Application of Variational Analysis of Wind Field Based on Lidar Conical Scans to Air Quality Monitoring

ABSTRACT

Conical scans of Doppler LIDAR were made at a specific elevation angle to monitor the wind fields in cases of plume dispersion in western Australia. To better visualize the airflow patterns in relation to the plume direction, variational analysis is performed on the radial velocity data of the LIDAR to retrieve the 2D wind fields. Compared to the 4DVAR method, the 2D variational analysis as adopted in the present paper is computationally more efficient yet provides sufficient details of the flow patterns. Examples of the plume dispersion are shown with the 2D analyzed wind fields as presented in the paper. In general, the analyzed wind fields are consistent with the plume directions as observed from the backscattered power data of the LIDAR.