Vol. 37, issue 01, article # 9

Abstract:

The possibilities of using molecular scattering to determine the wind speed from measurements by a pulsed coherent Doppler lidar (PCDL) from an aircraft at altitudes from 10 to 20 km are numerically studied. The simulation was carried out for probing radiation focused at 500 m at wavelengths of 1 mm and 2 mm, the aperture diameter of the receiving-transmitting telescope was set equal to 10 cm. It is shown that the threshold SNR in measurements from an aircraft is attained at a pulse energy much lower than when sounding from the Earth. Modern PCDLs with probing pulse energies of 1–4 mJ, after adding a molecular scattering recording channel, can be used for airborne wind measurements at altitudes of 10–20 km.

Keywords:

coherent Doppler lidar, molecular scattering, wind speed, numerical simulation, sounding, signal-to-noise ratio

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