Studies of sodar surface-based shear echo structures

Abstract Shear echoes with various types of structures like surface layer with smooth top, short spiky top, tall spiky top and stratified layers have been seen on the monostatic system operating at the National Physical Laboratory, New Delhi. In this paper effects of surface wind speed on the formation of these structures have been considered. The data used for the purpose pertains to the period May 1977 to April 1982. It has been seen that most of the shear echo structures are formed under stable conditions with surface wind speed less than or equal to 2.5 m s −1 , however, the tall spiky surface based layer structures of height more than 150 m have been seen to occur significantly in the presence of higher surface wind speeds, suggesting that strong surface winds may be responsible for turbulence in the vertical plane to more depth.