Variability in the air-sea interaction patterns and timescales within the south-eastern Bay of Biscay, as observed by HF radar data

Two high-frequency (HF) radar stations were installed on the coast of the south-eastern Bay of Biscay in 2009, providing high spatial and temporal resolution and large spatial coverage of currents in the area for the first time. This has made it possible to quantitatively assess the air-sea interaction patterns and timescales for the period 2009-2010. The analysis was conducted using the Barnett-Preisendorfer approach to canonical correlation analysis (CCA) of reanalysis surface winds and HF radar-derived surface currents. The CCA yields two canonical patterns: the first wind-current interaction pattern corresponds to the classical Ekman drift at the sea surface, whilst the second describes an anticyclonic/cyclonic surface circulation. The results obtained demonstrate that local winds play an important role in driving the upper water circulation. The wind-current interaction timescales are mainly related to diurnal breezes and synoptic variability. In particular, the breezes force diurnal currents in waters of the continental shelf and slope of the south-eastern Bay. It is concluded that the breezes may force diurnal currents over considerably wider areas than that covered by the HF radar, considering that the northern and southern continental shelves of the Bay exhibit stronger diurnal than annual wind amplitudes.

Radar methods for the exploration of glaciers

The problem of finding the depths of glaciers and the current methods are discussed briefly. Radar methods are suggested as a possible improvement for, or adjunct to, seismic and gravity survey methods. The feasibility of propagating electromagnetic waves in ice and the maximum range to be expected are then investigated theoretically with the aid of experimental data on the dielectric properties of ice. It is found that the maximum expected range is great enough to measure the depth of many glaciers at the lower radar frequencies if there is not too much liquid water present. Greater ranges can be attained by going to lower frequencies.

The results are given of two expeditions in two different years to the Seward Glacier in the Yukon Territory. Experiments were conducted on a small valley glacier whose depth was determined by seismic sounding. Many echoes were received but their identification was uncertain. Using the best echoes, a profile was obtained each year, but they were not in exact agreement with each other. It could not be definitely established that echoes had been received from bedrock. Agreement with seismic methods for a considerable number of glaciers would have to be obtained before radar methods could be relied upon. The presence of liquid water in the ice is believed to be one of the greatest obstacles. Besides increasing the attenuation and possibly reflecting energy, it makes it impossible to predict the velocity of propagation. The equipment used was far from adequate for such purposes, so many of the difficulties could be attributed to this. Partly because of this, and the fact that there are glaciers with very little liquid water present, radar methods are believed to be worthy of further research for the exploration of glaciers.

Determinación de longitudes efectivas de lluvia en trayectos de enlaces vía satélite a partir de los datos de reflectividad del Radar meteorológico de Kapildui

[ES]En este proyecto se presenta un estudio sobre la estimación de la longitud efectiva de lluvia derivada de los escaneos de elevación obtenidos por el radar meteorológico de Kapildui, en Álava. Se estudia la altura y la longitud de la lluvia para distintos eventos: para lluvia estratiforme y para lluvia convectiva. Se analizará la variabilidad espacial y temporal para diferentes ángulos de elevación del radar. Finalmente, se presentará una versión del algoritmo implementado para el cálculo de longitudes efectivas de lluvia y se realizará un estudio estadístico de la variabilidad de ésta para diferentes direcciones y con diferentes eventos de lluvia.

Estimating reflectivity values from wind turbines for analyzing the potential impact on weather radar services

Locate full-text(opens in a new window)|View at Publisher| Export | Download | More... Atmospheric Measurement Techniques Volume 8, Issue 5, 27 May 2015, Pages 2183-2193 Estimating reflectivity values from wind turbines for analyzing the potential impact on weather radar services (Article) Angulo, I.a, Grande, O.a, Jenn, D.b, Guerra, D.a, De La Vega, D.a a University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Bilbao, Spain b Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, United States View references (28) Abstract The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has repeatedly expressed concern over the increasing number of impact cases of wind turbine farms on weather radars. Current signal processing techniques to mitigate wind turbine clutter (WTC) are scarce, so the most practical approach to this issue is the assessment of the potential interference from a wind farm before it is installed. To do so, and in order to obtain a WTC reflectivity model, it is crucial to estimate the radar cross section (RCS) of the wind turbines to be built, which represents the power percentage of the radar signal that is backscattered to the radar receiver.

For the proposed model, a representative scenario has been chosen in which both the weather radar and the wind farm are placed on clear areas; i.e., wind turbines are supposed to be illuminated only by the lowest elevation angles of the radar beam.

This paper first characterizes the RCS of wind turbines in the weather radar frequency bands by means of computer simulations based on the physical optics theory and then proposes a simplified model to estimate wind turbine RCS values. This model is of great help in the evaluation of the potential impact of a certain wind farm on the weather radar operation.

