Atmospheric boundary layer investigations with a UHF Doppler/interferometric wind profiler

Describes the prototype 915 MHz Doppler/Interferometric boundary layer profiler developed at the National Center for Atmospheric Research. The characteristic of interest of the radar is its capability to simultaneously operate in a five beam Doppler beam swinging (DBS) mode and a radar interferometry (RI) mode through the use of multiple receiving channels connected to subsets of its antenna. Radar interferometry allows the estimation of a three-dimensional wind vector from a single beam direction while Doppler beam swinging combines the radial velocities measured in the multiple beam directions in order to derive the wind components. The authors present preliminary results from a June 1993 field project in Oklahoma. The profiles obtained with the DBS and the RI technique are compared. In particular, the accuracy of the RI method is assessed. It is investigated whether it represents a reliable alternative to the traditional Doppler technique when the latter is adversely affected by a non-homogeneous wind field