The development of the theoretical basics for the detection of clear air
turbulence with the aid of airborne lidars
Abstract
Clear air turbulence (CAT) is a serious threat for civil aviation
flights. In the years 2009 through 2015, with the support of the
European Commission, as a part of the 7th Framework Program, the DELICAT
project (DEmonstration of LIdar based Clear Air Turbulence detection)
was implemented. In this project, an air-borne lidar was developed and
built for an early detection of CAT. In August 2013, flight tests of the
lidar were carried out. During the experiments, a large unique data set
was collected; a copy of the data set is in the possession of the
Obukhov Institute of Atmospheric Physics of Russian Academy of Sciences
(IAP RAS). In the proposed project, we propose solving the following
problems. We will develop a numerical model of the laser sounding of
CAT, considering the effect of the laser beam propagation in a random
medium, as well as the aerosol (Mie) and molecular (Rayleigh)
scattering. The analysis of the existing observations indicates that, in
most cases, the multiple scattering effects are negligible. The will
allow us to develop the model on the basis of the multiple phase screen
method. This model will produce realizations of the random signal for
specific realization of the random refractivity and aerosol distribution
fields. A modification of the multiple phase screen method will allow
modeling a diverging laser beam. This will also allow modeling of the
back-scattering enhancement (BSE). By varying the aerosol composition,
it will be possible to model different degree of correlation and
intensity ratio in co- and cross-polarization channels. The model of the
laser sounding of CAT will help answering the question, whether aerosol
is an impeding factor when using the BSE effect. We will develop a
realistic model of the observation geometry variations. We will perform
the primary processing of the whole available data set of the DELICAT
observations. This will allow us to estimate the statistical properties
of the measurement noise. We will analyze the DELICAT observations. We
will fit the model parameters in order to reproduce, as close as
possible, the statistical properties of the observations. This will help
answering the questions, how accurately and timely it is possible to
detect CAT parameters using two types of lidar systems: 1) system with
two polarization channels, and 2) system based on the BSE effect.