The Australian coastal ocean radar network: Lessons learned in the establishment phase

HF ocean radar is a leading technology for measuring parameters of the ocean's surface in coastal waters. The technical and logistical advantage of shore-based measurements of the coastal ocean is a significant improvement over in situ measurements, and the cost per data point is low. The ability of HF radars to make 2D maps of surface currents and other parameters over quite large coastal areas is powerful and when establishment decisions were being made for the Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS) in Australia a plan was adopted to establish the Australian Coastal Ocean Radar Network (ACORN). At the time of establishment we knew that HF coastal ocean radar was dominated by two genres of technology, and a planning decision was made to include elements of each of the phased array and crossed-loop genres into the new network. Because these are new technologies some of the applications and issues around quality control are still being developed and the inclusion of both genres allows ACORN staff and users of the archived data to fairly compare the genres. This paper addresses issues of process in setting up radar stations and establishing a data archive of good quality and easy access.