A four-dimensional objective analysis scheme and multitriangle technique for Wind Profiler data

• Published in: Monthly weather review 1999-03, Vol.127 (3), p.279-291
• Main Authors: SPENCER, P. L, JANISH, P. R, DOSWELL, C. A
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Earth, ocean, space; Exact sciences and technology; External geophysics; Geophysics. Techniques, methods, instrumentation and models
• ISSN: 0027-0644; 1520-0493
• DOI: 10.1175/1520-0493(1999)127<0279:AFDOAS>2.0.CO;2

A 4D Barnes objective analysis scheme for wind profiler data is developed in order to improve upon previously developed 2D analysis schemes. A significant shortcoming of the 2D schemes is their sensitivity to gaps in the profiler time-height series; they may produce unrealistic gradient information if large data-void regions are present. The 4D analysis scheme described herein, however, provides an effective means for dealing with data voids within profiler time-height series. The 4D analysis scheme differs from the 2D techniques in that data from neighboring profiler stations affect the time-height wind analysis at each site. This allows the analysis scheme to produce smooth, spatially and temporally consistent time-height wind analyses for each station of the Wind Profiler Network (WPN), even if large data gaps are present. Gridded time-height wind fields at each profiler site resulting from the 4D analysis scheme are provided as input to a line integral-equivalent technique that is applied over many WPN triangles for the purpose of diagnosing the kinematic and thermodynamic structure of subsynoptic-scale weather systems. Time-height series of triangle-derived variables have been proven elsewhere to be an effective method for diagnosing subsynoptic-scale temporal structure of weather systems; mapping the irregularly spaced triangle information onto a regular, quasihorizontal grid provides a complementary perspective of their spatial structure and evolution.