Abstract

Clear-air turbulence could be detected at long range using a UV lidar. Because the vertical speed cannot be retrieved from Doppler shift analysis at long range, the turbulence detection is based on the measurement of molecular density fluctuation associated with the turbulent wind. After an optimization of the characteristics of the candidate UV lidar, we present an evaluation of the detection range and of the false alarm rate and missed alarm rate depending on the altitude and vertical velocity root mean square. This study shows that 96% of turbulence with vertical velocity leading to dislodging of unsecured objects in the airplane can be detected at $15\mathrm{km}$ using a $2\mathrm{W}$ laser at $355\mathrm{nm}$ with a false alarm rate of 0.18 per flight hour.

© 2009 Optical Society of America

Airborne forward-pointing UV Rayleigh lidar for remote clear air turbulence detection: system design and performance

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Russell Targ, Bruce C. Steakley, James G. Hawley, Lawrence L. Ames, Paul Forney, David Swanson, Richard Stone, Robert G. Otto, Vassilis Zarifis, Philip Brockman, Raymond S. Calloway, Sarah Harrell Klein, and Paul A. Robinson
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