Atmospheric Remote Sensing: Instruments
Commercial scanning Doppler lidar (Dalek)
Dalek01 and Dalek02 are two commercial scanning Doppler lidar (S200) from Vaisala (formerly Leosphere). They are capable of measuring and mapping atmospheric velocity and backscatter with high precision and sampling rate necessary for boundary layer studies important to understanding weather, climate and air quality. They are suitable for long term unattended measurements. Research applications include:
- High spatial temporal and velocity resolution wind profiles
- Boundary layer turbulence and entrainment zone studies
- Flux measurements
- LES model initialization and validation
Basic Parameters Measured
- Range resolved line-of-sight velocity profiles
- Range resolved backscatter intensity
Typical Measurement Scan
- Scan Duration: 15-20 minutes
- PPI scans: 1, 5, 15, 35, 75 degrees
Typical Specifications
| Wavelength | 1.5 µm (fully eye-safe) |
| Pulse energy | ~50 µJ |
| Pulse rate | 10 kHz |
| Range Resolution | 50 m |
| Time Resolution | 2 Hz (5000 pulse averages) |
| Velocity Precision | ~5 cm/s |
| Minimum range | 100 m |
| Maximum range | 9 km (typically 3 km) |
| Platforms | ground |
Field Projects
| Project Name | Date | Location | |
|---|---|---|---|
| CUPiDS | Coastal Urban Plume Dynamics Study | June - August 2023 | NYC region |
| SUNVEx | Southwest Urban NOx and VOC Experiment | Summer 2021 | Las Vegas, Nevada and Los Angeles, California |
| LAFE | Land-Atmosphere Feedback Experiment | July - September 2017 | Lamont, Oklahoma |
| WFIP2 | 2nd Wind Forecast Improvement Project | September - October 2016 | Columbia River Basin |
| XPIA | Experimental Measurement Campaign (XMC) for Planetary Boundary Layer (PBL) Instrument Assessment | March - June 2015 | Erie, Colorado |
| INFlux | Indiana Flux Study | August - December 2017 | Indianapolis, Indiana |
References
Bonin, T.A., A. Choukulkar, W.A. Brewer, S.P. Sandberg, A.M. Weickmann, Y. Pichugina, R.M. Banta, S.P. Oncley, and D.E. Wolfe, Evaluation of Turbulence Measurement Techniques from a Single Doppler Lidar, Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, doi:10.5194/amt-10-3021-2017, 2017.
Choukulkar, A., W.A. Brewer, S.P. Sandberg, A. Weickmann, T.A. Bonin, R.M. Hardesty, J.K. Lundquist, R. Delgado, G.V. Iungo, R. Ashton, M. Debnath, L. Bianco, J.M. Wilczak, S. Oncley, and D. Wolfe, Evaluation of single and multiple Doppler lidar techniques to measure complex flow during the XPIA field campaign, Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, doi:10.5194/amt-10-247-2017, 2017.