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How do wind profilers measure winds in clear air?
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Weather forecasting
Doppler radars, such as this one operated by the U.S. National Weather Service at New Underwood, South Dakota, extract the Doppler frequency shift of the echo produced by a moving target by noting how much the frequency of the received signal differs from the frequency of the signal that was transmitted.
Wind profilers measure wind in clear air by utilizing upward-looking Doppler radar systems.1
While traditional weather radars often rely on reflections from precipitation to determine wind speed and direction, wind profilers are designed to detect the backscattering of electromagnetic microwave radiation caused by small-scale fluctuations in the atmosphere's refractive index. By measuring the Doppler frequency shift of these signals, the system can estimate wind velocity and direction throughout the lowest 10 km (6 miles) of the atmosphere.21
These remote-sensing instruments provide nearly continuous data, which complements the information gathered by radiosondes and other atmospheric monitoring platforms.1