Effects of Precipitation on UHF Wind Profiler Measurements

Autor: Ken Moran, D. A. Merritt, D. B. Wuertz, A. S. Frisch, D. C. Welsh, B. L. Weber, R. G. Strauch, C. G. Little
Rok vydání: 1988
Předmět:
Zdroj: Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology. 5:450-465
ISSN: 1520-0426
0739-0572
DOI: 10.1175/1520-0426(1988)005<0450:eopouw>2.0.co;2
Popis: Horizontal winds in the presence of precipitation were measured routinely with a UHF (405 MHz) Wind Profiler. The profiler had five beam-pointing positions so independent measurements of horizontal winds could be compared to determine relative accuracy and precision. Large precipitation fall speeds are shown to cause very large errors (on the order of tens of meters per second) in the horizontal wind estimates when those fall speeds are not properly included in the estimates. But when the precipitation fall speeds are properly included, the errors are much smaller (2–4 m s−1), approaching those of clear air (1 m s−1). The decrease in the precision in precipitation is attributed largely to horizontal nonuniformity in precipitation from one antenna beam to another. A 4- or 5-beam profiler can detect conditions of horizontal inhomogeneity by virtue of its ability to make independent measurements of the winds from horizontally separated scattering volumes.
Databáze: OpenAIRE