A Four-Dimensional Objective Analysis Scheme and Multitriangle Technique for Wind Profiler Data

Abstract

A 4D Barnes objective analysis scheme for wind profiler data is developed in order to improve upon previously developed 2D analysis schemes. A significant shortcoming of the 2D schemes is their sensitivity to gaps in the profiler time?height series; they may produce unrealistic gradient information if large data-void regions are present. The 4D analysis scheme described herein, however, provides an effective means for dealing with data voids within profiler time?height series. The 4D analysis scheme differs from the 2D techniques in that data from neighboring profiler stations affect the time?height wind analysis at each site. This allows the analysis scheme to produce smooth, spatially and temporally consistent time?height wind analyses for each station of the Wind Profiler Network (WPN), even if large data gaps are present. Gridded time?height wind fields at each profiler site resulting from the 4D analysis scheme are provided as input to a line integral-equivalent technique that is applied over many WPN triangles for the purpose of diagnosing the kinematic and thermodynamic structure of subsynoptic-scale weather systems. Time?height series of triangle-derived variables have been proven elsewhere to be an effective method for diagnosing subsynoptic-scale temporal structure of weather systems; mapping the irregularly spaced triangle information onto a regular, quasihorizontal grid provides a complementary perspective of their spatial structure and evolution.