SODAR applications for estimating boundary layer parameters

An application of Doppler SODAR technique has been made in order to evaluate the main atmospheric variables affecting the boundary layer structure in a plain terrain. Besides directly monitoring such meteorological variables as wind profiles, the application of a number of methods and algorithms enabled the estimation of features such as atmospheric turbulence, Monin-Obukhov length, friction velocity and PBL depth, which are all crucial for both straightforward meteorological applications and as an input to atmospheric pollutant dispersion models. Such a study has been developed within a SODAR measurement campaign carried out by the Laboratorio per la Meteorologia e la Modellistica Ambientale in cooperation with the research center of ENEL/CRAM during the 1997-98 wintertime in the industrial area of Campi Bisenzio (near Florence), Italy.