SPACEBORNE COHERENT DIAL SYSTEM FOR WIND AND WATER VAPOR MEASUREMENT FEASIBILITY

THE CAPABILITY OF PERFORMING BOTH ATMOSPHERIC WIND VELOCITY AND WATER VAPOR CONCENTRATION MEASUREMENT WITH A PULSED COHERENT LASER RADAR IS IMPORTANT IN MANY METEOROLOGICAL, ENVIRONMENTAL AND WEATHER FORECASTING APPLICATIONS. COHERENT LIDAR SYSTEMS ARE PROVEN INSTRUMENTS FOR THE REMOTE MEASUREMENT AT ATMOSPHERIC WIND PROFILES. A RANGE RESOLVED COHERENT DIAL SYSTEM HAS NOT BEEN DEVELOPED AT THIS TIME. PULSED COHERENT DIAL SYSTEMS OFFER MUCH GREATER SENSITIVITY AND RANGE THAN INCOHERENT DIAL SYSTEMS ESPECIALLY IN THE INFRARED WAVELENGTH REGIONS. THE EVENTUAL GOAL IS TO DETERMINE THE FEASIBILITY OF COMBINED WIND AND WATER VAPOR PROFILES FROM A SPACE PLATFORM. THIS PROPOSAL ADDRESSES THE FEASIBILITY AND DESIGN PARAMETERS FOR A GROUNDAND A SATELLITE-BASED COHERENT DIAL AND WIND PROFILING SYSTEM. TO PREDICT THE PERFORMANCE OF A COHERENT DIAL SYSTEM, AN EXISTING COHERENT LIDAR COMPUTER SIMULATION FOR WIND MEASUREMENT WILL BE MODIFIED TO INCLUDE THE DIAL MEASUREMENT PROCESS. THIS COMPUTER SIMULATION WILL CONTAIN THE WIND MEASURING PROCESS, DIAL LIDAR CHARACTERISTICS, ATMOSPHERIC EFFECTS, SPECTROSCOPIC DATA, AND DATA PROCESSING TECHNIQUES, AND WILL BE EXERCISED EXTENSIVELY TO DETERMINE THE FEASIBILITY AND DESIGN PARAMETERS FOR A COHERENT COMBINED WIND AND DIAL SYSTEM FOR BOTH A GROUND-BASED AND OPERATIONAL SATELLITE PLATFORM.