A New Method for Deriving High-Vertical-Resolution Wind Vector Data from the L-Band Radar Sounding System in China

High-vertical-resolution radiosonde wind data are highly valuable for describing the dynamics of the meso-and microscale atmosphere. However, the current algorithm used in China's L-band radar sounding system for calculating highvertical-resolution wind vectors excessively smooths the data, resulting in significant underestimation of the calculated kinetic energy of gravity waves compared to similar products from other countries, which greatly limits the effective utilization of the data. To address this issue, this study proposes a novel method to calculate high-vertical-resolution wind vectors that utilizes the elevation angle, azimuth angle, and slant range from L-band radar. In order to obtain wind data with a stable quality, a two-step automatic quality control procedure, including the RMSE-F(root-mean-square error F) test and elemental consistency test are first applied to the slant range data, to eliminate continuous erroneous data caused by unstable signals or radar malfunctions. Then, a wind calculation scheme based on a sliding second-order polynomial fitting is utilized to derive the high-vertical-resolution radiosonde wind vectors. The evaluation results demonstrate that the wind data obtained through the proposed method show a high level of consistency with the high-resolution wind data observed using the Vaisala Global Positioning System and the data observed by the new Beidou Navigation Sounding System. The calculation of the kinetic energy of gravity waves in the recalculated wind data also reaches a level comparable to the Vaisala observations.

Application of 2-D and 3-D Geo-electrical Resistivity Tomography and Geotechnical Soil Evaluation for Engineering Site Investigation:A Case Study of Okerenkoko Primary School,Warri-Southwest,Delta State,Nigeria

In the design of building structures,joint efforts must be decided to resolve the depth of competent layers across the intended site to safeguard the durability of civil engineering structures and to avert the disastrous consequences of structural failure and collapse.In this study,an integrated methodology that employed DC resistivity tomography involving 2-D and 3-D techniques and geotechnical-soil analysis was used to evaluate subsoil conditions for engineering site investigation at Okerenkoko primary school,in the Warri-southwest area of Delta State,to adduce the phenomena responsible for the visible cracks/structural failure observed in the buildings.The results obtained brought to light the geological structure beneath the subsurface,which consists of four geoelectric layers identified as topsoil,dry/lithified upper sandy layer,wet sand(water-saturated)and peat/clay/sandy clayey soil(highly water-saturated).The deeply-seated peat/clay materials(ρ≤20Ωm)were delineated in the study area to the depths of 17.1 m and 19.8 m from 2-D and 3-D tomography respectively.3-D images presented as horizontal depth slices revealed the dominance of very low resistivity materials i.e.peat/clay/sandy clay within the fourth,fifth and sixth layers at depths ranging from 8.68-12.5 m,12.5-16.9 m and 16.9-21.9 m respectively.The dominance of mechanically unstable peat/clay/sandy clay layers beneath the subsurface,which are highly mobile in response to volumetric changes,is responsible for the noticeable cracks/failure detected on structures within the study site.These observations were validated by a geotechnical test of soil samples in the study area.Atterberg’s limits of the samples revealed plasticity indices of zero.Thus,the soil samples within the depth analyzed were representatives of sandy soil that does not possess any plasticity.The methods justifiably provided relevant information on the subsurface geology beneath the study site and should be appropriated as major tools for engineering site assessment/geotechnical projects.

Measuring boundary-layer height under clear and cloudy conditions using three instruments

Boundary-layer height （BLH） under clear, altostratus and low stratus cloud conditions were measured by GPS sounding, wind profiler radar, and micro-pulse lidar during the atmospheric radiation measurement experiment from Sep. to Dec. 2008 in Shouxian, Anhui, China. Results showed that during daytime or nighttime, regardless of cloud conditions, the GPS sounding was the most accurate method for measuring BLH. Unfortunately, because of the long time gap between launchings, sounding data did not capture the diurnal evolution of the BLH. Thus, wind profile radar emerged as a promising instrument for direct and continuous measurement of the mixing height during the daytime, accurately determining BLH using the structure parameter of the electromagnetic refractive index. However, during nighttime, radar was limited by weak signal extraction and did not work well for determining the BLH of the stable boundary layer, often recording the BLH of the residual layer. While micro-pulse lidar recorded the evolution of BLH, it overestimated the BLH of the stable boundary layer. This method also failed to work under cloudy conditions because of the influence of water vapor. Future work needs to develop a method to determine BLH that combines the complimentary features of all three algorithms.