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Abstract
The Physical Systems Division of NOAA is developing a small mobile wind profiler capable of measuring high resolution boundary layer winds in extreme clutter environments. This profiler will use spaced antenna technology coupled with NOAA’s low sidelobe antenna design to produce high time resolution wind profiles in locations where there is too much ground clutter interference for traditional wind profilers. In addition, the profiler will be designed as a Frequency Modulated-Continuous Wave (FM-CW) radar. FM-CW radars allow for wind measurements at lower altitudes and with higher range resolution than traditional profilers. FM-CW radars are also capable of better sensitivity than pulse modulated radars; therefore, the mobile profiler can be designed with a lower transmit power than other spaced antenna radars. Planned uses for the new profiler are fire weather forecasts and dispersion model initialization. This paper will describe the design and current development status of the new wind profiler.