High-Frequency radar measurements with CODARs in the region of Nice: improved calibration and performance

TL;DR

This paper presents the deployment of a compact radar in Nice for coastal current monitoring, introducing novel self-calibration techniques that improve data accuracy without external transmitters, validated by drifter comparisons.

Contribution

It introduces an original self-calibration method for radar antenna patterns that enhances surface current measurements without external calibration sources.

Findings

High-quality radial surface current maps achieved

Self-calibration technique validated with drifter data

Enhanced radar measurement accuracy in coastal regions

Abstract

We report on the installation and first results of one compact oceanographic radar in the region of Nice for a long-term observation of the coastal surface currents in the North-West Mediterranean Sea. We describe the specific processing and calibration techniques which were developed at the laboratory to produce high-quality radial surface current maps. In particular, we propose an original self-calibration technique of the antenna patterns, which is based on the sole analysis of the databasis and does not require any shipborne transponder or other external transmitters. The relevance of the self-calibration technique and the accuracy of inverted surface currents have been assessed with the launch of 40 drifters that remained under the radar coverage for about 10 days.