Near-real-time surface ocean velocities derived from HF radar stations located along coastal waters of North Slope Alaska, Gulf of Alaska, eastern US/Gulf of Mexico, Hawaii and western US during January 2018 (NCEI Accession 0170847)

This dataset contains near-real-time ocean surface velocities, also known as total vector velocities, derived from HF radar stations. The velocities are arranged in a horizontal latitude/longitude grid. Measured velocities are indicative of the upper 0.3 - 2.5 meters of the ocean depending on the operating frequency and the vertical velocity profile of the water column. Data are in netCDF and velocities are reported in the Climate and Forecast (CF) compliant variables, surface_eastward_sea_water_velocity and surface_northward_sea_water_velocity. NDBC, which with SIO assembles data from the IOOS HF Radar Network, submits these data monthly to NCEI as part of NCEI's Integrated Ocean Observing System Data Assembly Centers (IOOS DACs) Data Stewardship Program.

Remote sensing of ocean surface velocity from shore-based HF radar sites bridges the operational observational gap between point samples obtained from in-situ sampling and synoptic scale relatively low resolution data obtained from satellites by providing continuous mesoscale coverage at relatively high resolution near the coast.