Are radiosonde time scales appropriate to characterize boundary layer wind profiles?

Abstract

Wind profiles measured by both radiosondes and sodar over the Landes Forest in SW France, as part of the HAPEX-MOBILHY experiment, are compared under conditions of neutral stability. The sodar wind profiles were measured by a team from the CRPE (Centre de Recherches en Physique de l'Environnement, Saint-Maur-des-Fosses/Issy-les-Moulineaux, France); the sodar measurements were taken over 15min periods. The lower limit of the inner region of the ABL was found to be the same for both sets of profiles. Approximately the same regional scale surface roughness was obtained with both types of sounders, namely z0=1.2m; the corresponding shear stresses derived from both sets of profiles were well correlated. -from Authors