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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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DOE OSTI2024

Doppler Lidar Motion-Correction Wind Profiles (DLMCPROF-WIND) Value-Added Product Report

Wind speed and direction, together with pressure, temperature, and relative humidity, are the most fundamental atmospheric state parameters. Accurate measurement of these parameters is crucial for numerical weather prediction. Vertically resolved wind measurements in the atmospheric boundary layer are particularly important for modeling pollutant and aerosol transport. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) user facility currently operates several scanning coherent Doppler lidar (DL) systems that provide accurate height-resolved measurements of wind speed and direction. These instruments operate in the near infrared (IR;1.5 microns) and provide range-resolved measurements of radial velocity, attenuated aerosol backscatter, and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). The systems are operated using a fixed scan schedule consisting of plan position indicator (PPI) or Doppler Beam-Swing (DBS) scans. PPI scans are performed by scanning the beam in azimuth while maintaining a fixed elevation angle, and DBS scans are similar but typically also include a vertical beam. Radial velocity data from these scans are processed to yield profiles of wind speed direction. For stationary ground-based deployments, the Doppler Lidar Horizontal Wind Profiles (DLPROF-WIND) Value-Added-Product (VAP) provides height- and time-resolved measurements of the winds (Newsom and Krishnamurthy 2022). For operation on a moving platform, modifications to the existing DLPROF-WIND VAP are required to compensate for the effects of the platform motion. This report describes a parallel VAP, DLMCPROF-WIND, that was developed for computing motion-compensated wind profiles from ARM Doppler lidar data acquired during the Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC) campaign, when the lidar was deployed on the German icebreaker Polarstern.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2020

Updraft and Downdraft Core Size and Intensity as Revealed by Radar Wind Profilers: MCS Observations and Idealized Model Comparisons

This study explores the updraft and downdraft properties of mature stage mesoscale convective systems (MCSs) in terms of draft core width, shape, intensity, and mass flux characteristics. The observations use extended radar wind profiler (RWP) and surveillance radar datasets from the U.S. Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement program for midlatitude (Oklahoma, USA) and tropical (Amazon, Brazil) sites. MCS drafts behave qualitatively similar to previous aircraft and RWP cloud summaries. The Oklahoma MCSs indicate larger and more intense convective up- and downdraft cores, and greater mass flux than Amazon MCS counterparts. However, similar size-intensity relationships and draft vertical profile behaviors are observed for both regions. Additional similarities include weak positive correlations between core intensity and core width (correlation coefficient r ~ 0.5), and increases in draft intensity with altitude. A model-observational intercomparison for draft properties (core width, intensity, mass flux) is also performed to illustrate the potential usefulness of statistical observed draft characterizations. Idealized simulations with the Weather Research and Forecasting model aligned with midlatitude MCS conditions are performed at model grid spacings (?x) that range from 4 km to 250 m. It is shown that the simulations performed at ?x = 250 m at similar mature MCS lifecycle stages are those that exhibit draft intensity, width, mass flux, and shape parameter performances best matching with observed properties.

radar, arm, wind profiler, goamazon↗
DOE OSTI2023

CROCUS Sodar Measurements of Lower Atmospheric Wind Profiles at Argonne Testbed for Multiscale Observational Science (ATMOS) Site

The Scintec MFAS Sodar (Multiple-Frequency Acoustic Sounder) is an autonomous, ground-based acoustic remote sensing system designed to measure vertical profiles of horizontal wind speed, wind direction, and vertical velocity in the lower atmosphere. The instrument transmits sequences of acoustic pulses and detects the Doppler-shifted sound waves backscattered by small-scale temperature and velocity fluctuations caused by atmospheric turbulence. From these Doppler shifts, the system derives three-dimensional wind vectors by combining radial velocities from multiple beam orientations.The MFAS Sodar operates with a first usable range gate beginning at approximately 30 m above ground level and a configurable vertical resolution of 10 m. Under favorable acoustic conditions, the system provides wind profiles extending up to 600 m above ground level. Measurements are processed into 15-minute averaged profiles containing wind speed, direction, vertical velocity, and diagnostic quantities such as signal-to-noise ratio and echo strength.This dataset was collected at the Argonne Testbed for Multiscale Observational Science (ATMOS) facility in Lemont, Illinois, as part of DOE's CROCUS Urban Integrated Field Laboratory (UIFL) initiative. The purpose of these observations is to characterize the vertical wind structure and boundary-layer evolution across the urban–suburban gradient of the greater Chicago region. In particular, these data are intended to improve understanding of how local meteorology, such as lake-breeze penetration, nocturnal jets, and daytime mixing, varies between the densely built urban core and the suburban periphery. The MFAS observations provide critical context for evaluating high-resolution model simulations and for integrating with complementary lidar, radar, and in-situ meteorological measurements within the broader CROCUS UIFL network.All data are archived in NetCDF (Network Common Data Form) format and include wind and diagnostic parameters. The files can be accessed and analyzed using standard software that supports NetCDF, such as Python (e.g., xarray, netCDF4), MATLAB, R (e.g., ncdf4, raster), or Panoply (NASA’s NetCDF visualization application).

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2020

An LES-based airborne Doppler lidar simulator and its application to wind profiling in inhomogeneous flow conditions

Wind profiling by Doppler lidar is common practice and highly useful in a wide range of applications. Airborne Doppler lidar can provide additional insights relative to ground-based systems by allowing for spatially distributed and targeted measurements. Providing a link between theory and measurement, a first large eddy simulation (LES)-based airborne Doppler lidar simulator (ADLS) has been developed. Simulated measurements are conducted based on LES wind fields, considering the coordinate and geometric transformations applicable to real-world measurements. The ADLS provides added value as the input truth used to create the measurements is known exactly, which is nearly impossible in real-world situations. Thus, valuable insight can be gained into measurement system characteristics as well as retrieval strategies. As an example application, airborne Doppler lidar wind profiling is investigated using the ADLS. For commonly used airborne velocity azimuth display (AVAD) techniques, flow homogeneity is assumed throughout the retrieval volume, a condition which is violated in turbulent boundary layer flow. Assuming an ideal measurement system, the ADLS allows to isolate and evaluate the error in wind profiling which occurs due to the violation of the flow homogeneity assumption. Overall, the ADLS demonstrates that wind profiling is possible in turbulent wind field conditions with reasonable errors (root mean squared error of 0.36 m s –1 for wind speed when using a commonly used system setup and retrieval strategy for the conditions investigated). Nevertheless, flow inhomogeneity, e.g., due to boundary layer turbulence, can cause an important contribution to wind profiling error and is non-negligible. Results suggest that airborne Doppler lidar wind profiling at low wind speeds (<5 m s –1 ) can be biased, if conducted in regions of inhomogeneous flow conditions.

17 WIND ENERGY↗