Remote Sensing of Coastal Environments Using Microwave Thermodynamic Profilers and Radar Wind Profilers

Billions of people worldwide are directly impacted by coastal hazards. The rapidly changing atmospheric conditions associated with the micro- and mesoscale dynamics of coastal regions make forecasting for these areas challenging. While advances in observational and modeling technology have helped to improve forecasts, the small spatial scale combined with the complex geography and unique ocean-atmosphere interactions still prove to be problematic. This paper will highlight the ability to use wind and thermodynamic profilers to better understand the complexity of coastal dynamics. Radar wind profiler data will be combined with microwave thermodynamic profiler observations to create real-time, continuous, radiosonde-like profiles which will be utilized to investigate coastal mesoscale phenomena including the marine layer and associated burn-off characteristics as well as coastal fog.