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Backtracking drifting objects using surface currents from high-frequency (HF) radar technology

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Abstract

In this work, the benefits of high-frequency (HF) radar ocean observation technology for backtracking drifting objects are analysed. The HF radar performance is evaluated by comparison of trajectories between drifter buoys versus numerical simulations using a Lagrangian trajectory model. High-resolution currents measured by a coastal HF radar network combined with atmospheric fields provided by numerical models are used to backtrack the trajectory of two dataset of surface-drifting buoys: group I (with drogue) and group II (without drogue). A methodology based on optimization methods is applied to estimate the uncertainty in the trajectory simulations and to optimize the search area of the backtracked positions. The results show that, to backtrack the trajectory of the buoys in group II, both currents and wind fields were required. However, wind fields could be practically discarded when simulating the trajectories of group I. In this case, the optimal backtracked trajectories were obtained using only HF radar currents as forcing. Based on the radar availability data, two periods ranging between 8 and 10 h were selected to backtrack the buoy trajectories. The root mean squared error (RMSE) was found to be 1.01 km for group I and 0.82 km for group II. Taking into account these values, a search area was calculated using circles of RMSE radii, obtaining 3.2 and 2.11 km2 for groups I and II, respectively. These results show the positive contribution of HF radar currents for backtracking drifting objects and demonstrate that these data combined with atmospheric models are of value to perform backtracking analysis of drifting objects.

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Acknowledgments

This work has been partially funded by the Spanish Ministry for Science and Innovation under the research projects PSE-310000-2009-03 (PSE PROMARES, OCTOPOS subproject) and TRA2011-28900 (PLVMA project). The authors would like to thank the Galician Coast Guard, INTECMAR, the University of Vigo, Puertos del Estado and MeteoGalicia for the collaboration and the data provided for the study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Environmental Hydraulics Institute “IH Cantabria”, Universidad de Cantabria, C/Isabel Torres no. 15, 39011, Santander, Spain

    Ana Julia Abascal, Sonia Castanedo & Raúl Medina

  2. Qualitas Remos, C/Toronga, 31, 28043, Madrid, Spain

    Vicente Fernández

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  1. Ana Julia Abascal
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  2. Sonia Castanedo
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  3. Vicente Fernández
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  4. Raúl Medina
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Correspondence to Ana Julia Abascal.

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Responsible Editor: Oyvind Breivik

This article is part of the Topical Collection on Advances in Search and Rescue at Sea

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Abascal, A.J., Castanedo, S., Fernández, V. et al. Backtracking drifting objects using surface currents from high-frequency (HF) radar technology. Ocean Dynamics 62, 1073–1089 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10236-012-0546-4

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