Three-dimensional wind retrieval: application of MUSCAT to dual Doppler lidar measurements

A setup of two lidars in the international Terrain-induced Rotor EXperiment in the Sierra Nevada, California, in 2006 provided first-ever dual Doppler lidar wind measurements over complex terrain. While multiple-Doppler analysis techniques are well established for weather radar to estimate 3-D wind fields, only the feasibility has yet been shown for Doppler lidars. We present the results of the application of the iterative (nonsimultaneous) solution of the Cartesian dual-Doppler analysis technique, as proposed by Bousquet and Chong for weather radar. Though slighty smoothed in space and time due to lidar scan duration and analysis algorithm, the retrieved wind fields represent the general flow pattern, including changes in wind speed and direction with height.