Evaluation of Single- and Multiple-Doppler Lidar Techniques to Measure Complex Flow during the XPIA Field Campaign Journal Article uri icon

Overview

abstract

  • Abstract. Accurate three-dimensional information of wind flow fields can be an important tool in not only visualizing complex flow, but also understanding the underlying physical processes and improving flow modeling. However, a thorough analysis of the measurement uncertainties is required to properly interpret results. The XPIA (eXperimental Planetary boundary layer Instrumentation Assessment) field campaign conducted at the Boulder Atmospheric Observatory (BAO) in Erie, CO from 2 March–31 May 2015 brought together a large suite of in-situ and remote sensing measurement platforms to evaluate complex flow measurement strategies. In this paper, measurement uncertainties for different single and multi-Doppler strategies are investigated. The tradeoffs (such as time/space resolution vs. spatial coverage) among the different measurement techniques are evaluated using co-located measurements made near the BAO tower. Sensitivity of the single/multi Doppler measurement uncertainties to averaging period are investigated using the sonic anemometers installed on the BAO tower as the standard reference. Finally, the radiometer measurements are used to partition the measurement periods as a function of atmospheric stability to determine their effect on measurement uncertainty. It was found that with increase in spatial coverage and measurement complexity, the uncertainty in the wind measurement also increased. For multi-Doppler techniques, the increase in uncertainty for temporally uncoordinated measurements is possibly due to requiring additional assumptions of stationarity and/or horizontal homogeneity. It was also found that wind speed measurement uncertainty was lower during stable conditions compared to unstable conditions.;

publication date

  • October 10, 2016

has restriction

  • green

Date in CU Experts

  • November 5, 2020 2:08 AM

Full Author List

  • Choukulkar A; Brewer A; Sandberg SP; Weickmann A; Bonin TA; Hardesty RM; Lundquist JK; Delgado R; Iungo GV; Ashton R

author count

  • 15

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