Using Doppler lidar systems to detect atmospheric turbulence in Iceland

Abstract. The temporal and spatial scale of atmospheric turbulenceis very dynamic, requiring an adequate method to detect and monitor turbulencewith high resolution. Doppler Light Detection and Ranging ( lidar) systems have been used widely to observe and monitor wind velocity and atmospheric turbulenceprofiles. Lidarsystems can provide continuous information about wind fields using the Doppler effectfrom emitted light signals. In this study, we use a Leosphere Windcube 200S lidarsystem stationed in Reykjavik, Iceland, to evaluate turbulenceintensity by estimating eddy dissipation rate (EDR). For this purpose, we retrieved radial wind velocity observations from velocity azimuth display (VAD) scans to compute EDR based on the Kolmogorov theory. We compared different noise filter methods, scan strategies and calculation approaches during different selected weather conditions to assess the accuracy of our EDR estimations. The results reveal that the lidarobservations can detect and quantify atmospheric turbulencewith high spatial and temporal resolution, our algorithm can retrieve EDR and indicate the turbulenceintensity. These results suggest that lidarobservation can be of high importance for potential end-user, e.g. air traffic controllersat the local airport. The work is an important step towards enhanced aviation safetyin a subpolar climate characterized by severe wind turbulence.