Evaluation of Bistatic High Frequency Radar Data

High Frequency radar data is typically collected using a monostatic configuration, in which a single HFR antenna acts as both a transmitter and a receiver. We analyze data collected with a bistatic configuration, where the transmitter and receiver are on separate HFR antennas. We compare bistatic data to monostatic data and regional drifter data, and compare errors and coverage of totals generated with monostatic and bistatic data to totals generated with only monostatic data. Error values in bistatic data were slightly higher than in monostatic data, but data correlated well with other surface current data sources in the region. Further, totals error decreased with inclusion of bistatic data, which has potential to increase data coverage during periods of large data gaps. Inclusion of bistatic data can provide large benefits to surface current data available in the Mid-Atlantic Bight, particularly given that it uses pre-existing antennas so there is very little cost associated with collecting the additional data.