In the framework of the French MOOSE project (Mediterranean Ocean Observing System on Environment), the Mediterranean Institute of Oceanography (M.I.O.) is operating High Frequency Surface Wave Radars (HFSWR) on the North Western Mediterranean coast. The surface circulation in this region is characterized by a large-scale flow (Northern Current) and by a broad range of other scales of variability induced by meteorological and tidal forcing. The ability of HFSWR is to provide synoptic observation as sea surface current map every hour and over long distances. One site is fully operational nearby Toulon since 2011 and a second one is in deployment around Nice.
An HFSWR system includes at least two radar sites, each one is measuring the radial velocity in its looking direction every hours. This component of the surface current is proportional to the Doppler shift of the first-order Bragg-resonant echoes. Two maps of radial velocities from each radar sites are combined in near-real time to compute the current vector. Click on http://hfradar.univ-tln.fr to have more information and to view the near-real time data.
The first target area off the coast of Toulon (ANTARES) is a key zone conditioning the behavior of the North Current (NC) downstream of the Gulf of Lions, and the exchanges across the shelf edges. This zone is monitored by two Wellen Radar (WERA) systems manufactured at Helzel Messtechnik GmbH. The implementation of two Seasonde systems from CODAR Ocean Sensors, by the end of the year 2013, in the Ligurian area (DYFAMED) extent the radar observation to the full coastal area between Toulon and Nice.
