THE EFFECT OF THIN SCATTERING LAYERS ON THE DETERMINATION OF WIND BY DOPPLER RADARS

It has recently been suggested that the observed tendency for turbulence to occur in thin layers in the atmosphere introduces an error in horizontal wind measurements with MST radars, even in the absence of wind shear. This effect, called the finite range volume effect, is a consequence of the tilted pulse volume when using the Doppler technique. A model is shown which illustrates that this effect may be important in MST radar measurements when wide antenna beam widths are used. These model results are supported by observations performed with the MU radar in Japan, where wind measurements with different beam widths have been performed. The impact of these measurements on MST radar design and possible methods to minimize the error are discussed.