Radio interferential measurements of sea level oscillations with large tidal amplitude

A tide height measurement technique using -band radio waves in an oblique incidence interferometer is reviewed. Generalization of the technique is described which reduces the required bandwidth of the radio frequency adjustment and increases its efficiency. This generalization, however, introduces an ambiguity in the height determination and also requires specification of the phase shift of the radio waves specularly reflected from the sea surface. The ambiguity is shown to be easily removable given coarse information about the expected time derivative of tidal height. The influence of the phase shift which contains sea-wave information is studied analytically and requirement in its specification is evaluated to have an accuracy of . This corresponds to a tide height determination accuracy of cm. The method is designed for coastal regions where a bistatic experiment geometry is feasible.