Remote sensing of winds and atmospheric turbulence by cross-correlation of passive optical signals

This paper describes a new method for the remote measurement of winds and atmospheric turbulence by the cross-correlation of passive optical signals. If small local variations in atmospheric density, temperature or other parameter cause fluctuations in scattered or thermal radiation detected by a radiometer on the ground, then the cross-correlation of the fluctuations detected by two radiometers with crossed fields of view can yield turbulence information pertaining to the region about this intersection point. When the fields of view are not quite crossed turbulent eddies will be convected through the fields of view sequentially, and the transit times of the eddies identified by the correlation procedure will yield wind information.