Analysis of Multi-Peak Picking (MPP) and NIMA Signal Processing On The Met Office's Operational VHF Radar Wind Profiler

A tropospheric radar wind profiler was installed by the UK Met Office on S. Uist Island in the Outer Hebrides Islands, Scotland, in conjunction with The Met Office's upper-air modernization program. The wind profiler operates at a central frequency of 64 MHz.

The wind profiler was acquired to provide upper-air data in conjunction with the decommissioning of a WMO radiosonde station at Stornoway, Scotland. This is the first high power tropospheric wind profiler exclusively acquired by the Met Office in support of observational measurements. It was designed to function remotely and reliably under the extreme environmental conditions of S. Uist Island, and deliver a 90% data recovery to altitudes of 12 km (or higher).

An operational reliability and data quality evaluation program was undertaken by the Met Office prior to transferring the system to the Met Office's Production Branch and declaring the system operational. The evaluation program resulted in the creation of a rich data base that was used to assess data quality differences between Multi-Peak Picking (MPP) and NCAR's Improved Moments Algorithm (NIMA)advanced signal processing algorithms, which have been emerging from the research community over the past several years.

This paper will discuss the evaluation methodology and contrast performance differences between the referenced signal processing techniques. Quantitative data recovery statistics and RMS wind analysis as compared with co-located rawindsonde system will be presented.