EGUsphere EGUsphere EGUsphere EGUsphere Copernicus Publications Göttingen, Germany 10.5194/egusphere-2026-6344 Estimating planetary boundary layer height using Doppler lidar Duff Petra https://orcid.org/0009-0004-9098-1961 1 Mariani Zen https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9368-5659 2 Galarneau Elisabeth 3 Leroyer Sylvie https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1468-0978 4 Lauer Audrey 4 Singh Samir 5 Gordon Mark https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4896-4661 5 Crawford Robert 2 Strong Kimberly https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9947-1053 1 Department of Physics, University of Toronto, 255 Huron St., Toronto, Ontario, M5S 1A7, Canada Earth Observation and Research Section, Environment and Climate Change Canada, 4905 Dufferin St., Toronto, Ontario, M3H 5T6, Canada Earth Science Research and Integration, Environment and Climate Change Canada, 4905 Dufferin St., Toronto, Ontario, M3H 5T4, Canada Terrestrial Environment Numerical Prediction Research Division, Environment and Climate Change Canada, 2121 Transcanada Hwy, Dorval, Quebec, H9P 1J3, Canada Department of Earth and Space Science and Engineering, York University, 4700 Keele St., Toronto, Ontario, M3J 1P3, Canada 09 11 2026 2026 1 36 Copyright: © 2026 Petra Duff et al. 2026 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This article is available from https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-6344/ The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-6344/egusphere-2026-6344.pdf

The planetary boundary layer height (PBLh) is a key parameter in atmospheric modeling and observational applications, but is inconsistently defined in the literature and lacks a large, global ensemble of observations. Doppler lidar observational datasets, with high temporal resolution and deployability, provide an opportunity for long-term, high vertical and temporal resolution PBLh estimates to improve our understanding of atmospheric mixing. Using data collected by the Southern Ontario LIDar (SOLID) Mesonet, a network of Doppler lidar sites spanning 500 km across Southern Ontario, Canada, we present three methods for estimating the PBLh from Doppler lidar vertical wind speed and aerosol backscatter observations. We perform comparisons with PBLh estimates from the Global Environment Multiscale (GEM) model, the ECMWF Reanalysis 5 (ERA5), and nearby radiosonde flights at the Buffalo International Airport, New York, USA. We identify the vertical wind variance threshold method to be the estimate with the highest consistency with expected PBLh values and variation, comparisons to numerical and radiosonde measurement-derived estimates, and least sensitivity to noise in observations. However, each of the methods presented here show a general consistency with theoretical expectations and comparisons in appropriate conditions, affirming the validity of Doppler lidar-derived PBLh estimates in Southern Ontario.