Measurement of Aerosol Motion and Wind Velocity in the Lower Troposphere by Doppler Optical Radar

Abstract

An optical radar has been used to measure the radial wind velocity component in the lower troposphere by detecting interferometrically the bulk Doppler shift affecting the echoes from atmospheric aerosols. The measurements, carried out at night, have basically utilized a highly coherent single-frequency Ar+ laser in the transmitter, and a small telescope, a scanning spherical Fabry-Perot interferometer, and a photon counting system in the receiver.