The HFR South network is a CODAR SeaSonde high frequency radar (HFR) system, composed by four HFR sites (SGTR, AFTR, VATR, and MAZA). The four sites are used for computing the map of total surface current vectors in the overlapping coverage area. The network is retrieving hourly surface currents and waves from all sites, and tsunami detection data with a 2 minutes interval exclusively from AFTR.

All the antennas emit at a central functioning frequency of 13.5MHz, providing hourly radial current data with 1.400 km grid spacing, radial coverage between 70 and 80 km and time coverage of 75 min.

The data set made available consists of maps of total velocity of the coastal surface ocean currents in the South of Portugal and Spain (between Sagres and Mazagón, respectively), averaged over a time interval of 1 hour. Surface ocean velocities estimated by HFR are representative of the upper 0.3 – 2.5 meters of the ocean.

These maps have been retrieved since 2014 using VATR and MAZA stations and since 2016 to 2022 using VATR, MAZA, AFTR and SGTR. Since the end of 2022, the maps of total surface current vectors are using the contributions of SGTR and AFTR.