Open AccessRadar Wind Profiler (RWP) and Radio Acoustic Sounding System (RASS) Instrument Handbook
Author(s) -
R. L. Coulter
Publication year - 2020
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Reports
DOI - 10.2172/1020560
Subject(s) - wind profiler , remote sensing , radar , depth sounding , doppler effect , wind speed , troposphere , environmental science , meteorology , wind direction , turbulence , atmospheric sounding , antenna (radio) , wind gradient , doppler radar , geology , physics , aerospace engineering , computer science , engineering , telecommunications , oceanography , astronomy
The 915 MHz radar wind profiler/radio acoustic sounding system (RWP/RASS) measures wind profiles and backscattered signal strength between (nominally) 0.1 km and 5 km and virtual temperature profiles between 0.1 km and 2.5 km. It operates by transmitting electromagnetic energy into the atmosphere and measuring the strength and frequency of backscattered energy. Virtual temperatures are recovered by transmitting an acoustic signal vertically and measuring the electromagnetic energy scattered from the acoustic wavefront. Because the propagation speed of the acoustic wave is proportional to the square root of the virtual temperature of the air, the virtual temperature can be recovered by measuring the Doppler shift of the scattered electromagnetic wave