Atmospheric Duct Detection Using Wind Profiler Radar and RASS

A method of detecting atmospheric ducts using a wind profiler radar (WPR) and a radio acoustic sounding system (RASS) is proposed. The method uses the RASS to measure the virtual temperature profile and calculate the Brunt-Vaisala frequency; it also uses the WPR to measure the spectral width of the atmosphere and the atmospheric refractive index structure constant. Then the profile of the atmospheric refractive index gradient and modified refractivity are calculated using virtual temperature, spectral width, and the atmospheric refractive index structure constant. Finally, the height and intensity of the atmospheric duct are calculated to achieve continuous monitoring of the atmospheric duct. To verify the height and intensity of the atmospheric duct, comparison experiments between WPR-RASS and radiosondes were carried out from June 2014 to June 2015 in Dalian, Liaoning Province, China. The results show that the profile of modified refractivity by WPR-RASS has exactly the same trend as the radiosondes, the two methods have a good consistency, and the atmospheric duct value from WPR-RASS is in good agreement with that from radiosondes.