Multi instrument classification of atmospheric boundary layer stability

A coherent Doppler lidar (LIght Detection And Ranging) system has been developed to detect variances in atmospheric wind velocity. Line of sight wind field measurements retrieved from backscattered atmospheric signals were accumulated as time gated power spectra using a Fourier transform algorithm implemented on a field programmable gate array. This process allows for the detection of a peak frequency, representing wind velocity, and enables the fluctuations of the wind speed to be characterized in time and space, thus providing a representation of the turbulent atmospheric conditions. This technology was utilized to observe meteorological events simultaneously with a 1μm direct detection lidar and microwave radiometer provided by the Optical Remote Sensing Laboratory (ORSL) at City College of New York. By coordinating multi-instrumental observations of a common weather event, the retrieved profiles of wind speeds and corresponding fluctuations, levels of cloud cover and height, water vapor concentration profiles, relative humidity profiles and temperature profiles can be combined to provide synergistic knowledge about the dynamic temporal evolutions of the atmospheric boundary layer stability condition. Outputs from operational weather prediction models are compared to the observations to expose the conditions under which discrepancies between the models and the observations arise.