Development of a lower atmospheric wind profiler

Abstract

A 1.3 GHz pulse Doppler radar aiming at remote wind profiling of lower atmosphere from 100 m to 3 km heights above the ground has been developed by Communications Research Laboratory in 1990. The purpose of the development is to provide an unatten-dedly and continuously operational tool to observe wind profiles, which is useful for the reseaches of the boundary layer problems and pollutants transportation in the lower atmosphere. The system consists of a 3 m diameter parabolic antenna, a transmitter, a receiver, a Doppler signal processor, and controller/ data recording system. The capability of the system is confirmed by experimental measurements. In this paper, the radar system configuration, and the principle of wind measurement are first introduced, and then, the initial observation results are described. The initial observation results indicate the usefulness of the developed 1.3 GHz Doppler radar for wind profiling in the lower atmosphere under both fine and rainy weather conditions.