Scanning Doppler lidar measurements made from the NOAA Met Twin Otter during FIREX-AQ

Abstract:

During the FIREX_AQ campaign, the NOAA Met Twin Otter operated out of Boise, ID from July22^nd – Aug12^th 2019. The aircraft flew 11 science flights that sampled 12 fires. Several fires were sampled multiple times over the campaign - giving a total of 22 independent fire visits. The airborne scanning Doppler lidar measurements were used to characterize horizontal and vertical wind fields and turbulence intensity of wildfires. The relatively slow airspeed of the Twin Otter coupled with the fast sampling rate of the lidar allowed the spatial variability of the plume morphology and vertical dynamics to be measured with resolutions of at least 30m. Scanning the lidar beam in a 15 degree off-nadir cone allowed the horizontal wind field to be measured with 800m-1.5km horizontal resolution. Fire radiative power and thermal imaging measurements were also made from the platform. This allowed the strength and spatial extent of the fire to be monitored during the flights. An overview of the flights, discussion of the sampling strategy, and example results from several fires will be presented.