The objective of the EuroROSE (European Radar Ocean Sensing) project was to combine area covering ground-based remote-sensed wave and current data with high-resolution numerical forecast models to provide nowcasts and forecasts for coastal marine operators. Two experiments to test and to demonstrate the system took place: one on the coast of Norway, north of Bergen in March 2000 and the second on the north coast of Spain at Gijon in October -November 2000. Qualitative and quantitative intercomparisons of the wave measurements and wave model products from these experiments are presented. These include measurements using the Wellen Radar (WERA) high-frequency (HF) radar, the WaMoS (Wave Monitoring System) Xband radar, a directional Waverider and output from the WAM wave model. Comparisons are made of the full directional spectra and of various derived parameters. This is the first-ever intercomparison between HF and X-band radar wave measurements and between either of these and WAM. It has provided a data set covering a much wider range of storm and swell conditions than had been available previously for radar wave-measurement validation purposes and has clarified a number of limitations of the radars as well as providing a lot of very useful radar wave data for future model-validation applications. The intercomparison has led to improvements in the data quality control procedures of both WaMoS and WERA. The two radar sytems measured significant wave height with mean biases of 3% and 6%, respectively, and mean direction differences of less than 2j in both cases. Limitations in the WAM model implementation are also discussed. D

The Wave Monitoring System WaMoS II was developed for real time measurements of directional ocean waves spectra to monitor the sea state from fixed platforms in deep water or coastal areas as well as from moving vessels. The system is based on a standard marine X-Band radar used for navigation and ship traffic control. WaMoS II digitises the analogous radar signal and analyses the sea clutter information to obtain directional wave spectra from the sea surface in real time even under harsh weather conditions and during night. Spectral sea state parameters such as significant wave height, peak wave period and peak wave direction both for wind sea and swell are derived. Within the EU funded project ‘MaxWave’ and the German project ‘SinSee’ new algorithms were developed to determine sea surface elevation maps from radar images which are used to investigate the spatial and temporal evolution of single waves simultaneously. In this paper a short overview describes the calculation of surface elevation maps and the detection of individual waves. Considering two case studies, the results of spatial single wave detection and corresponding temporal single wave properties are compared and discussed. Individual wave parameters derived from radar images are compared to individual waves measured by a buoy. An application of the method to characterise extreme sea states is discussed.

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