Turbulence Detection in the Atmospheric Boundary Layer using Coherent Doppler Wind Lidar and Microwave Radiometer

Abstract

Abstract. The refractive index structure constant (Cn2) is a key parameter in describing the influence of turbulence on laser transmission in the atmosphere. A new method for continuous Cn2 profiling with both high temporal and spatial resolution is proposed and demonstrated. Under the assumption of the Kolmogorov “2/3 law”, the Cn2 profile can be calculated by using the wind field and turbulent kinetic energy dissipation rate (TKEDR) measured by coherent Doppler wind lidar (CDWL) and other meteorological parameters derived from microwave radiometer (MWR). In the horizontal experiment, a comparison between the results from our new method and measurements made by a large aperture scintillometer (LAS) is conducted. Except for the period of stratification stabilizing, the correlation coefficient between them in the six-day observation is 0.8389, the mean error and standard deviation is 1.09 × 10−15 m−2/3 and 2.14 × 10−15 m−2/3, respectively. In the vertical direction, the continuous observation results of Cn2 and other turbulence parameter profiles in the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) are retrieved. More details of the atmospheric turbulence can be found in the ABL owe to the high temporal and spatial resolution of MWR and CDWL (spatial resolution of 26 m, temporal resolution of 147 s).

Measurement report: The promotion of low-level jet and thermal-effect on development of deep convective boundary layer at the southern edge of the Taklimakan Desert

“…The same type of CDWL also realizes the calculation and verification of TKEDR and BLH in various application scenarios (Wang et al, 2021;Jiang et al, 2022;Yuan et al, 2020;Yuan et al, 2021;Wu et al, 2023;Li et al, 2023). the data such as CNR, TKEDR, vertical wind speed, horizontal wind speed and horizontal wind direction were obtained.…”

Doppler Wind Lidar From UV to NIR: A Review With Case Study Examples

“…Thus, the vertical extent and boundaries of aerosol and cloud layers, as well as the height of the ABL, are determined from DWLs (Wang et al, 2021). In addition to the mean component of the wind vector, its turbulent fluctuations around the mean can be derived from DWL measurements with high temporal resolution (Jiang et al, 2021). This is mainly the case for turbulent vertical wind fluctuations, where vertical pointing instruments are used.…”