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Level 2 Products from the 2013 campaign of the airborne Ku-Band KuROS radar

Résumé
This data set contains directional spectra of surface ocean waves obtained from radar observations over the ocean surface with the airborne Ku-Band radar named "KuROS".
This data set is relative to the Level 2 product, which contains the density spectrum of wave slopes or wave heights for ocean waves between about 30 m and 300m in wavelength and for all directions of propagation between 0° and 360° (referred to the true North). The spectra are provided every 6° with a 180° ambiguity on the propagation direction of the waves.
This data set is relative to the 2013 measurement campaign with 13 flights over the Mediterranean sea (Gulf of Lion) and 2 flights over the Iroise sea (near to the Atlantic coast of Brittany-France) in February and March 2013.

Méthode(s)
The wave spectra are obtained in each azimuth direction from a spectral analysis of the relative modulations of the normalized radar cross-sections within the KuROS footprint (up to about 800 m) and by assuming a linear relationship between the long wave slopes and the normalized radar cross-section modulations (see Jackson et al, J. Geophys. Res. 1985). The effect of speckle is minimized by using a cross-spectrum analysis between two samples separated by 66ms. Details of the processing are given in Caudal et al, JAOT 2014.

Informations techniques
The files provide two-dimensional spectra as wave slope spectra (with two options: with or without symmetry of the energy density along the azimuth directions), omni-directional spectra expressed as wave height spectra, integral parameters of the spectra (wave height, peak direction, peak wavenumber), and a “modulation transfer function” coefficient estimated from the KuROS normalized radar cross-section to convert signal modulation spectra into wave spectra. In some cases, some energy peak in the spectra may be found at the smallest wavenumbers (higher wavelengths). The user of this data set may apply his own method to filter out possible non consistent energy at these small wavenumbers.