Combined Direct and Remote Sensing Measurements of Wave Parameters at the off-shore Research Platform in the Black Sea

The paper presents the results of the experiment CAPMOS'05 performed at an offshore oceanographic platform in the Black Sea. The experiment was aimed at air-sea coupling investigations by means of direct and remote measurements. A specialized research platform managed by the Marine Hydrophysical Institute is located on the shelf slope approximately 600m to the south of Crimea coast, Ukraine. Spectral parameters of wind and waves were estimated from direct and remote measurements. The peak frequency of the wind retrieved from radar measurements varied from 0.002 to 0.007 Hz, corresponding to wavelengths between 500 and 7000 m. The spectral peak frequency of gravity waves varied in the range from 0.2 to 0.7 Hz that corresponded to dominating wave lengths from 50 down to several meters. Comparison of two different techniques of wave spectrum retrieval from radar data, and also comparison of radar and radiometric data shows satisfactory agreement.