Wave direction measured by four different systems

During a March 1977 experiment, four systems were used to provide wave-direction information offshore of Mission Beach, CA: a synthetic aperature radar (SAR) carried aboard a NASA CV990 aircraft, a coastal imaging radar, a pressure-gauge array offshore, and aerial photography aboard two aircraft. The coastal radar, aerial photographs, and SAR provided wave images. From the coastal radar images and the aerial photographs, the direction and length of the principal wavetrains were measured by a manual analysis. The SAR images were also processed using an FFT to give two-dimensional wave spectra. The array at the Naval Ocean Systems Center (NOSC) tower was used to provide directional wave spectra. Scatter diagrams are presented, which intercompare the measurements from these four systems. In addition, radar image spectral information is compared with the array spectra. The intercomparison of the data from these four systems shows good agreement among the imaging systems. Between the imaging systems and the pressure array there is agreement for the most prominent wavetrains and disagreement for several cases where multiple wavetrains from different directions but with similar periods are present.