Coherent Lidar System for High Resolution Measurement of Atmospheric Wind Velocity and Water Vapor Fields
Abstract
The objective of this study is to evaluate the capability for a scanning coherent pulsed laser to acquire high resolution, time dependent mapping of the three dimensional structure of wind velocity and water vapor in the turbulent boundary layer. Power, pulse length, prf, and sampling requirements have been established that will permit achievement of 25 to 50 meter 3D spatial resolution with better than 1 meter/second velocity resolution throughout a 3 cubic kilometer volume of boundary layer in a 5 second update time using near term 1 or 2 micron laser systems. Signal processing techniques are outlined (and demonstrated with simulations) that can merge line-of-sight wind component measurements from a single station laser radar with multi- dimensional boundary layer dynamic models to retrieve the full vector wind field. Simultaneous DIAL measurements (at 2 microns laser wavelength) can be used to measure large scale water vapor fluctuations. A correlation technique to infer small scale water vapor fluctuations fields from observations of the more readily detected fluctuations of backscatter intensity is proposed. Data taken with two available scanning lidars (1 and 2 microns wavelength) is presented to demonstrate the spatial resolutions achievable. A program for implementing a full 3D demonstration measurement is outlined.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jul 01, 1992
- Accession Number
- ADA257725
Entities
People
- J. A. Thomson
- Paul J. M. Suni
- R. M. Huffaker
- Stephen M. Hannon