Abstract
Vertical profiles of the wind speed, turbulence components, and the temperature in the lower regions of the atmospheric boundary layer can be determined by performing active acoustic and radioacoustic sounding with ground-based devices. This chapter introduces two types of instruments—sound detection and ranging (sodar) devices and radioacoustic sounding systems (RASS)—that can be used to carry out such measurements. While sodars can provide quantitative vertical wind and turbulence profiles and qualitative mixed-layer height and inversion height data, RASS can provide that as well as quantitative temperature profiles. Both types of instruments have a typical height range of several hundreds of meters, and their vertical resolution is on the order of 20 m.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
S. Emeis: Surface-Based Remote Sensing of the Atmospheric Boundary Layer. In: Atmospheric and Oceanographic Sciences Library, Vol. 40 (Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg 2011)
S. Emeis: Upper limit for wind shear in stably stratified conditions expressed in terms of a bulk Richardson number, Meteorol. Z. 26, 421–430 (2017)
S. Emeis: Wind Energy Meteorology – Atmospheric Physics for Wind Power Generation, Green Energy and Technology, 2nd edn. (Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg 2018)
VDI 3786 Part 11:2015-07: Environmental Meteorology: Ground-Based Remote Sensing of the Wind Vector and the Vertical Structure of the Boundary Layer – Doppler Sodar (Beuth, Berlin 2015)
G. Peters: SODAR – Ein akustisches Fernmeßverfahren für die untere Atmosphäre, Promet 21, 55–62 (1991)
S. Bradley: Atmospheric Acoustic Remote Sensing – Principles and Applications (CRC Press, Boca Raton 2007)
W.H. Bragg, W.L. Bragg: The reflection of X-rays by crystals, Proc. R. Soc. A 88, 428–438 (1913)
J.M. Marshall, A.M. Peterson, A. Barnes: Combined radar-acoustic sounding system, Appl. Opt. 11, 108–112 (1972)
VDI 3786 Part 18: Environmental Meteorology: Ground-Based Remote Sensing of Temperature Radio-Acoustic Sounding Systems (RASS) (Beuth, Berlin 2010)
D.A.M. Engelbart, J. Bange: Determination of boundary-layer parameters using wind profiler/RASS and sodar/RASS in the frame of the LITFASS project, Theor. Appl. Climatol. 73, 53–65 (2002)
VDI 3786 Part 17: Environmental Meteorology – Ground-Based Remote Sensing of the Wind Vector – Wind Profiler Radar (Beuth, Berlin 2007)
ISO 9613-1:1993-06: Acoustics; Attenuation of Sound During Propagation Outdoors; Part 1: Calculation of the Absorption of Sound by the Atmosphere (International Organization for Standardization, Geneva 1993)
R. Wexler, D.M. Swingle: Radar storm detection, Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc. 28, 159–167 (1947)
G.W. Gilman, H.B. Coxhead, F.H. Willis: Reflection of sound signals in the troposphere, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 18, 274–283 (1946)
V.I. Tatarskii: The Effect of the Turbulent Atmosphere on Wave Propagation (Kefer Press, Jerusalem 1971)
M.A. Kallistratova: An experimental investigation in the scattering of sound in the turbulent atmosphere, Dokl. Akad. Nauk. SSSR 125, 69–72 (1959)
M.A. Kallistratova, I.V. Petenko, R.D. Kouznetsov, S.N. Kulichkov, O.G. Chkhetiani, I.P. Chunchusov, V.S. Lyulyukin, D.V. Zaitseva, N.V. Vazaeva, D.D. Kuznetsov, V.G. Perepelkin, G.A. Bush: Sodar sounding of the atmospheric boundary layer: Review of studies at the Obukhov Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Izv. Atmos. Ocean. Phys. 54, 242–256 (2018)
L.G. McAllister, J.R. Pollard, A.R. Mahoney, P.J.R. Shaw: Acoustic sounding – A new approach to the study of atmospheric structure, Proc. IEEE 57, 579–587 (1969)
ECMA-108:2010-12: Measurement of High-Frequency Noise Emitted by Information Technology and Telecommunications Equipment (European Computer Manufacturers Association, Geneva 2010)
K. Attenborough: Sound propagation in the atmosphere. In: Handbook of Acoustics, 2nd edn., ed. by T.D. Rossing (Springer, New York 2014) pp. 117–155
O. Reitebuch: SODAR-Signalverarbeitung von Einzelpulsen zur Bestimmung hochaufgelöster Windprofile, Schriftenreihe des Fraunhofer-Instituts Atmosphärische Umweltforschung, Vol. 62 (Shaker, Aachen 1999)
F. Beyrich: Mixing height estimation from sodar data – A critical discussion, Atmos. Environ. 31, 3941–3953 (1997)
