Horizontal Vector Wind Field Measurement with Eye-Safe Elastic Lidar

该奖项是根据2009年《美国复苏和再投资法案》(公法111-5)资助的。将对扫描人眼安全的气溶胶激光雷达测量大气表层水平矢量风场的能力进行定量评估。这将通过计算弹性后向散射激光雷达扫描图像的空间相关函数来实现。该方法利用了S激光雷达扫描图像中气溶胶特征的风致运动。主要的假设是，相关技术在湍流强度足够大的时期表现良好，而在稳定性较强的时期可能失败。这一假设将通过比较来自激光雷达和位于扫描区域内的现场风速计的风矢量作为由塔台上的仪器在扫描区域内测量的湍流强度和稳定性的函数的程度来检验。除了测试上述假设之外，项目第一部分中改进和评估的技术将用于全面搜索激光雷达后向散射强度数据中的扰动与塔台现场测量的湍流变量之间的统计关系。其结果将更好地理解湍流相干结构、细尺度重力波等现象的空间分布和演变，以及稳定条件下湍流与波的相互作用。处理后的数据集，以后向散射和风场的图像和动画的形式，将在网站上公开。这项研究将产生几个更广泛的影响。它将构成加州州立大学奇科分校一个新的跨学科研究和教育项目的核心，NCAR雷亚尔以长期贷款的形式驻留在那里。来自不同学科的学生，包括物理、计算机科学、工程、农业和健康科学，将从参与这一计划中受益。激光雷达系统和测风能力将可供其他研究人员和学生使用，作为系统开发的新应用。激光雷达系统在任何需要监测和预测颗粒物或有害物质在大气中扩散的地方都是有用的。潜在的应用包括：监测空气质量传感器周围的空气槽；跟踪和预测有害物质在大气中的扩散，包括化学和核电站的排放；监测采矿作业中逃逸的粉尘；监测大型农业区的杀虫剂使用情况；监测集约化养猪场等农业场所的排放；监测农业作业的烟羽，如烧毁稻田和甘蔗田；对野火的早期预警并预测火灾移动的速度和方向；以及监测冶炼厂和燃煤发电厂等工业场所的烟羽。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).The ability of a scanning eye-safe aerosol lidar to measure the horizontal vector wind field in the atmospheric surface layer will be quantitatively evaluated. This will be done by calculating spatial correlation functions from elastic backscatter lidar scan images displaced in time. This method capitalizes on the wind-induced motion of aerosol features in the lidar?s scan imagery. The primary hypothesis is that the correlation technique will perform well during periods of sufficient turbulence intensity and may fail during periods of strong stability. The hypothesis will be tested by comparing how well the wind vectors from the lidar and in situ anemometers located within the scanned region agree as a function of turbulence intensity and stability as measured by the instrumentation on a tower within the scanned region.In addition to testing the above hypothesis, the techniques refined and evaluated in the first part of the project will then be used for a comprehensive search for statistical relationships between perturbations in the lidar backscatter intensity data and turbulence variables measured in situ on the tower. The result will be a better understanding of the spatial distribution and evolution of phenomena such as turbulent coherent structures, fine-scale gravity waves, and the interplay between turbulence and waves during stable conditions. The processed data set, in the form of images and animations of backscatter and wind fields, will be made publicly available on a website.This research will have several broader impacts. It will form the nucleus of a new interdisciplinary research and education program at the California State University, Chico, where the NCAR REAL resides on long-term loan. Students from a variety of disciplines including physics, computer science, engineering, agriculture and health sciences will benefit from participation in this program. The lidar system and wind measurement capability will be available for other investigators and students to use as new applications for the system develop. The lidar system will be useful wherever there is a need to monitor and predict the dispersion of particulate or hazardous material in the atmosphere. Potential applications include: monitoring the air-shed around air quality sensors; tracking and predicting the dispersion of hazardous material in the atmosphere including releases from chemical and nuclear power plants; monitoring fugitive dust from mining operations; monitoring the application of pesticides over large agricultural areas; monitoring the emissions from agricultural sites such as intensive piggeries; monitoring smoke plumes from agricultural operations such as burning off rice and sugar cane fields; early warning of wildfires and predicting the speed and direction of the fire movement; and monitoring the plumes from industrial sites such as smelters and coal-fired power plants.