Multistatic estimation of high-frequency radar surface currents in the region of Toulon

The high-frequency radar coastal network in Toulon operates in multistatic mode for the monitoring of the ocean circulation in the Northwestern Mediterranean Sea. With 2 transmitters and 2 receivers on 3 distant sites, it measures 4 different elliptical components of the surface velocity. We provide a methodology for improved current mapping using this augmented number of available projections and we show some typical results obtained during the year 2019. The validity and the quality of the reconstruction are assessed through comparisons with two types of in situ measurements, namely drifters’ velocities from a dedicated campaign and acoustic Doppler current profiler data from an opportunity oceanographic campaign. The results of these assessments confirm the accuracy of these high-frequency radar measurements and their ability to capture the meso- to submeso-scale variability of the near shelf circulation.