Frontal Wind Field Retrieval Based on UHF Wind Profiler Radars and S-Band Radars Network

Abstract

The three-dimensional wind field (WPR3D) and the multiple WPR3D (M-WPR3D) associated with the passage of a stationary front was derived from observations made by a network of eight wind profiler radars (WPR) being operated by the Korea Meteorological Administration during the summer “Jangma” season. The effectiveness of the WPR3D was determined through numerical model analysis and wind profilers at three sites, and the accuracy of the M-WPR3D was validated by comparing the trajectory of the radiosonde. The discontinuity of the wind field near the frontal interface was clearly retrieved and the penetration of the air mass in the southern front was detected. Compared with either the wind vector of three single wind profiler or a local data assimilation and predication system, the WPR3D wind field showed a wind speed accuracy of approximately 70% at an altitude of 1.5 km and underestimated the wind speed by 0.5–1.5 m s−1. The M-WPR3D with three S-band Doppler radars successfully retrieved the backing wind field as well as the pre-Jangma-frontal jet. The results of this study showed that severe weather can be effectively analyzed using a three-dimensional wind field generated on the basis of a remote sensing network.

Intercomparisons of Tropospheric Wind Velocities Measured by Multi-Frequency Wind Profilers and Rawinsonde

“…Kottayil et al [21] validated wind measurements made with a 205 MHz radar located in Cochin, India, using a nearly co-located radiosonde with a separation of 1 km between them, and the results indicated that the standard deviations of the overall wind differences for zonal and meridional components were, respectively, 1.95 and 1.56 ms −1 . Kim et al [22] compared the wind fields retrieved from a UHF band wind profiler at 1290 MHz and S-band weather radars to those obtained by a numerical forecasting model as well as rawinsonde data. They showed that the root mean square errors (RMSEs) of the u and v components between model estimates and the wind profiler measurements were 3.39 ms −1 and 2.58 ms −1 , respectively, and the RMSE of their wind velocities was 3.16 ms −1 .…”