HF Radar Data Access

Data Portal Links

HF Radar Hourly Surface Currents (2km)
For Northern CA – 2 km coverage area ends @ Bodega Bay, CA

HF Radar Hourly Surface Currents (6km)
6 km surface current data for most of California and Orgeon

HF Radar Hourly Surface Currents (500m)
High Resolution Currents for SF Bay only

How to download HF Radar Data Tutorial: http://boon.ucdavis.edu/hf_radar.html
 

Other Data Access

THREDDS catalog (NetCDF, OPeNDAP)
WMS (web Mapping Service)
Download KML File (Last 7 Days)
 

Raw Unprocessed Data

Raw (Unprocessed) Data Access

Radials and Totals are available for advanced users wishing to process raw data. Data archives go back to 2007

Raw Data File Format

File Format for Totals

The data are available in ASCII format. 
Each file represents a grid of current measurements averaged over an hour.
Each row contains the data for a single point on the grid.
The following data types are contained in the columns that comprise each row:

  • Longitude and Latitude
  • Current speed and direction vectors (north-south (U) and east-west components)
  • Error Flags  
  • Statistics (U and V Standard Deviation, Covariance) 
  • X and Y Grid Coordinates
  • Range, Bearing, Velocity, and Direction 
  • Antenna site that contributed to data      

Data Processing Routines and Toolboxes

Data Processing Routines and Toolboxes

Listing of Matlab routines for working with high frequency radar data

The zipped files linked below contain Matlab routines to calculate temporal and spatial statistics for HF radar data, and perform QA/QC on the data. The processing methods are described in the technical report “HF Radar Processing Using “Nearest-Neighbor” Statistics, A Technical Report” [PDF], developed for the California Coastal Conservancy for the Coastal Ocean Currents Monitoring Program by Chris Halle. Please reference the paper and/or acknowledge this website if using these routines or statistics.

StatsAndUsefulScripts

The two folders in the StatsAndUsefulScripts folder (HF_Scratch and HFR_Progs_Supplement) both contain the scripts that actually calculate the statistics and qa/qc the radials and totals. These are as yet somewhat unorganized, so the routines can be found in either folder.  In general, script names generally follow a naming convention (1) scripts starting with “Get” – calculate the statistics, (2) script starting with “Clean” – qa/qc the radials or totals using the previously calculated statistics and user-specified totals, and (3) scripts starting with “Inv” – use the previously calculates stats and allow the user to interactively investigate the effects of setting different screening levels for the statistics.

SampleDrivingScripts

The scripts in the SampleDrivingScripts folder contain examples of how to call the processing routines.  The ReadMe file in the SampleDrivingScripts folder indicates the proper order of processing.  Please note that the scripts have not been optimized for speed, and can be repetitive. Updates will be posted as available.

The scripts set up the radials and totals in monthly files for processing and storage.

HFRosePlotRoutines

Current Rose Routines for HFR Data: prompt driven routines that allow the user to specify the date search range, etc, and generate plots similar to this sample plot.

HFR_Progs Matlab Toolbox