Improvement of surface current measurements with spectra reprocessing for 13 MHz seasonde systems

The demand for high-quality surface current measurements from High Frequency radar instrumentation is continuously increasing. To ensure that the CODAR (Coastal Ocean Dynamics Applications Radar) system is accurately mapping the surface current field, standards need to be met at the radial level. Limited radial coverage, flipped radial fields, and outlier vectors are a few signals indicating that there is a potential issue. This paper examines the results of the reprocessing methods for a 13 MHz SeaSonde located in Brant Beach, NJ (BRNT) between May 02, 2012 and May 09, 2012. After several test cases, it was determined that for that time period a signal above noise factor of 6.3 (~8 dB) and maximum radial velocity of 60 cm/s were the most ideal settings. Along with the altered radial configuration settings, a new batch application written by CODAR Ocean Sensors was utilized for reprocessing larger datasets at a quicker rate. The real time and reprocessed radial data was examined with neighboring CODAR sites operating at 13 MHz and the semi-diurnal (M2) tidal signal.