Progress Toward a Diode-Laser-Based Doppler Wind Lidar

Researchers at Montana State University and the National Center for Atmospheric Research have developed diode-laser-based lidar systems for thermodynamic and aerosol profiling. These instruments are cost-effective, eye-safe, and ideal for network deployment. One of these instruments, the MicroPulse Differential absorption lidar (MPD), can measure vertical profiles of water vapor, temperature, and calibrated aerosol backscatter. This work seeks to expand on the MPD architecture and add wind speeds to the measurement capabilities. Adding this capability would allow synergistic measurements of thermodynamic and kinematic profiles from a single instrument. This poster presents the Diode-Laser-Based Doppler Wind Lidar (DLB-DWL).

The DLB-DWL uses a double-edge receiver that enables direct-detection measurements of wind speeds. The double-edge technique relies on an ancillary measurement of calibrated aerosol backscatter, which allows the DLB-DWL to retrieve wind speeds from the aerosol-dense planetary boundary layer and the clean free troposphere. Initial modeling indicates that line-of-sight wind speeds can be retrieved with an error of less than 0.56 m/s below 4 km with a 150-m vertical resolution and a 5-minute averaging time, demonstrating the feasibility of adding kinematic measurements to the MPD system.

This poster will present the instrument design, the modeling for the error budget, and progress in building the instrumentation for the DLB-DWL.