Wind measurements from Doppler radar profilers and rawinsondes: a comparison of 50-MHz and 404-MHz profilers and rawinsonde data at White Sands Missile Range

ABSTRACTWind measurements derived from collocated VHF and UHF doppler radar profilers were analyzed forstatistical trends in vertical and horizontal variability. Nearly continuous 6-mm data from 20 March through30 April 1991 are analyzed and also compared with rawinsonde data. Consistency of wind data from these three sources is discussed. 1 . INTRODUCTION The Atmospheric Sciences Laboratory (ASL) has been active in developing a high-performance remote sensingfacility for high-resolution measurement ofvertical profiles ofwind speed and direction1. The Atmospheric ProfilerResearch Facility (APRF) includes four collocated clear-air atmospheric radar profilers whose salient characteristicsare outlined in Table 1 . A major product of this facility is to be an integrated, consensused surface-to-stratospherehigh-resolution visualization of wind speed and direction.The production of such an integrated profile from several different profilers requires answers to the questionof how well measurements from these profilers compare with each other within their regions of overlap, and how