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Radio Oceanography Laboratory data

As a contribution to the Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS), we make observations using Generic High Frequency Doppler Radars (GHFDR) entirely designed and built at the University of Hawaii. The data is available in real-time through the national servers.

Individual HFDRs measure radial currents, i.e. the component of currents in the direction of the HFDR location. We do not combine ourselves radial currents into vector currents maps. Computation of vector currents using uniform methods is centralized for all HFDRs in the United States at the HFRNet CORDC center of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

The latest vector currents maps covering the Hawaiian islands are found originally on the HFRNet server, and are relayed by the PacIOOS server, and by the NDBC server. A KML/Google Earth interface is provided by CORDC. The status of the live data streams is also available onto the PacIOOS server.

The latest raw data displays from individual HFDRs are accessible for quality-control on the radlab server.

• beam: animation of the spectrum range vs. Doppler, for various azimuths
• range: animation of the spectrum azimuth vs. Doppler, for various ranges
• antennas: animation of the spectrum range vs. Doppler, for each isotropic antenna
• radials: animation of the past 3 hours of radial current, pausing on the most recent
• matlab: .mat files containing the latest numerical data

The time series of vector currents at points at equal distances to a pair of HFDR are useful for quality control. We save hourly from the HFRNet server:

Real-time HFDR data are not quality-controlled, and should not be used for scientific research and publication. Quality control is a lengthy, iterative process, involving calibration against other data sets, and may take months or even years. Because real-time data lack quality control, they should never be used as sole or primary source of information for life-critical applications, such as ocean navigation, routing, or search-and-rescue. General liability waivers apply.

We also collect a variety of oceanographic data to support our research, using instrumentation including moored current meters, drifting buoys, hydrographic stations. These data are made generally available through the national servers, such as NOAA NODC. We produce quality-controlled data sets for specific projects of the laboratory; they are listed under the projects.

The following quality-controlled data sets are available for general release:

2002-2003, West of Oahu

2010-2012, South of Oahu

Contact us if you need access to quality-controlled HFDR data for research, or if you do not find the data you need.