본 연구에서는 3차원 바람장 생성을 위한 수치 모델의 상층기상 입력 자료로 윈드프로파일러 자료의 적용 가능성과 유용성을 조사했다. 10개 지점의 윈드프로파일러 자료와 기상 예측 모델 WRF의 결과를 기상진단 모델 CALMET에 입력하여 산출한 바람장을 8개 지역에서 관측된 라디오존데 자료와 통계적으로 비교 검증하였다. WRF 바람장 모의 결과를 CALMET에 적용하여 모의한 수평 풍속에 비해 1시간 간격의 윈드프로파일러 자료를 CALMET에 적용하여 모의한 수평 풍속이 평균 제곱근 오차 1.5 m/s 내에서 관측 결과와 일치하고 특히 연안 지역에서 해풍과 같은 국지적인 바람 변화를 잘 모의하였다. 풍향의 평균 제곱근 오차는 50° ~ 70°로써 지형의 영향으로 오염된 윈드프로파일러의 풍향 오차에 기인한다. 윈드프로파일러 자료를 CALMET에 적용하면 대부분의 고도에서 상대적으로 정확한 바람을 신속하고 정확하게 모의할 수 있기 때문에 본 연구에서 제시하는 방법은 연안 지역의 기상뿐만 아니라 안전 환경감시에 유용할 것으로 기대된다.

A minimum threshold for the signal to noise ratio (SNRmin) has to be set in the data processing system of wind profiler radar (WPR). The data collection rate and the accuracy of the WPR wind vector depend on the SNRmin. The WPR at Uljin is operated with an SNRmin of 1 dB which is a relatively large threshold. We found that the accuracy and the continuity of the WPR wind vector with height were directly related to the variability of the SNR and vertical gradient of the squared refractive index. We investigated a quantitative method for determining a new SNRmin for the WPR at Uljin and it was evaluated with radiosonde data. The accuracy and continuity of the wind vector from an SNR of less than 1 dB, began to decrease at an altitude of 3.5 km. Most of the SNR values were less than –3.5 dB in altitudes higher than 3.5 km. We retrieved high-accuracy wind vectors at altitudes over 3 km where measurements were deficient with an SNRmin of 1 dB.

Ground echo is radar return from stationary targets such as buildings and trees. Wind vectors from the wind profile radar in Gangneung are affected by ground echoes due to the complex mountainous terrain located to the west and the south. These ground echoes make a spurious peak close to the direct current (DC) line signal in Doppler spectra. Wind vectors polluted by ground clutters were determined from spectra of oblique beams. After eliminated the terrain echoes, the accuracy of wind vector compared with radiosonde was improved about 68.4% and its relative coefficient was increased from 0.58 to 0.97.

Wind profiler provides vertical profiles of three-dimensional wind vectors with high spatiotemporal resolution. The wind vectors is useful to analyze severe weather phenomena and to validate the various products from numerical weather prediction model. However, the wind measurements are not immune to ground clutter, bird, insect, and aircraft. Therefore, quality of wind vectors from wind profiler must be quantitatively evaluated prior to its application. In this study, wind vectors from UHF wind profiler at Ganwon Regional Meteorological Administration was quantitatively evaluated using 27 radiosonde measurements that were launched every two or three hours according to rainfall intensity during Intensive Observation Period (IOP) from June to July 2013. In comparison between two measurements, wind vectors from wind profiler was relatively underestimated. In addition, the accuracy and quality of wind vectors from wind profiler decrease with increasing beam height. The accuracy and quality of the wind vectors for rainy periods during IOP were higher than for the clear-air measurements. The moderate rainfall intensity lead to multi-peaks in Doppler spectrum. It results in overestimation of vertical air motion, whereas wind vectors from wind profilers shows good agreement with those from radiosonde measurements for light rainfall intensity.

The effects of high-resolution wind profiler (HWP) data on the wind distributions were evaluated in two different coastal areas during the study period (23-26 August, 2007), indicating weak-gradient flows. The analysis was performed using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model coupled with a three-dimensional variational (3DVAR) data assimilation system. For the comparison purpose, two coastal regions were selected as: a southwestern coastal (SWC) region characterized by a complex shoreline and a eastern coastal (EC) region surrounding a simple coastline and high mountains. The influence of data assimilation using the HWP data on the wind distributions in the SWC region was moderately higher than that of the EC region. In comparison between the wind speed and direction in the two coastal areas, the application of the HWP data contributed to improvement of the wind direction distribution in the SWC region and the wind strength in the EC region, respectively. This study suggests that the application of the HWP data exerts a large impact on the change in wind distributions over the sea and thus can contribute to the solution to lack of satellite and buoy data with their observational uncertainty.