D.N. Asimakopoulos, C.G. Helmis, J. Michopoulos: Evaluation of SODAR methods for the determination of the atmospheric boundary layer mixing height, Meteorol. Atmos. Phys. 85, 85–92 (2004)
S. Emeis, M. Türk: Frequency distributions of the mixing height over an urban area from SODAR data, Meteorol. Z. 13, 361–367 (2004)
S. Emeis, C. Jahn, C. Münkel, C. Münsterer, K. Schäfer: Multiple atmospheric layering and mixing-layer height in the Inn valley observed by remote sensing, Meteorol. Z. 16, 415–424 (2007)
S. Emeis, K. Schäfer, C. Münkel: Surface-based remote sensing of the mixing-layer height – A review, Meteorol. Z. 17, 621–630 (2008)
J. Röttger, J. Klostermeyer, P. Czechowsky, R. Rüster, G. Schmidt: Remote sensing of the atmosphere by VHF radar experiments, Naturwissenschaften 65, 285–296 (1978)
R.L. Coulter, T.J. Martin: Results from a high-power, high-frequency sodar, Atmos. Res. 20, 257–269 (1986)
Y. Ito, Y. Kobori, M. Horiguchi, M. Takehisa, Y. Mitsuta: Development of wind profiling sodar, J. Atmos. Ocean. Technol. 6, 779–784 (1989)
D.W. Thomson, R.L. Coulter: Analysis and simulation of phase coherent acdar sounding measurements, J. Geophys. Res. 79, 5541–5549 (1974)
M.L. Wesely: The combined effect of temperature and humidity fluctuations on refractive index, J. Appl. Meteorol. 15, 43–49 (1976)
R.L. Coulter, K.H. Underwood: Some turbulence and diffusion parameter estimates within cooling tower plumes derived from sodar data, J. Appl. Meteorol. 19, 1395–1404 (1980)
K.H. Underwood: Sodar Signal Processing Methods and the Risø-78 Experiment, PhD thesis (Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park 1981)
S. Bradley, S. von Hünerbein, T. Mikkelsen: A bistatic sodar for precision wind profiling in complex terrain, J. Atmos. Ocean. Technol. 29, 1052–1061 (2012)
S. Bradley, J. Barlow, J. Lalley, C. Halios: A sodar for profiling in a spatially inhomogeneous urban environment, Meteorol. Z. 24, 615–624 (2015)
A. Strehz, S. Bradley: Mast comparisons for a new bistatic SODAR design. In: 17th Int. Symp. Adv. Bound.-Layer Remote Sens. (ISARS) Auckland (2014)
R. Kouznetsov: The multi-frequency sodar with high temporal resolution, Meteorol. Z. 18, 169–173 (2009)
S.G. Bradley: Use of coded waveforms for SODAR systems, Meteorol. Atmos. Phys. 71, 15–23 (1999)
C.S. Bonner, M.C.B. Ashley, J.S. Lawrence, J.W.V. Storey, D.M. Luong-Van, S.G. Bradley: Snodar: A new instrument to measure the height of the boundary layer on the Antarctic plateau, Proc. SPIE 7014, 70146I (2008)
A.I. Kon, V.I. Tatarskii: The scattered signal frequency spectrum for radio acoustical atmospheric soundings, Izv. Atmos. Ocean. Phys. 16, 142–148 (1980)
G. Peters, H. Timmermann, H. Hinzpeter: Temperature sounding in the planetary boundary layer by RASS-system analysis and results, Int. J. Remote Sens. 4, 49–63 (1983)
RegTP: Zulassungsvorschrift für Windprofil-Messradaranlagen, RegTP 321 ZV 044, Juli 1999. In: Amtsblatt der Regulierungsbehörde für Telekommunikation und Post, Nr. 1 vom 12.01.2000
Directive 2003/10/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 February 2003 on the Minimum Health and Safety Requirements Regarding the Exposure of Workers to the Risks Arising from Physical Agents (Noise). https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:02003L0010-20081211, current version (2019), Accessed 08. July 2021
Bundes-Immissionsschutzgesetz: Gesetz zum Schutz vor schädlichen Umwelteinwirkungen durch Luftverunreinigungen, Geräusche, Erschütterungen und ähnliche Vorgänge (BImSchG). (in German http://www.rechtliches.de/info_BImSchG.html) (2017), Accessed 08. July 2021
VDI 2058 Part 2: Assessment of Noise with Regard to the Risk of Hearing Damages (Draft) (Beuth, Berlin 2017)
S. Bradley, A. Strehz, S. Emeis: Remote sensing winds in complex terrain – A review, Meteorol. Z. 24, 547–555 (2015)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Emeis, S. (2021). Sodar and RASS. In: Foken, T. (eds) Springer Handbook of Atmospheric Measurements. Springer Handbooks. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-52171-4_23
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-52171-4_23
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-52170-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-52171-4
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)