Wind vector field determination with bistatic multiple-Doppler radar network

The knowledge of the real 3D wind fields is of great importance for practical usage, e.g. for nowcasting applications, for investigations on vertical and horizontal transport processes or tracer propagation. Wind vector fields can be measured with a bistatic radar network. Such system is installed at Oberpfaffenhofen consisting of one monostatic transmitting and receiving polarimetric Doppler radar POLDIRAD and three bistatic receiving antenna systems at remote sites. Knowing resolution volume sizes, the transmitted and received polarization of the electro-magnetic wave and the spatial distribution of transmitter and receiver sites the horizontal wind field can be determined within the inner part of the bistatic network with an accuracy of 1-2 m/s. Furthermore, when using the measured wind vector field for numerical model initialization or for investigation purposes the wind vector field has to be qualitatively proved. This procedure considers the signal quality index which excludes highly turbulent data and a quality criteria which considers data measured within a defined scattering angle limit depending on the investigation issue. Additionally, a variational analysis method for a three-dimensional wind field retrieval is presented here and is applied for different meteorological situations. These quality proved bistatic wind vector fields are also compared to dual-Doppler radar and Lidar measurements as well as to wind vector fields proved by a mesoscale model.