Abstract

The NOAA High Resolution Doppler Lidar (HRDL) is a coherent detection system that combines an eye-safe¹ near-infrared wavelength, diode-pumped solid-state Tm:Lu,YAG laser² transmitter, and improved signal processing techniques, with an accurate, high speed scanning system. The HRDL program goal is to develop an easily transported system capable of observing the turbulent fluctuations of the wind with better than 50 m spatial resolution and a few cm/s velocity resolution, over volumes of a several km³/sec. The enhanced measurement capabilities are primarily needed to provide improved data sets for boundary layer LES model initialization, and validation, to study the fine scale structure, evolution, and transport of energy in turbulent and stable boundary layers, and for the measurement of fluxes by eddy correlation. The long term stability and high resolution capabilities of this technology also facilitate better estimation of poorly correlated turbulent quantities (e.g. <u'w'>, <v'w'>).

© 1997 Optical Society of America