A new fiber optic-based approach to meteorological instrumentation

A new suite of meteorological instruments has been constructed from fiber optic components. This suite of instruments has the potential to replace a variety of traditional electromechanical sensors with a single integrated fiber-based system. We emphasize that optical fibers are used for the sensors themselves, not just for communication with the sensors. The advantages of this technology include immunity from electromagnetic interference, compactness, fast reponse, and the ability to deploy the sensors a considerable distance away from their power, control, and data acquisition units. The sensors are expected to be especially useful for air-sea interface measurements. Among the sensors are (1) a humidity sensor in which the reflectance of a polymer coating on the end of a fiber varies with relative humidity; (2) a Doppler lidar for wind profiling, operating at the eye-safe wavelength of 1.55 µm; and (3) a thermometer which exploits the temperature dependence of the center frequency of a Bragg grating's passband. These sensors have been tested to determine their basic transfer characteristics, their linearity and repeatability, their cross-sensitivities to other meteorological quantities, and their operation in adverse conditions which may be encountered in the field. In this poster we present the results of these tests.