. Radial velocities alone are a measurement of surface ocean velocity projected along the direction radial to the antenna.
Systems operate continuously in all weather conditions and are installed near the coastline. Range resolution of measured currents is determined by the radar transmit bandwidth used. Bandwidth is controlled by radio frequency licenses and translates to range resolutions of 0.5 to 6 kilometers. Maximum ranges of current measurements also depend on radar transmit frequency and vary from about 40 km offshore to about 200 km offshore. Velocities are measured in the upper 0.3 - 2.5 meters of the ocean depending on the operating frequency and vertical velocity shear profile.
Remote sensing of ocean surface velocity from shore-based HF radar sites bridges an operational observational gap between point samples obtained from in-situ sampling and synoptic scale relatively low resolution data obtained from satellites by providing continuous mesoscale coverage at relatively high resolution near the coast. HF radar systems measure the speed of ocean surface currents in directions radial to the antenna in near real time. Radial measurements of ocean velocity may be used directly in some applications such as model assimilation but are commonly used in combination with overlapping sites to estimate the total vector ocean velocity. Radial velocities alone are a measurement of surface ocean velocity projected along the direction radial to the antenna.
Systems operate continuously in all weather conditions and are installed near the coastline. Range resolution of measured currents is determined by the radar transmit bandwidth used. Bandwidth is controlled by radio frequency licenses and translates to range resolutions of 0.5 to 6 kilometers. Maximum ranges of current measurements also depend on radar transmit frequency and vary from about 40 km offshore to about 200 km offshore. Velocities are measured in the upper 0.3 - 2.5 meters of the ocean depending on the operating frequency and vertical velocity shear profile.
Dataset Citation
- Cite as: Hervey, Rex V.; Petraitis, Dawn; NOAA National Data Buoy Center (2015). Surface ocean velocities obtained by HF radar from stations located along coastal waters of Hawaii, North Slope Alaska, Puerto Rico/Virgin Islands, eastern US/Gulf of Mexico and western US. [indicate subset used]. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. Dataset. https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/archive/accession/NDBC-HFRadarRadial. Accessed [date].
Dataset Identifiers
ISO 19115-2 Metadata
gov.noaa.nodc:NDBC-HFRadarRadial
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| Ordering Instructions | Contact NCEI for other distribution options and instructions. |
| Distributor |
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information +1-301-713-3277 NCEI.Info@noaa.gov |
| Dataset Point of Contact |
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information ncei.info@noaa.gov |
| Time Period | 2006-11-12 to Present |
| Spatial Bounding Box Coordinates |
West: -163.014867
East: 39.532
South: -74.262
North: 71.3789
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| Data Presentation Form | Digital table - digital representation of facts or figures systematically displayed, especially in columns |
| Dataset Progress Status | Ongoing - data is continually being updated Historical archive - data has been stored in an offline storage facility |
| Data Update Frequency | As needed |
| Supplemental Information | Documents about processing HF radar data and other related information are archived in NCEI accession 0126755. |
| Purpose | This dataset is available to the public for a wide variety of uses including scientific research and analysis. |
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Last Modified: 2024-03-26T17:03:44Z
For questions about the information on this page, please email: ncei.info@noaa.gov
For questions about the information on this page, please email: ncei.info@noaa.gov
