Mapping of North Atlantic winds by HF radar sea backscatter interpretation

Abstract

This work presents preliminary results on attempts to map winds of a storm at long range (500 to 1000 nmi) over a large area ( 10^{5} mi 2 ) in the North Atlantic from the U. S. Naval Research Laboratory, HF radar research facilities at Chesapeake Beach, Md. [1] It appears that the short time response of the sea surface to local winds can be mapped by the analysis of a matrix of range-azimuth records containing frequency power spectra of HF radar signals backscattered from the sea surface via the ionosphere. This paper presents such a map based upon the ratio of the strengths of the first-order contributions to the backscatter spectrum (the approach-recede first-order Bragg lines) and is compared qualitatively with a U. S. Weather Bureau map of the area.