2016 Volume 12 Pages 215-219
This study investigated the impact of observation operators on low-level wind speed analysis. An evaluation of wind speeds retrieved by variational multiple-Doppler analyses using radial velocities (Vr) based on the formats of both a Plan Position Indicator (PPI) (hereafter, PPI-VAR) and a Constant Altitude Plan Position Indicator (CAPPI) (hereafter, CAPPI-VAR) was performed for comparison with wind speeds observed by a wind profiler during the warm season of three consecutive years. The statistical analysis showed that PPI-VAR was more accurate than CAPPI-VAR at 500 m above ground level (AGL). The error of CAPPI-VAR at 500 m AGL was caused by a representative error of CAPPI-formatted Vr derived from a certain radar whose beam height was far from the analysis level, and this error became more obvious the greater the vertical difference in wind speed across the analysis level. CAPPI-VAR uses CAPPI-formatted Vr from each radar equally; thus, the representative error might cause performance degradation of CAPPI-VAR at 500 m AGL. Conversely, PPI-VAR uses PPI-formatted Vr from each radar with appropriate weighting based on the beam height distance from the analysis level. PPI-VAR showed better results at 500 m AGL because the observation grid points were dense around 500 m AGL.
