Development of a practical method for estimating directional spectrum from HF radar backscatter

Abstract

For the purpose of developing a practical method for estimating directional wave spectrum from HF radar sea-echo Doppler spectrum, a Bayesian method proposed by Hashimoto and Tokuda (1998) is modified and improved. In the method, a formulation of directional spectrum is characterized by an exponential function having the power expressed by a Fourier series over the directional range, while being assumed to be a piecewise-constant function over the frequency range. The method is examined using numerical simulation, with its validity being discussed. The result shows that the method has advantage in that it requires less memory and shorter computation time in practical applications.