Exploring the Turbulent Urban Boundary by Use of Lidars and Microwave Radiometers

Abstract

A Doppler lidar has been developed using fiber optic based technologies and advanced signal processing techniques. Although this system has been operated in a scanning mode in the past, for this application, the system is operated in a vertically pointing mode and delivers a time series of vertical velocity profiles. By cooperating the Doppler lidar with other instruments, including a back scatter lidar, and a microwave radiometer, models of atmospheric stability can be tested, opening up an exciting path for researchers, applied scientists and engineers to discover unique phenomena related to fundamental atmospheric science processes. A consistent set of retrievals between each of these instruments emphasizes the utility for such a network of instruments to better characterize the turbulent atmospheric urban boundary layers which is expected to offer a useful capability for assessing and improving models that are in great need of such ground truth.