Airborne Doppler wind lidar typhoon research and long

Airborne Doppler wind lidar: typhoon research and long flightleg data sets for data impact studies related to a future space-based Doppler wind lidar George D. Emmitt, Simpson Weather Associates, Inc. (United States); Ralph Foster, Univ. of Washington (United States); Daniel Eleuterio, Naval Research Lab. (United States) Lidar Remote Sensing for Environmental Monitoring IX New Caledonia 18 November, 2008 1

Overview An airborne Doppler wind lidar (1. 6 micron coherent) was flown on a Navy P 3 in ONR/NSF typhoon research missions during August/October 2008. In addition to full vector wind profiles in clear and partly cloudy conditions, a primary research target unique to the Doppler lidar will be the Organized Large Eddies (OLE) that are theorized to have significant impacts on air sea fluxes controlling the evolution of tropical cyclones. Measurements of the vertical velocity of the water surface allows wave spectra to be computed. Efforts are underway to process and subset the thousands of lidar wind profiles taken to simulate the coverage expected from a future space-based DWLs such as GWOS and NWOS. 2

Outline • Overview of the P 3 DWL activity in TPARC/TCS 08 – Wind profiles to augment dropsondes – Prospecting for OLEs as major air/sea interaction factor in developing TCs – MBL aerosol structures and wave spectra • Example of P 3 DWL data from Typhoon Nuri flights • Examples of DWL data for OLEs • Examples of DWL data for extracting wave data T-PARC: THORPEX Pacific Asian Regional Campaign; TCS-08: Tropical Cyclone Study 2008 3

P 3 DWL for TPARC/TCS-08 1. 6 um coherent WTX (ARL/LMCT) 10 cm bi-axis scanner (NASA) P 3 and other parts (NRL) Analyses software (SWA/CIRPAS) 4

The instrument 1. 6µm coherent detection 1 m. J 2000 Hz 10 cm two axis scanner, side mounted GUI with realtime instrument control and data display • Range: 3 – 20 km depending upon aerosols • Weight: <200 lb Power: 300 watts • • • 5

The MLX-16 coherent Doppler lidar built by LMCT for the US Army (ARL). 6

Mission Plan • Study of tropical cyclogenesis, intensification, transition and weakening • Based out of Guam (P 3) • Other aircraft include USAF C 130 and DLR Falcon – P 3: dropsondes, ELDORA and P 3 DWL – C 130: dropsondes – Falcon: dropsondes, DWL, DIAL • Use ferry flights to collect long curtains of wind soundings to test data impact on NWP. – Pax River to West Coast – West Coast to Hawaii – Hawaii to Guam 7

Guam 8

Activity Summary • P 3 DWL in the field from August 4 to October 8, 2008 • Total data (ground airborne) = 171 hours • Flew 18 missions with Tropical Cyclones as target – 118 hours of data • Additional flights: – Calibration of other instruments – Ferry flights between bases – Ferry flights USA – Guam – USA (> 20000 km) 9

Example of P 3 DWL observations near a Typhoon • • Tropical cyclone Nuri August 16 -17 , 2008 flight Flight level ~3000 meters Downward scanning for wind profiles 10

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Flight level winds from P 3 13

P 3 DWL winds at 2100 M 14

P 3 DWL winds at 1500 M 15

P 3 DWL winds at 500 M 16

P 3 DWL winds at 200 M 17

00007 UTC Dropsonde: (Three horizontal red lines are at 800, 900, 1000 mb). Wind barbs are 5 m/s full, 2. 5 m/s for half barb. 18

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Dropsonde at 0131, just east of the circulation center: 20

Lidar profile at 013454, number 5. Qualitatively similar to the dropsonde: SSW flow at lowest levels, southerly flow through deep layer shifting towards E at top of profile 21

Organized Large Eddies 22

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~1500 m ~400 m 24

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Water surface returns • Reasons for water surface returns at >20 degrees include foam, spray and wave tilting of capillary facets • Using data taken with a nadir viewing angle, vertical wave motions can be used to measure wavelengths. • Wave tilt is estimated from height and length of wave. Crest angles of 150 -170° are common. 26

Nadir view over water (single shots) 27

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TODWL wave measurements with aircraft related corrections • • Ground speed = 55 m/s Sample frequency 80 Hz >>. 69 m/sample Wavelength of swell = 200 m Wavelength of wind waves = 21. 5 m – max tilt of wave surface ~ 13 degrees • Maximum vertical wave velocity of 1. 9 m/s 29

Expected waves • NOAA Buoy 46042 - Monterey – winds: 19 kts from NW – swell: 2. 4 meters; 11. 1 seconds; NW • computed wavelength = 192 meters – wind waves: 1 -1. 2 meters; 3. 7 seconds; NNW • computed wavelength = 21. 4 meters • Tables – 17 -21 kts > 1. 3 m; 5. 4 s; 20 -30 m length 30

Summary • Wind lidar data taken with a 2 um coherent Doppler wind lidar on board the NRL P 3 aircraft is now going through final processing. • Preliminary inspection of the data suggests that > 85% useful data collected between surface and 3 km; this appears to be the case even when observing near TCs. • Long curtains of wind profiles are available for simulating future space-based DWLs and data impact studies at modeling centers. 31

P 3 DWL Operators • Dan Carre’, Simpson Weather Associates – 26 - 30 July ferry flight Pax river to Guam – 1 -17 August in Guam • Michael Riemer, Naval Post Graduate School – 15 – 31 August • Brian Tang, Massachusetts Institute of Technology – 28 – 15 September • CDR Dan Eleuterio, NRL/ONR – 13 September – 3 October 32

Acknowledgements • Funding for this research is provided by The Office of Naval Research (Dr. Ronald Ferek) and the Integrated Program Office of the NPOESS (Dr. Stephen Mango). 33