Mapping the bathymetry of the Dee estuary using wave inversions of marine radar image sequences

The bathymetry of a 4km radius area of the Dee Estuary in Liverpool Bay has been mapped using a wave inversion of marine radar data. The radar is mounted 30m above sea level on an island in the estuary and 10 minute sequences of radar images of the sea surface are recorded automatically each hour giving 360 degree coverage of the area. Three such records taken around one high tide during a moderate wave event have been processed to produce the map using a wave inversion that accounts for both frequency and amplitude dispersion. The results are compared to those of a LIDAR survey of the intertidal areas carried out within two days of the analysed radar records in 2006, and also to a combined LIDAR and Multibeam echosounder survey carried out in 2003.