Measurement of Water Vapor Flux Profiles in the Convective Boundary Layer with Lidar and Radar-RASS

Abstract

A remote-sensing method to retrieve vertical profiles of water vapor flux in the convective boundary layer by using a differential absorption lidar and a radar-radio acoustic sounding system is described. The system's height range presently extends from 400 to 700 m above the surface, and flux data can be sampled with a height resolution of 75 m and a time resolution of 60 s. The results of a first measurement in July 1991 under predominantly convective conditions are presented. The resolution of the remote-sensing system apparently is sufficient to resolve the major contributions to the flux in the convective mixed layer. In addition, the advantages and limitations of this method are discussed.