Using ISS profiling radars and lidars to examine the Boundary Layer for M2HATS and LOTOS

NSF NCAR / EOL operates the Integrated Sounding System (ISS) suites of instruments consisting of Radar Wind Profilers, Lidars (Doppler wind lidar and ceilometers), radiosonde sounding systems, ASSIST-II IR spectrometer for passive profiling, Micro Rain Radar, GPS Water Vapor, and surface met sensors. These instruments, along with MPD (Micro Pulse DIAL), ISFS (Integrated Surface Flux System), atmospheric composition, and other sensors, are intended to make up the core of the proposed LOTOS facility. LOTOS (Lower Troposphere Observing System) aims to create a transportable network of sensors to characterize the boundary layer, lower troposphere, surface exchange and energy balance, in an integrated and deployable suite for the scientific community.

The ISS and many elements of LOTOS were deployed at the M2HATS campaign near Tonopah NV, and at field tests NCAR’s Marshall site near Boulder CO. M2HATS (Multi-point Monin-Obukhov similarity Horizontal Array Turbulence Study) was a campaign in 2023 led by Chenning Tong of Clemson University and Shane Mayor of Chico State University to examine turbulence in the convective boundary layer. The Marshall field tests were conducted to test components of a LOTOS node in 2021 and 2024. The combination of radar, wind, DIAL, and ceilometer lidars, along with IR spectrometer measurements, enables processes such as boundary layer evolution and entrainment to be examined. An update will also be given on the LOTOS development.