OBSERVATIONS OF HURRICANE HORTENSE WITH 2 OVER-THE-HORIZON RADARS

Hurricane Hortense was observed in the Atlantic Ocean on 12 September 1996 by two high-frequency over-the-horizon radars in Texas and Virgin ia, looking at backscatter from the ocean surface. Dual radar coverage permits construction of an unambiguous surface-wind-direction field a nd a vector surface-current field with about 15-km resolution in the s torm's vicinity. The known location of a storm band coincides with a r egion of surface convergence indicated by the radar. The surface-curre nt field lags the wind field by about 3 h and shows the strongest ocea n response to the right of the storm track, with near-inertial rotatio n in the storm's wake. Analysis of surface-wave directionality shows t hat it depends on the recent wind-direction history at each point.