Page 27: of Marine Technology Magazine (September 2011)

www.seadiscovery.com Marine Technology Reporter 27During the past few years, Ocean Remote Sensing by HF radar has become more and more valuable to modern Coastal Management. It offers insights into the dynamics ofthe coastal seas for a variety of appli- cations with shore based instruments. Search and Rescue operations for example can narrow down the search radius for overboard persons, port authorities can use the data toimprove vessel traffic services, envi- ronmental protection benefits from this information in case of oil spills orlost containers. Even the marine renewable energy sector has discov- ered the advantages of using this reli- able technology. Diverse studies prove the benefits of using HF radar forhazards management (e.g. Tsunami Detection) and more and more coun- tries rely on this method by integrat- ing it into their marine ocean observ- ing networks. One of the leaders in the field of HF radar is the German company Helzel Messtechnik GmbH providing the shore based Ocean Remote Sensing System WERA (WavE RAdar) which contributes to coastal management by monitoring surface currents, wind direction and wave parameters with the highest spa- tial and temporal resolution. Ocean Radar The WERA long range, high resolu- tion monitoring system is based onshort radio wave radar technology. The vertically polarized electromag- netic wave is coupled to the conduc- tive ocean surface and follows the cur- vature of the earth. This over the horizon oceanographic radar can pick up back-scattered signals from the rough ocean surface (Bragg effect) from ranges of more than 200 km. The concept of the WERA system has been developed at the U. of Hamburg by Dr. Klaus-Werner Gurgel in 1995 and the hardware development was completed in 2000 at Helzel Messtechnik GmbH. Results from more than 60 installations worldwide demonstrate the features and flexibil- ity of the system: High resolution monitoring with a range cell size of 300 m for short ranges or for long range applications with 3 km rangecell size, all generated with the typical high temporal resolution of 10 min- utes. As it is a very flexible system, it can be adopted to the user?s needs and requirements, as well as opti- mized to site-specific conditions. Environmental Monitoring and Pollution Control by HF radarOcean ObservationCoastal radar is an increasingly important monitoring tool for hazard management and environmental protection of the oceans? by Thomas Helzel, President of Helzel Messtechnik GmbH MTR#7 (18-33):MTR Layouts 8/29/2011 9:57 AM Page 27