89th American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting

Thursday, 15 January 2009: 9:30 AM
Airborne Doppler Wind Lidar: in-flight visualization and analysis using Google Earth
Room 121BC (Phoenix Convention Center)
G.D. Emmitt, Simpson Weather Associates, Charlottesville, VA; and S. Greco, S. A. Wood, and S. T. Shipley
Poster PDF (3.0 MB)
An airborne Doppler Wind Lidar (DWL) is coupled with Google Earth for real-time in-flight visualization of wind speed and direction, atmospheric backscatter cross section, turbulence and wind shear using Google Earth. External user interfaces are added to enhance Google Earth capabilities and usability in the airborne environment. Additional information including gridded mesoscale model output is superimposed in Google Earth for comparison studies and flight experiment planning. The system architecture supports real-time feedback for in-flight experiment plan modification, and reprogramming of the scanning DWL sampling pattern. Various DWL products are demonstrated in post-flight analysis mode using Google Earth for several topographic environments.

Supplementary URL: http://www.swa.com/ald/ILIMMS/