Doppler Effect for Detection Refresher
Many of us may be familiar with Doppler radar as it is such a common tool in meteorology! I’ll admit that sometimes I get so familiar with some things that I can become a little rusty on the most basic tasks. Ask me to do intense derivations, fine. Ask me to do basic arithmetic… not always fine!
Christian Doppler, an Austrian born physicist proposed the idea that the colors of two stars that orbit each other would appear to change slightly to an observer, since one star is moving away from the observer and the other is moving closer in “On the colored light of the double stars and certain other stars of the heavens” in 1842. In more general terms, Doppler’s proposal states that the apparent frequency of waves (light or sound) emanating from an object changes depending on the object’s motion toward or away from the observer. Doppler’s proposed work was not initially accepted fully, and he was plagued by poor health, passing away just a few years later before seeing the Doppler effect in application well beyond his initial proposed concepts.
As a review of the Doppler effect in practice for systems which we work with (e.g., radar, which is similar in this case to lidar and other such tools) I am sharing James May on Head Squeeze by the BBC as a fun review. This is an entertaining way to review the concept and history of radar in general and Doppler effect application.
Radar Wind Profilers
Radar wind profilers (and RASS) are covered by NOAA Physical Science Laboratory’s (NOAA PSL) Dr. Jim Wilczak. I collaborate with Jim on several projects and invited him to share his expertise on these platforms, and he graciously agreed! You can learn more about Jim on his bio page . You can check out some of the PSL wind profiler imagery here . Some of the PSL profilers deploy with CLAMPS on various missions!