Surface Wave Radars on the Mediterranean Sea – ROSMed

High-Frequency Surface Wave Radar (HFSWR) allow continuous observation of the sea surface over long distances, from 50 to 300 km depending on the frequency used in the High Frequency band (HF, 3-30 MHz). The objective of this project is to enhance the capabilities of civil and environmental maritime surveillance by HFSWR on the French Mediterranean coast.

For this, we propose a collaboration between the only two operators that are currently active on a continuous basis on this coast: the MIO laboratory, which maintains two HF radar networks (13.5 and 16.15 MHz) for real-time mapping of currents in the Toulon and Nice areas, and ONERA, which is developing a HFSWR system (6.5 MHz) located in the Camargue for monitoring ships in the Gulf of Lion.

We want to achieve a symbiosis of data and methods developed for each of the radar networks to increase their respective performance and increase the products available on the Mediterranean coast. The main novelties will be:

1) An expertise of the marine target detection performances offered by the MIO and ONERA ROS systems as a function of the environmental conditions, the technical characteristics of the instruments and the targets illuminated by the two radars. An evaluation of ship tracking and its transfer from one SAR system to another will also be performed.
2) The development of new environmental applications (in particular, high spatial resolution mapping of surface currents and wave and wind fields, measurement of extreme events) for the MIO and ONERA HFSWR systems and fusion of the results obtained by each instrument to optimize spatial coverage. Numerical models (general circulation and waves) as well as drifting buoys data will constitute a complementary data set.
3) A comparison of products from the two ROS instruments of MIO and ONERA with products obtained from space instruments (wind and current maps and ship detection by SAR imaging radar, geostrophic component of the current and wave measurement by altimetry).