Synergetic use of LiDAR and microwave radiometer observations for boundary-layer height detection

A synergetic approach for estimation of the nocturnal stable boundary-layer (SBL) height is presented. Aerosol backscatter from a lidar ceilometer and potential temperature from a microwave radiometer (MWR) are combined by using an extended Kalman filter (EKF). While height-resolved spatial-variance from the ceilometer backscatter signal provides a signature for the stratification of aerosols in the SBL, temperature data from the MWR helps to correctly incorporate information about the thermodynamic stability of atmosphere. The method is applied to data from a Vaisala CT25K ceilometer and a Humidity-and-Temperature Profiler (HAT-PRO) MWR collected during the HD(CP)² Observational Prototype Experiment (HOPE) campaign at Jülich, Germany.