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Updated: Jul 7, 2026

Measurements of Waves in a Wind-wave Tank Under Steady and Time-varying Wind Forcing
Published on: February 13, 2018
Theory of the double-edge molecular technique for Doppler lidar wind measurement
1Groupe de Physique Appliquée, Université de Genève, 20 rue de l'Ecole de Médecine, 1211 Genève 04, Switzerland. flesia@sc2a.unige.ch
Abstract:
The theory of the double-edge lidar technique for measuring the wind with molecular backscatter is described. Two high-spectral-resolution edge filters are located in the wings of the Rayleigh-Brillouin profile. This doubles the signal change per unit Doppler shift, the sensitivity, and improves measurement accuracy relative to the single-edge technique by nearly a factor of 2. The use of a crossover region where the sensitivity of a molecular- and an aerosol-based measurement is equal is described. Use of this region desensitizes the molecular measurement to the effects of aerosol scattering over a velocity range of +/-100 m/s. We give methods for correcting short-term, shot-to-shot, frequency jitter and drift with a laser reference frequency measurement and methods for long-term frequency correction with a servo control system. The effects of Rayleigh-Brillouin scattering on the measurement are shown to be significant and are included in the analysis. Simulations for a conical scanning satellite-based lidar at 355 nm show an accuracy of 2-3 m/s for altitudes of 2-15 km for a 1-km vertical resolution, a satellite altitude of 400 km, and a 200 km x 200 km spatial resolution.
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