Coastal Ocean Radar Site Locations in New Jersey

CODAR radar systems measure ocean surface current speed and direction at approximately half-mile intervals, extending up to twenty miles offshore. The dataset includes detailed pictures and information for sites at Brant Beach, Brigantine, and a central site in Tuckerton, New Jersey. It is provided by the organization SCIOPS via the NASA Earthdata platform.

Use Cases

• Mapping surface current vectors using calculated speed and direction data from radar sites.
• Analyzing spatial patterns of coastal currents from measurements taken at half-mile intervals.
• Correlating radar-derived current data from specific sites like Brant Beach with local wind or tidal forcing.
• Validating regional ocean circulation models using geospatial current data extending twenty miles offshore.

Strengths

• Surface current calculations are made at high spatial resolution, approximately every half mile.
• Radar coverage extends a significant distance from shore, up to about twenty miles offshore.

Limitations

• The dataset appears limited to three specific sites in New Jersey, reducing geographic generalizability.
• Key quantitative details like total row count, temporal coverage, and measurement frequency are unknown.

Provenance

Source

NASA Earthdata (platform), SCIOPS (organization).

Collection Method

Data gathered using CODAR (Coastal Ocean Radar) systems that transmit radio frequencies and analyze the Doppler shift of signals reflected from the ocean surface.

Geography

Coastal New Jersey, USA, specifically sites at Brant Beach, Brigantine, and Tuckerton.