Aplicação da metodologia de GPR (Radar de Penetração no Solo) com tratamento no programa Reflexw dos cordões cenozóicos da planície costeira de Itaguaí, Rio de Janeiro

Esta pesquisa investigou a formação de depósitos arenosos localizados na planície costeira da Baixada de Sepetiba, em Itaguaí, estado do Rio de Janeiro. A deposição sedimentar e a evolução desta área, na Baixada de Sepetiba tem sido estudada nas três últimas décadas, principalmente, porque é um ambiente de depósitos arenosos antigo de idade Holocênica a Pleistocênica que corresponde a uma linha de praia, originada com eventos transgressivos e/ou regressivos que tiveram seu ápice durante o Quaternário. A metodologia de Radar de Penetração no Solo (GPR) é usada, principalmente nos casos de trabalho em que se estuda um ambiente costeiro arenoso. Este campo da Geofísica tem sido usado para examinar características, tais como: a espessura de depósitos arenosos, a profundidade de um aqüífero, a detecção de uma rocha ou um aqüífero, e determina a direção de progradação. Esta pesquisa usa técnicas de radar de penetração no solo (GPR) para analisar as estruturas, em subsuperfície desde que o ambiente estudado seja definido como linha de costa, as margens de uma lagoa mixohalina, chamada Baía de Sepetiba. Neste trabalho realizamos um total de 11 perfis, que foram processados pelo software ReflexWin. Durante o processamento do dado aplicamos alguns filtros, tais como: subtract-mean (dewow), bandpassfrequency e ganhos. E as melhores imagens dos perfis foram realizadas usando-se uma antena de 200 MHz (canal 1) e outra antena de 80 MHz. Neste caso, obtivemos imagens de alta resolução a uma profundidade de até 25 metros.

Do oil and gas platforms off California reduce recruitment of bocaccio (Sebastes paucispinis) to natural habitat? An analysis based on trajectories derived from high-frequency radar

To investigate the possibility that oil and gas platforms may reduce recruitment of rockfishes (Sebastes spp.) to natural habitat, we simulated drift pathways termed “trajectories” in our model) from an existing oil platform to nearshore habitat using current measurements from high-frequency (HF) radars. The trajectories originated at Platform Irene, located west of Point Conception, California, during two recruiting seasons for bocaccio (Sebastes paucispinis): May through August, 1999 and 2002. Given that pelagic juvenile bocaccio dwell near the surface, the trajectories estimate transport to habitat. We assumed that appropriate shallow water juvenile habitat exists inshore of the 50-m isobath. Results from 1999 indicated that 10% of the trajectories represent transport to habitat, whereas 76% represent transport across the offshore boundary. For 2002, 24% represent transport to habitat, and 69% represent transport across the offshore boundary. Remaining trajectories (14% and 7% for 1999 and 2002, respectively) exited the coverage area either northward or southward along isobaths. Deployments of actual drifters (with 1-m drogues) from a previous multiyear study provided measurements originating near Platform Irene from May through August. All but a few of the drifters moved offshore, as was also shown with the HF radar-derived trajectories. These results indicate that most juvenile bocaccio settling on the platform would otherwise have been transported offshore and perished in the absence of a platform. However, these results do not account for the swimming behavior of juvenile bocaccio, about which little is known.

Radar interferometer measurements of space debris using the Evpatoria RT-70 transmitter

The ability of the Evpatoria RT-70 radar complex to perform research on space debris was investigated in four trial experiments during 2001-2003. The echo-signals of 25 objects at geostationary, highly elliptical and medium-altitude orbits were recorded on magnetic tapes at radio telescopes in Russia, Italy, China and Poland. The multi-antenna system configuration gives potential to supplement the classic radar data with precise angular observations using the technique of Very Long Baseline Interferometry. The first stage of such processing was fulfilled by the correlator in N. Novgorod, Russia. The cross-correlation of transmitted and received signals was obtained for the 11 objects on the Evpatoria-Bear Lakes, Evpatoria-Urumqi and Evpatoria-Noto baselines. This activity also promoted developing the optical observations of geostationary objects, conducted for the improvement of the radar target ephemerides. (C) 2004 COSPAR. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

2-D and 3-D processing and interpretation of multi-fold ground penetrating radar data:a case history from an archaeological site

