Sea states observation with a portable HFSWR during the 16th Asian Games Sailing Competition

As an important instrument for sea states monitoring, the portable high frequency surface wave radar (HFSWR) OSMAR-S was installed at the Honghai Bay of Shanwei, Guangdong Province to provide sea weather forecast services for the 16th Asian Games Sailing Competition in November, 2010.The radar achieved continuous echo data and sea state parameters of the sea area for nearly 1month, including current velocity, current direction, wave height, wave period, wind speed and wind direction.The radar-measured sea states are compared with the in-situ measurements by multiple instruments such as ship-borne current meter, anemometer and in-situ deployed buoys.The comparison results show good coincidence between measurements by radar and in-situ instruments, which preliminarily validates the capability of radar on monitoring coastal sea states, especially wind and wave.