Comparison of Sea Wave Measurement Systems Based on Marine Radar and Microseismic Technologies

Abstract

Sea state affects the coasts of all maritime regions, and it impacts anthropic infrastructures and influences the activities carried out in the sea as well as in its proximity. Sea-state monitoring is therefore important for a number of reasons, including the need to validate weather forecast models and study the impact of sea waves on anthropic infrastructures such as ports. In this letter, we combined the measurements of sea state collected with Ocean Seismic Integrated System (OS-IS), a seismic-based system developed by AGI (Assist in Gravitation and Instrumentation) srl and INGV (National Institute for Geophysics and Volcanology), with those obtained using a Wave Radar system. The aim was to prove that this combination could enhance the efficacy and reliability of sea monitoring, thanks to the complementarity of the two types of measurements in terms of area covered and spatial resolution. More specifically, the sea-state parameters provided by OS-IS were compared with those provided by a Wave Radar system. OS-IS data were collected from three microseismic stations installed near the Gulf of La Spezia, on the Ligurian Coast, whereas the Wave Radar system was installed at the center of the Cinque Terre National Park at about 12 km from the OS-IS system. The comparison between the measurements of significant wave height ( Hs ) and peak period ( Tp ) showed a good agreement, with a correlation index close to 0.9. The residual difference highlights the complementarity of the two systems and the potential of an integrated system that includes both. In particular, OS-IS provides measurements over large, offshore areas, whereas the Wave Radar System provides high spatial-resolution measurements over areas near the coast.