A 2.5-D and 3-D multi-fold GPR survey was carried out in the Archaeological Park of Aquileia (northern Italy). The primary objective of the study was the identification of targets of potential archaeological interest in an area designated by local archaeological authorities. The second geophysical objective was to test 2-D and 3-D multi-fold methods and to study localised targets of unknown shape and dimensions in hostile soil conditions. Several portions of the acquisition grid were processed in common offset (CO), common shot (CSG) and common mid point (CMP) geometry. An 8×8 m area was studied with orthogonal CMPs thus achieving a 3-D subsurface coverage with azimuthal range limited to two normal components. Coherent noise components were identified in the pre-stack domain and removed by means of FK filtering of CMP records. Stack velocities were obtained from conventional velocity analysis and azimuthal velocity analysis of 3-D pre-stack gathers. Two major discontinuities were identified in the area of study. The deeper one most probably coincides with the paleosol at the base of the layer associated with activities of man in the area in the last 2500 years. This interpretation is in agreement with the results obtained from nearby cores and excavations. The shallow discontinuity is observed in a part of the investigated area and it shows local interruptions with a linear distribution on the grid. Such interruptions may correspond to buried targets of archaeological interest. The prominent enhancement of the subsurface images obtained by means of multi-fold techniques, compared with the relatively poor quality of the conventional single-fold georadar sections, indicates that multi-fold methods are well suited for the application to high resolution studies in archaeology.

Remote sensing of ocean waves by along-track interferometric synthetic aperture radar

A new wave retrieval method for the Along-Track Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (AT-InSAR) phase image is presented. The new algorithm, named parametric retrieval algorithm (PRA), uses the full nonlinear mapping relations. It differs from previous retrieval algorithms in that it does not require a priori information about the sea state or the wind vector from scatterometer data. Instead, it combines the observed AT-InSAR phase spectrum and assumed wind vector to estimate the wind sea spectrum. The method has been validated using several C-band and X-band HH-polarized AT-InSAR observations collocated with spectral buoy measurements. In this paper, X-band and C-band HH-polarized AT-InSAR phase images of ocean waves are first used to study AT-InSAR wave imaging fidelity. The resulting phase spectra are quantitatively compared with forward-mapped in situ directional wave spectra collocated with the AT-InSAR observations. Subsequently, we combine the parametric retrieval algorithm (PRA) with X-band and C-band HH-polarized AT-InSAR phase images to retrieve ocean wave spectra. The results show that the ocean wavelengths, wave directions, and significant wave heights estimated from the retrieved ocean wave spectra are in agreement with the buoy measurements.

The variability of eddy kinetic energy in the South China Sea deduced from satellite altimeter data

We used fifteen years (1993-2007) of altimetric data, combined from different missions (ERS-1/2, TOPEX/Poseidon, Jason-1, and Envisat), to analyze the variability of the eddy kinetic energy (EKE) in the South China Sea (SCS). We found that the EKE ranged from 64 cm(2)/s(2) to 1 390 cm(2)/s(2) with a mean value of 314 cm(2)/s(2). The highest EKE center was observed to the east of Vietnam (with a mean value of 509 cm(2)/s(2)) and the second highest EKE region was located to the southwest of Taiwan Island (with a mean value of 319 cm(2)/s(2)). We also found that the EKE structure is the consequence of the superposition of different variability components. First, interannual variability is important in the SCS. Spectral analysis of the EKE interannual signal (IA-EKE) shows that the main periodicities of the IA-EKE to the east of Vietnam, to the southwest of Taiwan Island, and in the SCS are 3.75, 1.87, and 3.75 years, respectively. It is to the south of Taiwan Island that the IA-EKE signal has the most obvious impact on EKE variability. In addition, the IA-EKE exhibit different trends in different regions. An obvious positive trend is observed along the east coast of Vietnam, while a negative trend is found to the southwest of Taiwan Island and in the east basin of Vietnam. Correlation analysis shows that the IA-EKE has an obvious negative correlation with the SSTA in Nio3 (5A degrees S-5A degrees N, 90A degrees W-150A degrees W). El Nio-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) affects the IA-EKE variability in the SCS through an atmospheric bridge-wind stress curl over the SCS. Second, the seasonal cycle is the most obvious timescale affecting EKE variability. The locations of the most remarkable EKE seasonal variabilities in the SCS are to the east of Vietnam, to the southwest of Taiwan, and to the west of Philippines. To the east of Vietnam, the seasonal cycle is the dominant mechanism controlling EKE variability, which is attributed primarily to the annual cycle there of wind stress curl. In this area, the maximum EKE is observed in autumn. To the southwest of Taiwan Island, the EKE is enlarged by the stronger SCS circulation, which is caused by the intrusion branch from the Kuroshio in winter. Finally, intra-annual and mesoscale variability, although less important than the former, cannot be neglected. The most obvious intra-annual and mesoscale variability, which may be the result of baroclinic instability of the background flow, are observed to the southwest of Taiwan Island. Sporadic events can have an important effect on EKE variability.