Land-based high-frequency radars (HF radar) map ocean surface currents in near real-time. Data are used to:

  1.  Reduce search and rescue area for the U.S. Coast Guard
  2.  Provide emergency managers transport information for oil spill or harmful algal bloom response
  3.  Identify fish larvae transport
  4.  Support model validation

Need more information? Please see description of What is High Frequency (HF) Radar? from NOAA CO-OPS and the IOOS HF Radar resource pages.

Data

All radial data from the SECOORA HF Radar stations are submitted the IOOS HF Radar Data Assembly Center (HF Radar DAC). SECOORA also makes the Radial data available for directly download.

SECOORA HF Radar Data Inventory

The following data inventory shows data availability from each site in the SECOORA HF Radar Data Management system. This is meant to give an overview of what data is available from the SECOORA HF Radar Data Server and the SECOORA HF Radar API, both defined below the graph. This does not catalog the availability of data from other sources.

 

SECOORA HF Radar Data Server

Link: https://hfradar.secoora.org/files/

Quasi-real-time radial data in the LLUV/RUV format from HF Radars (both CODAR and WERA) in the SECOORA region. The HF Radar data is organized into folders by station code (found in the station list on the map above) and the pattern type (measured and ideal for CODAR, beam for WERA). This data is available for download en-masse using the widely available wget tool. If you are requesting a large portion of the radial data, please email us first at dmac@secoora.pactmedia.org as we also have data available in compressed archive formats (.zip, .tar.gz) that will be more efficient for download.

SECOORA HF Radar API

Link: https://hfradar.secoora.org/api/

All of the Site and Radial information found in the SECOORA data system is accessible through an API. Use the Filters button in the top right to narrow your API request and the down arrow next to the Get button to request the data from the API in JSON format.

HF Radar DAC THREDDS Server

Link: https://hfrnet-tds.ucsd.edu/thredds/catalog.html

Hourly, Monthly, and Annual Gridded Surface Current Totals produced by the HF Radar DAC for 5 different regions are available on this THREDDS server. Direct links to the HF Radar data for the southeast are provided as follows:

NDBC THREDDS Server

Link: https://dods.ndbc.noaa.gov/thredds/hfradar.html

  • Southeast US Hourly: 1KM, 2KM, 6KM
  • Individual Hourly Files: Link

NCEI Totals in netCDF format

This is the archive of the gridded totals products from the SECOORA HF Radar. It is the only place to download the individual files for each aggregated product.

  • netCDF File Listing – Southeast US data is available in the “USEGC” folders (US East and Gulf Coasts).

NCEI Radials in LLUV format

This is the archive of radial data from individual stations in the LLUV format. It is used as input to the gridded totals products listed above. It can take 6 months to a year for data to appears at NCEI after submission to the IOOS DAC.

  • LLUV File Listing – Data is organized by site code. Codes are available through the SECOORA HF Radar API and found in the station list on the map above.

 

Resources

Radiowave Operators Working Group (ROWG)

Link: http://www.rowg.org

Note: An account is required for access to the ROWG website. Please request an account using the above link.

Technical Resources: https://github.com/rowg

The ROWG Charter:

  1.  To foster collaboration between new and experienced HF radar operators
  2.  To develop procedures governing HF radar operations including:
    • Site logistics.
    • Processing to component vectors.
    • Total vector products and data management.
  3.  To provide recommendations to users, developers, manufacturers, and program managers.

National HF RADAR Network Gateway

Link: http://www.cordc.ucsd.edu/projects/mapping/

HFRadar Network (HFRNet) is used to manage and distribute, in near-realtime, ocean surface currents measured by a distributed network of shore-based HF radar systems. HFRNet provides reliable data telemetry, archiving, and integrated processing for a growing list of near real-time products in a scalable manner for a growing user community supported by the Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS).