Retrieval of Surface Current Velocities and their Shears Using the Shipborne X- and Ka-Band Radar Data

A. E. Korinenko✉, V. V. Malinovsky

Marine Hydrophysical Institute of RAS, Sevastopol, Russian Federation

✉ e-mail: korinenko.alex@yandex.ru

Abstract

Purpose. The purpose of the study is to develop a method for retrieving the surface current velocity vector and determining its vertical shear from the sea surface radar images obtained at low grazing angles under a wide range of meteorological conditions.

Methods and Results. The presented results were obtained during the comprehensive field experiments conducted at the Black Sea Hydrophysical Subsatellite Polygon of Marine Hydrophysical Institute. The experiments included the use of coherent marine radar systems MRS-1011 (X band) and MRS-3000 (Ka band), which were deployed at a stationary oceanographic platform and operated in a circular scanning mode with horizontal transmit/receive polarization. Sea surface observations were carried out at grazing incidence angles. Radar imaging was simultaneously accompanied by a set of field measurements at the platform, which included recording the current velocity magnitude and direction at different depths and sea surface elevation, as well as meteorological parameter measurements. The surface current velocity vector was retrieved using cross-spectral analysis of the time series of radar images. This approach enables one to construct a dispersion curve whose deformation is used to estimate the surface current velocity. Aliasing correction in the second Nyquist zone expanded the spectral range of the analyzed wave field, which is particularly important in regions with weak currents and for assessing the vertical shear of current velocities.

Conclusions. The feasibility of applying marine navigation radars to determine the current velocity vector in the coastal zone within a radius of several kilometers has been confirmed. The surface current velocity amplitudes calculated using radar data generally agree with the values obtained from current measurements by an acoustic Doppler current profiler. The vertical current shear in the upper ocean layer was assessed. It is shown that under weak and moderate winds, the dimensionless current shear remains constant, and with increasing wind speed, it decreases. The obtained results are in satisfactory agreement both with the field measurement data and previously published studies.

Keywords

remote sensing, radar images, sea surface, dispersion relation, surface current velocity, vertical shear of current velocity, field measurements, aliasing

Acknowledgements

The study was supported by a Russian Science Foundation grant No. 24-27-20105 (https://rscf.ru/project/24-27-20105), and by an Agreement with the Department of Education and Science of Sevastopol No. 85 dated June 19, 2024. The authors are grateful to V.N. Kudryavtsev, who proposed the method for determining the vertical shear of the current velocity using radar data and developed the algorithm for its implementation.

About the authors

Aleksandr E. Korinenko, Senior Researcher, Marine Hydrophysical Institute of RAS (2 Каpitanskaya Str., Sevastopol, 299011, Russian Federation), CSc. (Phys.-Maths.), ORCID ID: 0000-0001-7452-8703, Scopus Author ID: 23492523000, SPIN-code: 7288-8023, korinenko.alex@yandex.ru

Vladimir V. Malinovsky, Senior Researcher, Marine Hydrophysical Institute of RAS (2 Каpitanskaya Str., Sevastopol, 299011, Russian Federation), CSc. (Phys.-Maths.), ORCID ID: 0000-0002-5799-454X, Scopus Author ID: 23012976200, ResearcherID: F-8709-2014, SPIN-code: 9206-3020, vladimir.malinovsky@mhi-ras.ru

Original russian text

Original Russian Text © A. E. Korinenko, V. V. Malinovsky, 2026, published in MORSKOY GIDROFIZICHESKIY ZHURNAL, Vol. 42, Iss. 1, pp. 37–52 (2026)

For citation

Korinenko, A.E. and Malinovsky, V.V., 2026. Retrieval of Surface Current Velocities and their Shears Using the Shipborne X- and Ka-Band Radar Data. Physical Oceanography, 33(1), pp. 33-47.

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