What can be measured by the temperature profiler

Abstract

The ability of the ground-based microwave temperature profiler to retrieve the lapse rates in the lower part of the atmospheric boundary layer is verified by analyzing the long-term observation series. It is demonstrated that if the stratification of the whole boundary layer is either unstable or sufficiently homogeneous, measured and retrieved with a mast lapse rates are quite similar. If the stratification is stable, the retrieval algorithms require correction. Demonstrated is the potential for the more accurate retrieving of the temperature gradient over the surface layer by means of the angular scanning. This enables using the data of temperature profilers for estimating the boundary layer stability and the Monin-Obukhov scale.