Environmental influences on nearshore X-band navigational radar images

Shore based X-band navigational radars are becoming operational instruments for spatial and temporal mappings of surface waves and coastal currents. The quality of retrieved data, however, remains to be examined. In a campaign to refine retrieval algorithms for wave and current data with navigational radar, we have reviewed images acquired from our shore-based radar system located near a tidal inlet with complex bathymetry. Both wind and waves are measured from a nearby data buoy; water level is also monitored from a tide station. Radar echo intensities in the grids along the straight line extending from the offshore to inlet are further analyzed; linear wind and wave dependences of normalized sea echo intensities are most effective at the grids away from the inlet; tidal influence of sea echo is most significant at grid located in the inlet.