Measuring Storm Waves and Water Levels from a fixed structure with a rapidly deployable oceanographic radar
Links
- More information: Publisher Index Page (via DOI)
- Download citation as: RIS | Dublin Core
Abstract
A new oceanographic radar instrument package was developed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to measure storm waves and water levels in the nearshore, capable of being deployed rapidly and transmitting data in near real-time. To test the performance and accuracy of the sensor, multiple years of data were collected over various hydrodynamic conditions and compared to long-term monitoring data collected at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Field Research Facility in Duck, North Carolina, USA. The oceanographic radars were highly reliable, with less than 1% of the record being erroneous spikes or missing data points. At the end of the pier, the radar was highly accurate, with nearly perfect agreement in water level (r2 = 0.997) compared to a nearby National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) tide gauge, and good agreement in significant wave height (r2 = 0.98) and peak wave period (r2 = 0.65) compared to a nearby USACE sensor. This work demonstrates the potential of the USGS radar for rapid response storm deployments and collecting reliable and accurate hydrodynamic measurements in the nearshore for validating coastal impact models.
Suggested Citation
Brown, J., McClenney, B.J., and Dickhudt, P., 2026, Measuring Storm Waves and Water Levels from a fixed structure with a rapidly deployable oceanographic radar, Coastal Dynamics 2025, Aveiro, Portugal, April 7-11, 2025, p. 696-702, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-15473-6_106.
| Publication type | Conference Paper |
|---|---|
| Publication Subtype | Conference Paper |
| Title | Measuring Storm Waves and Water Levels from a fixed structure with a rapidly deployable oceanographic radar |
| DOI | 10.1007/978-3-032-15473-6_106 |
| Publication Date | March 05, 2026 |
| Year Published | 2026 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Springer |
| Contributing office(s) | St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center |
| Description | 7 p. |
| First page | 696 |
| Last page | 702 |
| Conference Title | Coastal Dynamics 2025 |
| Conference Location | Aveiro, Portugal |
| Conference Date | April 7-11, 2025 |
| Country | United States |
| State | North Carolina |
| City | Duck |