In the spring of 1990, NORDCO Limited demonstrated the detection of icebergs, to ranges in excess of 280 km, using their shore based ground wave radar facility. To the best of our knowledge this is the first time that icebergs have been detected and tracked to ranges far in excess of the conventional marine radar horizon. Data was collected during the iceberg season for a total of four weeks during a three month period. The processed data clearly demonstrates the successful detection and tracking of icebergs. For example, the paper details the detection and tracking of a medium sized iceberg at a range of 280 km over an eight hour period. The ground truthing of the iceberg was provided by a spotter aircraft followed by a surface vessel. Sea state data was measured using a directional waverider buoy. NORDCO has developed a generalized software model for predicting the performance of ground wave radars used for long range target detection in an ocean environment. The ground truth data has been used as input parameters in the software model for predicting the iceberg detection. Results are compared to the measured data. Excellent agreement is shown to exist.
Coastal observations of icebergs from a ground wave radar operating at 25 MHz with a maximum range of 50 km have been reported by Walsh et ale (1986). NORDCO Limited of st. John's Newfoundland has developed a long range (> 400 km) ground wave radar facility on the East Coast of Newfoundland at Cape Bonavista (Ponsford et al., 1989; Cuff et al., 1990). The radar became operational in the summer of 1989 and has been used to demonstrate long range detection of aircraft, ships and icebergs as well as the extraction of ocean surface parameters.
