Nautical X-band radar low-cost option with the antenna beamwidth 1.9o was applied for monitoring surface near-shore currents in the Black Sea Field Research Facility of the Southern Branch of P.~P.~Shirshov Institute of Oceanology. The radar signal was processed by an algorithm based on the Nieto-Borge approach. The experimental setup is shown to allow precise real-time near-surface current measurements up to 4 km offshore. A case study of a coherent current pattern resembling a sub-mesoscale vortex passing the experimental field is presented.
X-band radar, radiowave oceanography, currents, sub-mesoscale vortex, Black Sea
1. Groeneweg, Application of navigation radar data to analyse spatial current and wave fields in the tidal inlet of Ameland, Waves In Shallow Environments WISE 2011 Meeting, 2011.
2. Hessner, Ocean Wave Measurements by X-Band Radar: from Spectral Wave Parameters to Single Wave Detection, IFREMER Seminar, 2003, 2003.
3. Kanevsky, Theory of radar image of the ocean surface forming, 2004.
4. Nieto Borge, Estimation of the Significant Wave Height With X-Band Nautical Radars, OMAE 99 Proceedings, 1999.
5. Nieto Borge, Inversion of Marine Radar Images for Surface Wave Analysis, J. Atmos. Oceanic Technol., v. 21, 2004., doi: 10.1175/1520-042620040212.0.CO;2
6. Nieto Borge, Estimation of Ocean Wave Heights from Temporal Sequences of X-Band Marine Radar Images, Proceedings of 14th European Signal Processing Conference EUSIPCO 2006, 2006.
7. Reichert, WaMos II: A Radar Based Wave and Current Monitoring System, ISOPE 99 Proceedings, v. Vol.3, 1999.
8. Vogelzang, Wave Height Measurements with Navigation Radar, International Archives of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing., 2000.
9. Zatsepin, Sub-mesoscale Vortices on the Caucasus Shelf of the Black Sea and Driven Mechanisms, Oceanology, v. Vol. 51, 2011.
