Application of marine radar for ocean wave monitoring

Simple algorithm for acquiring characteristics of ocean waves: such as direction and average length of wave systems, is proposed through analyses of radar echo from sea surface. Method of spectral analysis is applied to original radar echo signals before eliminating noises due to reflection from rain, clouds, sea surfaces, etc. A big set of A-scopes, original echo signals before processing in the radar system, is used for the spectral analyses. The authors confirm accuracy and applicability of the proposed algorithm by numerical simulations: generation of regular and irregular sea surface and resulting spectral analyses. And then, they apply the algorithm to analyses of actual radar echoes obtained onboard ships. They show that the proposed algorithm can discriminate two dominant wave systems having different characteristics of direction and average length of wave from confused sea with agreeable accuracy