Reducing the Effect of Ground Clutter on Wind Profiler Velocity Measurements

Peter T. May Bureau of Meteorology Research Centre, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

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Richard G. Strauch Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado

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Abstract

It is well known that the presence of ground clutter may severely bias radar measurements of the Doppler shift, particularly with wind profilers undertaking boundary layer measurements. It is shown both qualitatively and quantitatively with simulated data that a simple detrending of the time series data is often sufficient to significantly reduce the clutter problem. Finite impulse response filters are also investigated. Improvements are seen when long records are filtered prior to spectral analysis of the time series. The results are not very sensitive to the width of the filter (within reason) as long as the filter width encompasses the clutter spectrum.

Corresponding author address: Dr. Peter T. May, Bureau of Meteorology Research Centre, GPO Box 1289K, Victoria 3001, Australia.

Abstract

It is well known that the presence of ground clutter may severely bias radar measurements of the Doppler shift, particularly with wind profilers undertaking boundary layer measurements. It is shown both qualitatively and quantitatively with simulated data that a simple detrending of the time series data is often sufficient to significantly reduce the clutter problem. Finite impulse response filters are also investigated. Improvements are seen when long records are filtered prior to spectral analysis of the time series. The results are not very sensitive to the width of the filter (within reason) as long as the filter width encompasses the clutter spectrum.

Corresponding author address: Dr. Peter T. May, Bureau of Meteorology Research Centre, GPO Box 1289K, Victoria 3001, Australia.

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