Recent Airborne Doppler Wind Lidar Investigations of Lower Troposphere Circulations from the Tropics to the Poles

Over the past ten years, Simpson Weather Associates (SWA) has participated in numerous Airborne DWL (ADWL) missions and field campaigns that were designed to measure the atmospheric 3-dimensional wind fields. One of the main goals of all of these mission has constantly been the development and improvement of the atmospheric DWL technology for measuring winds with an eye towards eventual deployments in space.

However, just as important, these missions and campaigns have particularly allowed us to measure and investigate the 3-dimensional wind circulations of the lower troposphere and planetary boundary layer (PBL). SWA has flown over 500 hours of ADWL measurements all over the globe. These missions have included investigating the environmental circulations of tropical storms in both the western Pacific and western Atlantic basins, analyzing the low level flow and jets within and near the complex terrain both along the central California coast and the desert/mountains of Utah, and examining the low level jets (Tip Jets, Barrier Winds, katabatic flow) and circulations in the polar regions near Greenland.

We will discuss the most recent performance, specifications and accuracy of the individual ADWL flown, including the Twin Otter Doppler Wind Lidar (TODWL), the P3-DWL for tropical storm studies, and the Doppler Aerosol WiNd (DAWN) lidar used in the 2014-15 Polar Winds campaigns. However, we will focus on the utilization of the ADWL to describe the 3-dimensional lower tropospheric and PBL features mentioned above, as well as comparisons with other available observations (profilers, dropsondes, satellite underflights etc.) and the output of both large-scale and mesoscale models (WRF). Future plans and the eventual move towards space will also be discussed.