Wind Field Retrieval in the Coastal Zone Using X-Band Radar Data at Large Incidence Angles

A. E. Korinenko*, V. V. Malinovsky

Marine Hydrophysical Institute of Russian Academy of Sciences, Sevastopol, Russia

* e-mail: korinenko.alex@mhi-ras.ru

Abstract

The paper aims to develop a geophysical model function that allows retrieval of the wind speed vector from a radar signal scattered from the sea surface. During in situ experiments on the stationary oceanographic platform in 2022–2024, a database contained radar information, frequency spectra of sea surface elevations, wind speed and direction, and geometric properties of breaking wave crests in the active phase was created. An MRS-1011 360-degree marine radar (X-band, 3 cm wavelength) transmitting and receiving horizontally polarized signal at large incidence angles was used in the experiments. For these observation conditions, the main informative parameter that governs the radar cross section is the fraction of the sea surface covered by wind wave breaking crests (whitecap coverage). The role of this parameter is qualitatively confirmed by the fact that the radar power and whitecap coverage have similar wind speed dependencies. It was shown that the radar cross section was proportional to the whitecap coverage with 1.47 as the proportionality coefficient. The intensity of wave breaking also depends on the wave age, which leads to the dependency of the radar cross section on the wave development stage. The influence of the wave age on the radar signal level was confirmed experimentally. It was shown that the level of the wind dependency of the radar signal in the “up-wind” direction increased by a factor of 5 when the wave age increased from 0.1 to 1.2. Based on the in situ data and physical grounds of the sea surface radar backscatter formation, we suggest a geophysical model function allowing retrieval of wind speed fields in areas within a radius of about a kilometer. The error in wind speed vector magnitude and direction retrieved from radar data was 1.2 m/s and 30°, respectively, compared to the data obtained by the anemometer.

Keywords

navigation radar stations, radar images, normalized radar cross-section, sea surface, wind speed, in situ measurements, wave age, wave breaking

Acknowledgments

The study was carried out with financial support of the Russian Science Foundation grant no. 24-27-20105, https://rscf.ru/project/24-27-20105, and under the Agreement with the Department of Education and Science of Sevastopol no. 85 dated June 19, 2024. The authors thank K. A. Pampey for her assistance in in situ data processing.

For citation

Korinenko, A.E. and Malinovsky, V.V., 2025. Wind Field Retrieval in the Coastal Zone Using X-Band Radar Data at Large Incidence Angles. Ecological Safety of Coastal and Shelf Zones of Sea, (1), pp. 26–41.

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