Evolution of the USF/CMS CODAR and WERA HF radar network

In an effort to improve our understanding on the workings of the coastal ocean for a variety of environmental applications and to improve upon forecasts of storm surge for residents along the West Coast of Florida, the University of South Florida´s College of Marine Science (USF/CMS) established a real-time Coastal Ocean Monitoring Prediction System (COMPS) for the West Florida Shelf region. COMPS http://comps.marine.usf.edu program assets consist of arrays of offshore buoys and coastal tidal stations for surface meteorology and in-water measurement of temperature, salinity, and currents, and sea level; along with five High Frequency (HF) radar sites for offshore surface-current velocity field measurements. This paper will discuss the evolution of the USF/CMS HF Radar Network, consisting of three Direction Finding (DF) CODAR long-range SeaSonde HF radars and two Phased Array (PA) WERA systems with one site containing co-located CODAR and WERA systems; the first and only co-located and operational site in America.