Researchers at the Ocean University of China have developed a mobile LIDAR device that can accurately measure wind speed and direction over large areas in real time. Ocean University is located in Qingdao, the site of the sailing competition for the XXIX Olympic Games. While the motivation to develop this technology is the sailing competition, this technology could also prove useful for weather forecasting, and aviation safety.
On cloudy, rainy days, the standard meteorological tool of Doppler radar provides accurate wind field information. Without clouds, Doppler radar is ineffective. Doppler LIDAR bounces laser beams off atmospheric aerosols, and when these aerosols are moving in the wind, the scattered laser light changes frequency. The advantage of this technology is that large areas can be scanned quickly, providing detailed wind maps.
The equipment has been loaded onto a bus for transport to the sailing site. A successful test of the technology took place at the 2007 Qingdao International Regatta, and a similar effort is planned for the Olympic games.
Doppler LIDAR for wind study isn’t a new technology, but it hasn’t been applied widely. The European Space Agency will launch the Atmospheric Dynamics Mission (ADM-Aeolous) in Fall 2009, with a Doppler wind LIDAR instrument on a polar orbiting satellite platform. This is a test mission aimed at filling in the deficiency of current meteorological observations, promising a three-dimensional global coverage of wind observations.
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Well, this is good news. If this proves to be effective then meteorologist will have more accurate data in predicting weather and other meteorological phenomenon. Although this technology is not yet widely used, I believe it will be successful since it uses LiDAR technology