Lidar measurements of vector wind fields

Both horizontal components of the wind vector are measured with 250 m spatial resolution over a 6 by 10 km area. These are derived using 2-dimensional cross-correlations computed between a series of aerosol backscatter images recorded with the University of Wisconsin volume imaging lidar (VIL). The VIL is designed to provide high spatial and temporal resolution images of atmospheric structure. It employs a 1.06 /spl mu/m laser operating at a repetition rate of 100 Hz, 0.5-m diameter scanning optics, and a fast data acquisition system to generate two- and three-dimensional images. Under typical conditions, the system records data to a range of 18 km with a range resolution of 15 m. The data system records profiles without averaging. Approximately 1 G-byte of data is recorded per hour of operation. The paper analyzes repeated azimuthal scans made with the lidar elevation angle set near zero. A typical scan covered an azimuthal sector of /spl sim/100/spl deg/ and provided lidar profiles at /spl sim/0.08/spl deg/ increments. The full back-and-forth scan was repeated at /spl sim/25 s intervals.