Measurement of wind profiles by motion-stabilised ship-borne Doppler lidar

Achtert, P.; Brooks, I.M.; Brooks, B. J.; Moat, B.I. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8676-7779; Prytherch, J.; Persson, P.O.G.; Tjernström, M.. 2015 Measurement of wind profiles by motion-stabilised ship-borne Doppler lidar. Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, 8 (11). 4993-5007. https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-4993-2015

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-4993-2015

Abstract/Summary

Three months of Doppler lidar wind measurements were obtained during the Arctic Cloud Summer Experiment on the icebreaker Oden during the summer of 2014. Such ship-borne Doppler measurements require active stabilisation to remove the effects of ship motion. We demonstrate that the combination of a commercial Doppler lidar with a custom-made motion-stabilisation platform enables the retrieval of wind profiles in the Arctic atmospheric boundary layer during both cruising and ice-breaking with statistical uncertainties comparable to land-based measurements. This held true particularly within the atmospheric boundary layer even though the overall aerosol load was very low. Motion stabilisation was successful for high wind speeds in open water and the resulting wave conditions. It allows for the retrieval of vertical winds with a random error below 0.2 m s−1. The comparison of lidar-measured wind and radio soundings gives a mean bias of 0.3 m s−1 (2°) and a mean standard deviation of 1.1 m s−1 (12°) for wind speed (wind direction). The agreement for wind direction degrades with height. The combination of a motion-stabilised platform with a low-maintenance autonomous Doppler lidar has the potential to enable continuous long-term high-resolution ship-based wind profile measurements over the oceans.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-4993-2015
ISSN:	1867-8548
NORA Subject Terms:	Marine Sciences
Date made live:	07 Dec 2015 13:09 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/512362

Item Type:

Publication - Article

Digital Object Identifier (DOI):

https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-4993-2015

ISSN:

1867-8548

NORA Subject Terms:

Marine Sciences

Date made live:

07 Dec 2015 13:09 +0 (UTC)

URI:

https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/512362