The IMOS HF-Radar array in South Australia provides observations of the ocean waters south of Spencer Gulf. In addition to ocean surface currents, the data from this array can be processed to provide near real-time observations of wave statistics and wind direction. The Australian Bureau of Meteorology requires access to these observations for forecast modelling but currently only have a single Waverider buoy operating in South Australian waters at Cape du Couedic, south of Kangaroo Island, which provides no directional information. The HF-Radar array could potentially be used to augment the current operational observation systems used by the Bureau. In this paper, we evaluate the performance of the HF-Radar system against observations from the Waverider buoy and an automatic weather station at Neptune Island and also compare the HF-Radar observations to a wave model based on the eSA-Marine forecast grid. The results suggest that upgrading the HF-Radar to provide near real-time wave and wind data would provide a new, independent source of environmental observations for the Bureau.

南澳大利亚的IMOS HF-Radar阵列提供了对Spencer海湾以南海洋水域的观测。除了海面洋流，还可以处理来自该阵列的数据，以提供近乎实时的海浪统计数据和风向观测结果。澳大利亚气象局要求获得这些观测资料以进行预报建模，但目前在袋鼠岛以南的南澳大利亚海角Cape du Couedic，只有一个Waverider浮标在运作，该浮标没有提供方向信息。HF-Radar阵列可潜在地用于扩大无线电通信局目前使用的业务观测系统。在本文中，我们根据Waverider浮标和海王星岛的自动气象站的观测评估了HF-Radar系统的性能，并将HF-Radar观测结果与基于eSA-Marine预报网格的波浪模型进行了比较。结果表明，升级HF-雷达以提供近实时的海浪和风数据将为无线电通信局提供一个新的，独立的环境观测资料。