Wind Measurements with an Incoherent Lidar

Abstract : Atmospheric structures can be measured with incoherent optical radars (lidars). Because these structures drift with the wind, they can serve as a tracer for remote sensing of the wind vector. For this purpose, a dual monostatic scanning lidar system is available to measure the atmosphere simultaneously in two different directions over a maximum range of about 1 km. The transit time of identified patterns between two sensing points in the horizontal plane provides in combination with the geometry of the lidar, sufficient information to derive the horizontal wind vector. The method is based on cross-correlation techniques. To determine the spatial wind vector as a function of altitude it is sufficient to measure in three different upward directions. This can be realized with a triple lidar or with a single lidar by measuring consecutively in three different directions and using an equivalent but more extended inversion method.