A Method for Approximating Surface Elevation from a Shore Mounted X-Band Radar with a Low Grazing Angle

X-band radar provides a spatial backscatter results over a large area. This shows wave features to be clearly visible over a large area providing an advantage over standard in situ measurements. This paper suggests a new method of quantifying surface elevation in an almost real-time method by applying a second order Stokes waves in shadow regions (troughs). The initial results show the artificial wave trough method having an improvement in phase and magnitude when compared to independent in situ measurements. This method provides a better representation of the surface elevation. Once refined, the real time surface elevation can be used as boundary conditions for a short-term wave-forecasting model.