Doppler wind lidar systems are an indispensable tool for the observation of the atmospheric boundary layer. With varying atmospheric conditions in the boundary layer the performance and availability of these systems varies. In order to ensure their quality measurements are needed to validate the lidar measurements.
During the FESSTVaL field measurement campaign in summer 2021 airborne meteorological measurements in the atmospheric boundary layer above the measuring field Falkenberg of the German Weather Service measurements were recorded for this purpose.
The focus was on the validation of Doppler lidar measurements of the wind speed, wind direction and turbulence kinetic energy in the altitude range from 90 m to 600 m above ground. The obtained data will be used to show in how far the lidar data quality is depending on the altitude the measurements have been taken from.
The validation data were collected with an unmanned aerial system (UAS) of type MASC-3 (Multipurpose Airborne SensorCarrier 3) operated by the University of tuebingen.
The UAS MASC-3 is used for in-situ meteorological measurements of turbulent variables (three-dimensional wind vector, temperature, humidity and turbulence) as well as aerosol particles in the lower atmosphere. [1]
With the help of our UAS measurements, the quality, spatial resolution, and significance of lidar data is investigated and will be assessed in different measurement configurations and under different atmospheric conditions, such as thermal stratification, water vapor content, concentration of aerosol particles and aerosol particle size distribution.
Suitable scanning strategies for the lidar systems can thus be determined, characterized, and the measurement error as well as the representativeness and availability of the lidar wind and turbulence data will be quantified.
The result of the assessment will help to determine the initially mentioned performance and availability of lidar more accurately, as well as to better integrate remote sensing instrumentation into an operational measurement network.
[1] A. Rautenberg et al., MDPI Sensors doi:10.3390/s19102292 (2019)
How to cite: Boventer, J., Weber, I., Schön, M., zum Berge, K., Platis, A., Bange, J., Beyrich, F., Detring, C., and Päschke, E.: Validation of Doppler wind LiDARs of the German Weather Service (DWD) using small unmanned aerial systems ( UAS ), EMS Annual Meeting 2022, Bonn, Germany, 5–9 Sep 2022, EMS2022-237, https://doi.org/10.5194/ems2022-237, 2022.
