First measurements of 3-Dimensional winds up to 25 km based on Aerosol backscatter using a compact Doppler lidar with multiple fields of view

Abstract. We present the first measurements of simultaneous horizontal and vertical winds using a new VAHCOLI lidar system developed at the Leibniz Institute for Atmospheric Physics in Kühlungsborn, Germany (54.12° N, 11.77° E). We describe the technical details of a multi-field-of-view (MFOV) upgrade, which allows to measure wind dynamics in the transition region from microscale to mesoscale (10³−10⁴ m). The method was applied at the edge of a developing high-pressure region. Comparisons between the lidar measurements and data from ECMWF show excellent agreement for the horizontal wind components, better than 0.30 ± 0.36 m s⁻¹ along the north beam of the lidar and −0.93 ± 0.73 m s⁻¹ along the south beam. Measurements of vertical wind show significant underestimation of this component by ECMWF. Comparison to ADM-Aeolus shows good agreement, better than −0.12 ± 3.31 m s⁻¹. The capability of the MFOV lidar to explore small-scale asymmetries in the wind field is shown by comparison of the north and south field of view, where we observe a wind asymmetry in the meridional winds, which is also present in ECMWF but underestimated by a factor of approximately four.