Airborne coherent wind lidar measurements of the momentum flux profile from orographically induced gravity waves

oleh: B. Witschas, S. Gisinger, S. Rahm, A. Dörnbrack, D. C. Fritts, M. Rapp

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: Copernicus Publications 2023-03-01

Deskripsi

<p>In the course of the GW-LCYCLE II campaign, conducted in Jan/Feb 2016 from Kiruna, Sweden, coherent Doppler wind lidar (2 <span class="inline-formula">µ</span>m DWL) measurements were performed from the DLR Falcon aircraft to investigate gravity waves induced by flow across the Scandinavian Alps. During a mountain wave event on 28 January 2016, a novel momentum flux (MF) scan pattern with fore and aft propagating laser beams was applied to the 2 <span class="inline-formula">µ</span>m DWL. This allows us to measure the vertical wind and the horizontal wind along the flight track simultaneously with a high horizontal resolution of <span class="inline-formula">≈800 m</span> and hence enables us to derive the horizontal MF profile for a broad wavelength spectrum from a few hundred meters to several hundred kilometers. The functionality of this method and the corresponding retrieval algorithm is validated using a comparison against in situ wind data measured by the <i>High Altitude and Long Range</i> (<i>HALO</i>) aircraft which was also deployed in Kiruna for the POLSTRACC (Polar Stratosphere in a Changing Climate) campaign. Based on that, the systematic and random error of the wind speeds retrieved from the 2 <span class="inline-formula">µ</span>m DWL observations are determined. Further, the measurements performed on that day are used to reveal significant changes in the horizontal wavelengths of the vertical wind speed and of the leg-averaged momentum fluxes in the tropopause inversion layer (TIL) region, which are likely to be induced by interfacial waves as recently presented by <span class="cit" id="xref_text.1"><a href="#bib1.bibx20">Gisinger et al.</a> (<a href="#bib1.bibx20">2020</a>)</span>.</p>