The Canadian Programme of Experimental Measurement of Sea-State Characteristics by Sky-Wave Radar

• Main Authors: Winacott, E. L., Roche, C., Chan, J. Y. K.
• Other Authors: COMMUNICATIONS RESEARCH CENTRE OTTAWA (ONTARIO)
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1983
• Subjects: Active & Passive Radar Detection & Equipment; *METEOROLOGICAL RADAR; *WIND DIRECTION; *SKY WAVES; *SEA STATES; *RADAR MAPPING; DATA PROCESSING; IONOSPHERE; MEASUREMENT; HIGH FREQUENCY; COASTAL REGIONS; CANADA; COMMUNICATION EQUIPMENT; MAPS; COLLECTION; HEIGHT; ACCEPTABILITY; RADAR TRANSMITTERS; QUIET; SURFACE TRUTH; IONOSPHERIC DISTURBANCES; NEWFOUNDLAND(PROVINCE); *SKY WAVE RADAR; COMPONENT REPORTS; FOREIGN REPORTS; Canada; Newfoundland
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADP002729; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADP002729

In June, 1980, a limited programme of sky-wave radar measurements was undertaken to investigate the feasibility of measuring sea-state characteristics off the coast of Newfoundland. The programme involved the collection of data by the Communications Research Centre's (CRC) Sampled Aperture Receiving Array (SARA) facility at Ottawa, the compilation of ground-truth maps of wave height, wind velocity and ice coverage by the Centre for Cold-Ocean Resources Engineering (C-CORE) in Newfoundland, and data analysis and interpretation by both agencies. Transmissions were provided, as part of a co-operative programme which involved other projects, by the Rome Air Development Centre transmitter facility at Ava, New York. A number of day-time experimental runs were made between October, 1980, and April, 1982. Because it was felt that ionospheric disturbances would preclude the recording of useful results, runs were made, as much as possible, only during periods of relatively quiet ionospheric conditions. As was expected from the earlier experience of U.S. workers, maps of wind direction usually could be derived from the data, but maps of wave heights were quite sparse: less than one-quarter of the data were useful. In fact, since the acceptance criterion developed by the U.S. workers was found to reject virtually all of the Canadian data; a manual acceptance technique had to be employed. This article is from 'Propagation Factors Affecting Remote Sensing by Radio Waves,' AD-A137 559, p14-1-14-17.