Performance Assessment of a High-Frequency Radar Network for Detecting Surface Currents in the Pearl River Estuary

oleh: Langfeng Zhu, Tianyi Lu, Fan Yang, Chunlei Wei, Jun Wei

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: MDPI AG 2024-01-01

Deskripsi

The performance of a high-frequency (HF) radar network situated within the Pearl River Estuary from 17 July to 13 August 2022 is described via a comparison with seven acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCPs). The radar network consists of six OSMAR-S100 compact HF radars, with a transmitting frequency of 13–16 MHz and a direction-finding technique. Both the radial currents and vector velocities showed good agreement with the ADCP results (coefficient of determination r<sup>2</sup>: 0.42–0.78; RMS difference of radials: 11–21.6 <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mi mathvariant="normal">c</mi><mi mathvariant="normal">m</mi><mo> </mo><msup><mrow><mi mathvariant="normal">s</mi></mrow><mrow><mo>−</mo><mn>1</mn></mrow></msup></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula>; bearing offset <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mo>Δ</mo><mi>θ</mi></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula>: <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mo>−</mo><mn>4.8</mn><mo>°</mo></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula>–<inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mn>16.1</mn><mo>°</mo></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula>; complex correlation coefficient <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mi>γ</mi></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula>: 0.62–0.96; and phase angle <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mi>α</mi></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula>: −24.3<inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mo>°</mo><mo>–</mo></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula>17.8<inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mo>°</mo></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula>). For these radars, the <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mo>Δ</mo><mi>θ</mi></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> values are not constant but vary with azimuthal angles. The relative positions between the HF radar and ADCPs, as well as factors such as the presence of island terrain obstructing the signal, significantly influence the errors. The results of spectral analysis also demonstrate a high level of consistency and the capability of HF radar to capture diurnal and semidiurnal tidal frequencies. The tidal characteristics and the Empirical Orthogonal Function (EOF) results measured by the HF radars also resemble the ADCPs and align with the characteristics of the estuarine current field.