Deployment and Maintenance of a High-frequency Radar (HFR) for Ocean Surface Current Mapping: Best Practices.

Abstract

The use of HF radar for the collection of ocean surface current information in near-real time is quickly expanding. As this national radar network grows and matures, there will be a need for a defined set of best practices for radar system operations and maintenance. In anticipation of this need, the radar operators for the Southern California Coastal Ocean Observing System (www.sccoos.org) prepared this document titled “The Deployment & Maintenance of a High-Frequency Radar (HFR) for Ocean Surface Current Mapping: Best Practices”. The editors’ intentions are that this document may serve as a stimulus for developing a national set of operational best practices. The document defines a set of best practices developed from the collective experience of the operators usage of compact direction finding radar systems, specifically, the SeaSonde® family of direction-fin ding HFRs manufactured by CODAR Ocean Sensors, Ltd. (COS). The best practices discussed in this document focus on the instal- lation, operation, and maintenance of CODAR SeaSondes. Further revisions of this document are expected to expand to include other manufacturers of HF radar equipment. As with all best practice documents, there is an expectation that this will be a living document that will expand to encompass community feedback and suggestions; corrections, modifications, comments, and additions are welcome from the entire HFR com- munity. The below list of editors may be contacted for any changes or updates. This document should be considered supple- mentary to manufacture provided documentation for products discussed herein. Manuals for the SeaSonde systems are provided by COS in the /Codar/SeaSonde/Docs directory on each computer they ship, as well as on their websites www.codar.com and www.seasonde.com.