3rd HyMeX workshop 1-4 June 2009 Heraklion (Gournes), Crete-Greece
Continuous Humidity Profiling using Wind ProfilersMadhu Chandra Kalapureddy (Laboratoire d'Aérologie); Campistron B., Saïd F.
Meteorological disturbances in the earth atmosphere are characterized by various parameters, such as wind velocity, temperature, and humidity, which respectively contribute to kinetic energy, sensible heat, and latent heat. Among them, humidity is one of the most important, meteorological parameter, driving forces of intense atmospheric disturbances via latent heat release. In general, balloon-borne radiosondes have been extensively utilized for obtaining these atmospheric parameters. Besides expensive, often the limited temporal (cannot be better than few hours) resolutions of available operational radiosondings are not adequate enough to study the mesoscale meteorological phenomena or detailed structure of humidity. Moreover, it may include horizontal variations of the atmosphere due to leeward drift of a balloon. Hence, it is important to explore a feasible technique which is less expensive, easy to implement, more uninterrupted and better time resolved with all weather capability for long term operations.
Here, we explore a technique involving Wind Profiling Doppler Radars along with either model or observational temperature profiles, as a combined setup. With this aim, we discuss the method, test and compare the results with their statistical significance from two different latitudinal locations (France and West Africa). We aspire to use this technique in the forthcoming HYMEX (Hydrological cycle in the Mediterranean Experiment) campaign to monitor the humidity upstream conditions on the western Mediterranean basin.
