Analysis of nautical X-band radar images for the generation of bathymetric map by the NSP method

Abstract

This work presents the experimental validation of a novel data processing approach to estimate the local depth in a shallow coastal area starting from X-band radar data. The approach is based on the maximization of the Normalized Scalar Product (NSP) between the measured and the theoretical wave dispersion relations, which embed the dependence on the searched for parameters (current vector and depth). The use of NSP approach allows obtaining a high resolution spatial map of the investigated area and a thorough statistical analysis of this approach is carried out by comparison with the ground truth data collected by a multibeam echo-sounder. Finally, the accuracy of the NSP approach is compared with the one achieved by other methods and prove to provide better results.Index Terms-sea state monitoring, X-band radar data, shallow coastal areas, bathymetry

X-Band Radar System to Detect Bathymetric Changes at River Mouths during Storm Surges: A Case Study of the Arno River

“…Due to the proximity of the coast, the hypotheses of homogeneity and uniformity of the data cannot be considered valid [ 36 , 65 ]. For this reason, the normalized scalar product (NSP) technique [ 37 , 66 ] procedure was applied to sub-areas to estimate the current field and bathymetry by means of the dispersion relationship: where ω is the angular frequency, g is the acceleration due to gravity, is the wave number vector, and is the surface current vector, and h is the depth of the sea.…”

“…Standard nautical Wave Radar systems, using radio waves of 9 GHz, make it possible to scan the sea surface with a high temporal and spatial resolution; therefore, they are able to monitor the sea state in time and space based on the techniques pioneered by [ 29 ]. There are several approaches to extracting wave and current statistics [ 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 ]. In this respect, the processing of data from the echo reflected by the sea surface state makes it possible to obtain essential information, such as wavelength, direction, and period of dominant waves, surface currents, and bathymetry of the seabed [ 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 ].…”

Application of marine radar to monitoring seasonal and event-based changes in intertidal morphology

“…number of approaches to determining and filtering these wave spectra to extract wave and current statistics (Nieto-Borge et al, 2004Senet et al, 2001Senet et al, , 2008Hessner et al, 2008;Serafino et al, 2010Serafino et al, , 2012. In this respect, Bell et al (2012) successfully determined and mapped surface currents around the island of Eday off the north-eastern coast of Scotland.…”