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Comparison of thermal advection measurements by clear‐air radar and radiosonde techniques
Author(s) -
Crochet M.,
Bazile E.,
Rougier G.
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
radio science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.371
H-Index - 84
eISSN - 1944-799X
pISSN - 0048-6604
DOI - 10.1029/rs025i005p00907
Subject(s) - radiosonde , advection , meteorology , mesoscale meteorology , radar , geostrophic wind , depth sounding , troposphere , thermal wind , environmental science , thermal , potential temperature , wind profiler , atmospheric sciences , wind speed , wind shear , geology , climatology , geography , physics , aerospace engineering , oceanography , engineering , thermodynamics
Vertical profiles of the horizontal wind have been measured every 4 min by a clear‐air radar (stratosphere‐troposphere radar), and vertical profiles of temperature have been obtained every 2 hours by three radiosonde soundings in the same zone in Brittany during the Mesoscale Frontal Dynamics Project “FRONTS 87” campaign. Radar thermal advection A TR is deduced from the thermal wind equation using the measured real horizontal wind instead of the geostrophic wind. Radiosonde thermal advection A TS is determined directly from the sounding station data sets of temperature gradients and also approximated from the thermodynamic equation by the temperature tendency ∂ T /∂ t \ p . These approximations, applied during a frontal passage, show the same general features and magnitude of the thermal advection, giving a preliminary but encouraging conclusion for a possible real‐time utilization of clear‐air radars to monitor thermal advection and to identify its characteristic features.