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Volume‐imaging lidar observations of the convective structure surrounding the flight path of a flux‐measuring aircraft

1992; American Geophysical Union; Volume: 97; Issue: D17 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1029/92jd00878

2156-2202

E. W. Eloranta, Daniel K. Forrest,

Wind and Air Flow Studies

The University of Wisconsin volume imaging lidar has been used to portray images of the three‐dimensional structure of clear air convective plumes in the atmosphere surrounding the flight path of the instrumented Twin Otter aircraft operated by the National Aeronautical Establishment (NAE) of Canada. Lidar images provide a context for interpretation of the aircraft measurements. The position of data points within a convective element can be determined and the temporal development of the plume can be observed to time the observation with respect to the life cycle of the plume. Plots of the vertical flux of water vapor, q ′ w ′, superimposed on lidar images clearly demonstrate the well‐known sampling difficulties encountered when attempting to measure fluxes near the top of the convective layer. When Loran was used to determine average aircraft velocity, flight‐leg‐averaged horizontal winds measured by the aircraft and area‐averaged winds measured by lidar agree to within 0.2 m s −1 in speed and 1° in direction.