Assessment of runway wind conditions at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol using a Doppler wind lidar

Safe airport operations depend on accurate wind measurements to assess the wind conditions above the runway and along the flight paths of aircraft. At Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, wind speed and direction are measured using cup anemometers and wind vanes installed at multiple locations for each runway. The placement of these instruments involves a trade-off between proximity to the runway, distance from nearby obstructions, site availability, and the need to share measurements across runways, all while complying with ICAO regulations. Previous computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations have highlighted potential disturbances affecting these measurements.

Wind conditions can vary spatially due to terrain and nearby structures, making the precise location of cup anemometers and wind vanes crucial for accurately representing runway conditions. Examining the spatial distribution of wind can validate instrument placement and reveal any localized deviations from expected conditions.

To support this, the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute deployed a Leonardo Skiron3D Doppler wind lidar at Schiphol Airport. The lidar will be positioned at four locations across the airport to cover all eight in-situ wind observation sites. This study introduces a method for validating the representativeness of in-situ wind measurements specifically for the Buitenveldertbaan (09/27) runway.

A very low elevation angle of 0.5° is selected to capture near-surface wind observations across the entire runway. Since the Doppler wind lidar measures only the radial wind component along its line of sight, direct comparison with in-situ measurements is not feasible. To address this, the in-situ data are decomposed and spatially mapped to estimate the radial wind component assuming a uniform wind field. To account for variations in the altitude of the lidar beam, the decomposed wind field is adjusted using a standard power-law wind gradient with a surface roughness exponent of 1/7.

Results indicate a very small difference between the decomposed and height-adjusted in-situ measurements and the lidar observations. Additionally, lidar data reveal that the terminal building influences wind conditions above the runway during southerly winds, although these effects do not impact the in-situ measurements.