Real-Time Retrieval of the Wind from Aliased Velocities Measured by Doppler Radars

Abstract

Doppler radar measurements provide the radial wind within an unambiguous interval due to the limited value of the sampling frequency (pulse repetition frequency). Many algorithms have been developed to retrieve true wind velocities from measured aliased wind velocities. However, these algorithms are time consuming, which can be a constraint in an operational context. Besides, most of them need independent information on the wind generally provided by complementary neighbor measurements such as radiosonde or wind profiler. This paper describes a new method aimed at providing an estimate of the real wind directly from aliased wind measurements without prior dealiasing, allowing the method to be used in real time by operational radars without additional information from other instruments. A potential application of the method is to provide a reference wind profile that can be used, in a second step, to dealias radial velocities.