Airborne Doppler Lidar Observations of Convective Phenomena in OklahomaSource: Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology:;1987:;volume( 004 ):;issue: 003::page 479DOI: 10.1175/1520-0426(1987)004<0479:ADLOOC>2.0.CO;2Publisher: American Meteorological Society
Abstract: On 30 June 1981, the wind fields around a variety of convective clouds, ranging from large thunderstorm complexes to isolated cumulus congestus, were observed in Oklahoma using an airborne Doppler lidar operated by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). By steering the pulsed infrared laser beam alternately along differing horizontal directions, a network of independent radial velocity measurements is obtained, which permits high-resolution synthesis of the full horizontal wind vector field in a swath adjacent to the aircraft flight track. The bright reflections of the laser signal by cloud surfaces permit direct identification of the locus of cloud edges, information which is prerequisite to detailed study of the relationships between the winds inside and outside clouds. The horizontal wind fields derived from the lidar data reveal waves and vortices along the gust front of a storm which eventually produced a gust-front tornado, and cloud-scale convergence patterns around an isolated cumulus congestus. Despite the presence of some questionable data associated with undersampling and delayed recording of certain aircraft motion parameters, most of the lidar results appear consistent with cloud photographs made during the experiment, with surface meteorological data, with aircraft flight-level wind data, and with previous observational and theoretical work.
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contributor author | McCaul, Eugene W. | |
contributor author | Bluestein, Howard B. | |
contributor author | Doviak, Richard J. | |
date accessioned | 2017-06-09T14:58:34Z | |
date available | 2017-06-09T14:58:34Z | |
date copyright | 1987/09/01 | |
date issued | 1987 | |
identifier issn | 0739-0572 | |
identifier other | ams-311.pdf | |
identifier uri | http://onlinelibrary.yabesh.ir/handle/yetl/4168512 | |
description abstract | On 30 June 1981, the wind fields around a variety of convective clouds, ranging from large thunderstorm complexes to isolated cumulus congestus, were observed in Oklahoma using an airborne Doppler lidar operated by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). By steering the pulsed infrared laser beam alternately along differing horizontal directions, a network of independent radial velocity measurements is obtained, which permits high-resolution synthesis of the full horizontal wind vector field in a swath adjacent to the aircraft flight track. The bright reflections of the laser signal by cloud surfaces permit direct identification of the locus of cloud edges, information which is prerequisite to detailed study of the relationships between the winds inside and outside clouds. The horizontal wind fields derived from the lidar data reveal waves and vortices along the gust front of a storm which eventually produced a gust-front tornado, and cloud-scale convergence patterns around an isolated cumulus congestus. Despite the presence of some questionable data associated with undersampling and delayed recording of certain aircraft motion parameters, most of the lidar results appear consistent with cloud photographs made during the experiment, with surface meteorological data, with aircraft flight-level wind data, and with previous observational and theoretical work. | |
publisher | American Meteorological Society | |
title | Airborne Doppler Lidar Observations of Convective Phenomena in Oklahoma | |
type | Journal Paper | |
journal volume | 4 | |
journal issue | 3 | |
journal title | Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology | |
identifier doi | 10.1175/1520-0426(1987)004<0479:ADLOOC>2.0.CO;2 | |
journal fristpage | 479 | |
journal lastpage | 497 | |
tree | Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology:;1987:;volume( 004 ):;issue: 003 | |
contenttype | Fulltext |