Airborne Measurement of the Space/Time Properties of Waves in the Coastal Zone
Abstract
Our long-term goal in this project is to utilize a newly developed airborne microwave technique to monitor the propagation of waves from the deep ocean into the coastal zone. Our scientific objectives are to investigate the generation of forced waves produced by quadratic nonlinearities, the refraction of swell in shallow water, the possibility of determining bottom topography from refraction, and the effects of bottom topography and composition on the reflection and attenuation of swell waves propagating shoreward. Our approach is to fly a coherent real aperture radar (CORAR) on a NOAA Twin Otter aircraft to make images in a sidelooking mode of the waves propagating toward shore and to measure their directional spectra and the accompanying wind speed utilizing a simultaneous rotating mode. By obtaining wave spectra from both the imaging and rotating modes, we will obtain the dispersion behavior of any spectral peaks and thus determine the order of the interaction that produced them. We will also attempt to extract currents from CORAR's rotating mode and compare them with currents simultaneously measured by a shore-based CODAR. We will fly along with two NOAA radiometers that will measure air/water temperature as well as wind speed and direction. Finally, we will fly in formation with a NOAA LongEZ airplane which will measure atmospheric turbulence and directional wave spectra at low altitude. We will compare our measurements with theirs.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 1998
- Accession Number
- ADA551761
Entities
People
- William J. Plant
Organizations
- University of Washington