Wolfe, D. E., W. A. Brewer, S. C. Tucker, A. B. White, D. E. White, D. C. Welsh, D. Ruffieux, C. W. Fairall, M. Ratterree, J. M. Intrieri, B. J. McCarty, D. C. Law, 2007: Shipboard multisensor merged wind profiles from the New England Air Quality Study 2004. J. Geophys. Res., 112, D10S15.
Abstract
The New England Air Quality Study (NEAQS) was a regional portion of the International Consortium for Atmospheric Research on Transport and Transformation (ICARTT) planned by groups in North America and Europe to develop a better understanding of the factors that shape air quality in their respective regions and the remote North Atlantic. The NOAA research vessel Ronald H. Brown was only one of a number of platforms given the task of monitoring the emissions of aerosol and ozone precursors and the atmosphere in which they reside. Two remote and one in situ sensor were used to measure wind profiles. A radar wind profiler (RWP) permanently deployed on the ship and corrected in real time for ship motion provided continuous hourly profiles at 60- and 100-m vertical resolutions. A high-resolution Doppler lidar (HRDL) was also operated during the experiment and provided continuous low-level wind profiles. Rawinsondes were launched 4–6 times daily and provided a detailed profile of winds. Initial results show that the RWP, HRDL, and rawinsonde data compare very well. The ability of HRDL to monitor low-level winds below the minimum range gate of the RWP, while the RWP wind data extend to a much greater height than can be reached by HRDL, make the two systems complementary. Single merged profiles were generated using the RWP and HRDL data, which in turn were used to calculate trajectories to help better understand the transport of pollutants within the Gulf of Maine.