2006 Ocean Sciences Meeting SEACOOS Presentation - Characterization of Noise in HF Radar on the North Carolina Outer Banks

For the program on "Application of High-Frequency Radar Technology for Coastal Oceanographic Studies II," OS24B-05. On the Outer Banks of North Carolina, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill operates a long range SeaSonde HF radar network to measure surface currents. Initially installed in the summer of 2003, the two site system has been quasi-operational since, but has encountered a range of challenges. One of these challenges is the often poor signal to noise ratio that leads to currents that are sometimes physically unrealistic. This is due in part to the unusually noisy local environment, but this problem has also highlighted some issues in the data processing algorithms. Long and short term noise characteristics will be examined in the raw spectral data in conjunction with related data quality issues. A two tiered approach is being implemented to address the problems with data quality: working with raw spectral data to ameliorate problems with the algorithms; as well as working with radial current component data to develop a badflagging scheme to identify inaccuracies. The relative successes of these two approaches will be compared by examining specific test cases using both methods, and recommendations will be made for dealing with this type of low signal to noise problem in software. *H E Seim, L Stearns, D Barrick, B Lipa