Probing near-surface atmospheric turbulence with lidar measurements and high-resolution hydrodynamic models

Abstract

Los Alamos National Laboratory, an affirmative actiorkqual oppmb.mityemplo yer, is operated by the University of Califomiaforthe U.S. Deparlrnent of Energy under mntract W-7405-ENG-36. By acceptance of this artkle, the publisher rewgnizesthatthe U.S. Government retains a nonexclusive, royallyfree license to publish or reproduce the published form of this mntribution, or to allow otherato do so, for U.S. Government purposes. Los Alamos National Laboratory requests that the publisher identify this article as work performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy. Los Alamos National Laboratov strongly supporta academic freedom and a researcher's right to publisk as an institution, however, the Laboratory does not endorse the viewpoint of a publication or guarantee its technical correctness. ABSTRACT DEC 132000As lidar technology is able to provide fast data collection at a resolution of meters in an atmospheric WHl!l volume, it is imperative to promote a modeling counterpart of the Iidar capability This paper describes an integrated apability based on data fi-oma scanning water vapor Ii&r and a high-resolution hydrodynamic m,odel (HIGRAD) equipped with a visuali=tion routine (VLEWER) that simulates the Mar scanning. The purpose is to better un&rstand the spatial and temporal representativeness of the Mar measurements and, in tu~to extend their utility in studying turbulence fields in the atmospheric boundary layer. Raman Iidar water vapor data collected over the Pacific warm pool and the simulations with the HIGRAD code are used for identifying the underlying physics and potential aliasing effects of spatially resolved lidar measurements. This capability also helps improve the trade-off between spatial-temporal resolution and coverage of the Iidar measurements.