Smoke-Column Observations from Two Forest Fires Using Doppler Lidar and Doppler Radar
Open Access
- 1 November 1992
- journal article
- Published by American Meteorological Society in Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology
- Vol. 31 (11) , 1328-1349
- https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0450(1992)031<1328:scoftf>2.0.co;2
Abstract
To demonstrate the usefulness of active remote-sensing systems in observing forest fire plume behavior, we studied two fires, one using a 3.2-cm-wavelength Doppler radar, and one more extensively, using Doppler lidar. Both instruments observed the kinematics of the convection column, including the presence of two different types of rotation in the columns, and monitored the behavior of the smoke plume. The first fire, a forest fire that burned out of control, was observed by the Doppler radar during late-morning and afternoon hours. Strong horizontal ambient winds produced a bent-over convection column, which the radar observed to have strong horizontal flow at its edges and weaker flow along the centerline of the plume. This velocity pattern implies that the column consisted of a pair of counterrotating horizontal vortices (rolls), with rising motion along the centerline and sinking along the edges. The radar tracked the smoke plume for over 30 km. It also provided circular depolarization ratio ... Abstract To demonstrate the usefulness of active remote-sensing systems in observing forest fire plume behavior, we studied two fires, one using a 3.2-cm-wavelength Doppler radar, and one more extensively, using Doppler lidar. Both instruments observed the kinematics of the convection column, including the presence of two different types of rotation in the columns, and monitored the behavior of the smoke plume. The first fire, a forest fire that burned out of control, was observed by the Doppler radar during late-morning and afternoon hours. Strong horizontal ambient winds produced a bent-over convection column, which the radar observed to have strong horizontal flow at its edges and weaker flow along the centerline of the plume. This velocity pattern implies that the column consisted of a pair of counterrotating horizontal vortices (rolls), with rising motion along the centerline and sinking along the edges. The radar tracked the smoke plume for over 30 km. It also provided circular depolarization ratio ...Keywords
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