Nationwide Coastal Intelligence Gained through Quasi-Operational Products of the IOOS High-Frequency Radar Network

The US Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS), a partnership of academic institutions and Federal agencies, within NOAA National Ocean Service (NOS), operates the nation’s only high-frequency radar network providing near-real-time 2-D maps of ocean of surface currents speed and direction. This system supports US Coast Guard search and rescue operations, NOAA response to oil spills, port navigation and tracking of harmful algal bloom.  In the research realm, the data are helping to understand oceanographic processes such as the warm water mass off of the west coast of the US and are routinely ingested into oceanographic models and for tsunami detection.  The system currently consists of about 140 radars in nearly every coastal state plus Puerto Rico. Recently, quasi-operational products have been developed, or are under development, including:   2-D maps in AWIPS-II, tidal analysis and prediction from NOS Center for Operational Oceanographic Products & Services (CO-OPS), tsunami detection algorithms led by National Tsunami Warning Center, rip current analysis by Rutgers University and a conceptual significant wave height product.