A Technique for Determining the Temperature Profile from VHF Radar Observations

Abstract

A technique is presented which enables an estimate of the atmospheric temperature profile from atmospheric stability measurements made by vertically looking VHF radars. The determination of the tropopause height leads to a most probable temperature at the tropopause for a given station and season. Measurements of atmospheric stability permit the temperature profile to be constructed from the tropopause upward. The profile can be continued to the surface simply by assuming a uniform lapse rate between the surface and the tropopause. We illustrate the technique with observations from the Sunset VHF radar located near Boulder, Colorado.