Optimization of the High-Frequency Radar Sites in the Bering Strait Region

• Main Authors: Panteleev, Gleb, Yaremchuk, Max, Stroh, Jacob, Posey, Pamela, Hebert, David, Nechaev, Dmitri A
• Other Authors: NAVAL RESEARCH LAB STENNIS DETACHMENT STENNIS SPACE CENTER MS
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2015
• Subjects: Meteorology; Physical and Dynamic Oceanography; Statistics and Probability; Active & Passive Radar Detection & Equipment; *BERING STRAIT; *COASTAL REGIONS; *OCEAN MODELS; ARCTIC REGIONS; ASSIMILATION; CHUKCHI SEA; CIRCULATION; COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION; COVARIANCE; EMPLACEMENT; GAUSSIAN NOISE; HIGH FREQUENCY; ISLANDS; MATHEMATICAL MODELS; METEOROLOGICAL DATA; MONITORING; OCEAN CURRENTS; OCEAN SURFACE; OPTIMIZATION; PROBABILITY DENSITY FUNCTIONS; RADAR TRACKING; SALINITY; VECTOR ANALYSIS; HFRS(HIGH FREQUENCY RADARS); CLIMATOLOGICAL DATA; MHS(MASS HEAT AND SALT); PE0602435N; Arctic; Chukchi Sea; Bering Strait; Cape Prince of Wales; Chukchi; Diomede Island; Alaska
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA623053; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA623053

Monitoring surface currents by coastal high-frequency radars (HFRs) is a cost-effective observational technique with good prospects for further development. An important issue in improving the efficiency of HFR systems is the optimization of radar positions on the coastline. Besides being constrained by environmental and logistic factors, such optimization has to account for prior knowledge of local circulation and the target quantities (such as transports through certain key sections) with respect to which the radar positions are to be optimized. In the proposed methodology, prior information of the regional circulation is specified by the solution of the 4D variational assimilation problem, where the available climatological data in the Bering Strait (BS) region are synthesized with dynamical constraints of a numerical model. The optimal HFR placement problem is solved by maximizing the reduction of a posteriori error in the mass, heat, and salt (MHS) transports through the target sections in the region. It is shown that the MHS transports into the Arctic and their redistribution within the Chukchi Sea are best monitored by placing HFRs at Cape Prince of Wales and on Little Diomede Island. Another equally efficient configuration involves placement of the second radar at Sinuk (western Alaska) in place of Diomede. Computations show that 1) optimization of the HFR deployment yields a significant (1.3--3 times) reduction of the transport errors compared to nonoptimal positioning of the radars and 2) error reduction provided by two HFRs is an order of magnitude better than the one obtained from three moorings permanently maintained in the region for the last 5 yr. This result shows a significant advantage of BS monitoring by HFRs compared to the more traditional technique of in situ moored observations. The obtained results are validated by an extensive set of observing system simulation experiments. Published in the Journal of Atmospheric and Ocean Technology, v32 p297-309, February 2015.