Quality and applications of wind data from sound detection and ranging (SODAR) equipment and microwave wind profilers

Abstract

The quality and applications of vertical velocity data from SODAR and radar wind profilers are examined in this paper. The vertical velocity data from collocated SODAR and boundary layer type wind profilers are compared for a period of 7 months. It is found that the two datasets are well correlated, but the slope of the linear fit to the data has a significant deviation from 1. This may be related to the difference in the sampling volumes of the vertical beams from the two instruments. The correlation for horizontal wind data was found to be much stronger. Three applications of the vertical velocity data are discussed: subsidence in the outer periphery of a tropical cyclone and in hazy weather, and the upward motion of the air in convective weather. Data such as those under study here are found to contribute significantly to the monitoring and understanding of weather conditions, and would be useful for the nowcasting of lowvisibility and convective weather.

Observations of vertical velocity from a Doppler LiDAR in the urban area of Hong Kong

“…Ground‐based remote‐sensing meteorological equipment has also been set up. They include radar wind profilers (Yeung, 1998; Chan and Yeung, 2003), acoustic radars (Chan et al ., 2019) and Doppler wind LiDAR systems (Shun and Chan, 2008). The majority are deployed at Hong Kong International Airport to measure low‐level wind shear and turbulence.…”