Directional wave spectrum measurement with multistatic HF surface wave radar

HF surface wave radars (HFSWR) measure sea surface currents and current profiles via the Doppler shift of the discrete (first-order scattering) line structure in the radar Doppler spectrum. They can also exploit the higher-order scattering contributions to the Doppler spectrum which yield information on the sea surface directional spectrum in the gravity wave band. Most HFSWR systems operate in a quasi-monostatic configuration, that is, they employ separate transmit and receive antennas but with a baseline d much less than the range R to the nearest resolution cell of interest. Under conditions where d<