HF Radar
High-frequency (HF) remote sensing technology at the service of Mediterranean research
The ICTS SOCIB's High-Frequency Radar (HFR) system is a land-based remote sensing technology platform. HFR systems use high-frequency radio waves transmitted from radial antennas to measure surface currents over broad coastal areas. Their operation is based on the principle of Bragg resonance, through the emission of radio waves and subsequent reception and analysis of the echo reflected by the waves, whose wavelength equals half the wavelength of the transmitted signal.
Since June 2012, the ICTS SOCIB operates two HFR stations, installed on the islands of Ibiza and Formentera. They transmit at a central frequency of 13.5 MHz and monitor hourly the surface marine currents in high resolution (3 km) across most of the Ibiza channel, covering an area up to 65 km and 85 km from the coast, for total and radial velocities, respectively.
The Ibiza Channel
The Importance of the Ibiza Channel
The Ibiza Channel is a crucial area for understanding the transport processes in the northwestern Mediterranean Sea and the mixing between water masses of different characteristics and origins. This geographical feature, 80 km long and 800 meters deep at its narrowest point, regulates the meridional exchange of water masses between adjacent sub-basins, under complex topographic conditions.
On one hand, in the western part of the Ibiza Channel, the North Current flows southward along the Levantine coast, carrying salty water masses after having already circulated in the Western Mediterranean. On the other hand, a branch of modified Atlantic waters (entering through the Strait of Gibraltar) transports less salty and warmer water masses flowing northward in its eastern part. This intense dynamic, with high variability and interaction of multiple processes and various water masses, promotes the biodiversity of the area and gives it great ecological importance.
Check the data of surface currents measured by the HF Radars in the Balearic Islands
Surface current data
Surface current data can be obtained in various formats thanks to different services (direct download of the NetCDF, OpenDAP, NetCDFSubset, WMS, KML and SOCIB API) and can be visualized with the Lw4nc2 application or the SOCIB viewer system, all available through the SOCIB Data Catalog.
For the joint visualization of HF radar data with other mobile platforms of the ICTS SOCIB, this can be done through the Dapp.
HF radar data from the Ibiza channel are also distributed in standard European format on various international marine data portals, such as the Copernicus Marine Service (real-time and historical data), in EMODnet, and in the global HFR network, thanks to the centralized data management service of the European HFR Node. The Spanish Maritime Safety and Rescue Society also includes the HFR data from the Ibiza channel, among others, in its GisMar viewer.
Monthly Reports of the HF Radar Facility
The automatic HFR data processing reports are generated monthly, starting from September 2013, with the aim of extracting useful and significant information from the HF coastal radar data and the performance of the facility.
HF Radar Facility in Figures 2024
Key metrics that allow monitoring the operational activity of the ICTS SOCIB's HF Coastal Radar facility
Collaboration Networks
The HF Radar facility of the ICTS SOCIB actively participates in competitive international, European, national, and regional projects to address the challenges of the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030). Additionally, it collaborates closely with companies, public administrations, and managers to promote a sustainable, science-based management of the marine and coastal resources of the Balearic Islands.
