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Vertical wind speed in winter clouds investigated with a triple frequency instrumental setup

R. PIRLOAGA1, G. CIOCAN1,2, M. ADAM1, A. NEMUC1,*

Affiliation

  1. National Institute of Research and Development for Optoelectronics INOE 2000, Magurele, 077125, Romania
  2. Faculty of Physics, University of Bucharest, Magurele, 077125, Romania

Abstract

The paper presents the first investigation of the clouds’ dynamics over the 2024-2025 winter season in Magurele, Romania. The vertical wind speed provided by a Doppler wind lidar (DWL) and two Doppler cloud radars (DCR) is analysed. Four case studies are shown which refer to two low- to mid-altitude clouds (both ice and mixed phase cloud), a high-altitude cloud (mostly ice cloud) and one extended towering cloud (mostly ice cloud). While the same analysis was performed on all cases, only the 11 December 2024 example is detailed in the main text whereas the remaining cases are provided in annexes. In the selected case studied, the vertical speed determined from DWL is slightly higher than the speed determined from the two DCR, especially in the mixed phase region (upper part of the cloud) which shows the DWL capability to better sense this type of cloud. The correlation coefficient between the wind speed determined by DWL and a DCR is 0.78 (RPG) and 0.75 (MIRA) for the low- to mid-altitude cloud on 11 December 2024. For the high-altitude cloud, the correlation between DWL speed and DCR speed is 0.54 (both radars) could be due to the fact that DWL is not capable of sensing the entire cloud. DWL can provide valuable information of finer structures in a mixed phase region of a low to mid-altitude cloud, the final vertical speed profile should be considered based on information received from both the DWL and a DCR. This study highlights the value of combining Doppler wind lidar and Doppler cloud radar measurements to improve the characterization of vertical cloud dynamics across various types of clouds and altitude ranges during winter conditions..

Keywords

Vertical wind speed, Winter clouds, Doppler wind lidar, Doppler cloud radar.

Submitted at: July 13, 2025
Accepted at: Feb. 4, 2026

Citation

R. PIRLOAGA, G. CIOCAN, M. ADAM, A. NEMUC, Vertical wind speed in winter clouds investigated with a triple frequency instrumental setup, Journal of Optoelectronics and Advanced Materials Vol. 28, Iss. 1-2, pp. 67-85 (2026)