Comparisons of volume-imaging radar observations of atmospheric boundary layer turbulence with large eddy simulations

The Turbulent Eddy Profiler (TEP) is a volume-imaging 915 MHz radar designed for atmospheric boundary-layer turbulence studies. The TEP system is a pulsed, phased-array radar that uses digital beamforming techniques in order to provide four-dimensional images of C_n ² fluctuations and wind vectors on grid scales comparable to those of large-eddy simulations (LES). In this paper the authors present results from an August 1996 deployment of TEP, including preliminary comparisons of TEP data and LES results. Vertical profiles of C_n ² fluctuations are presented for a highly convective boundary layer. Those results are compared to published data simulated with LES from similar conditions. The measured variability of C_n ² agrees well in the high signal-to-noise regions of the TEP data