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SOUSY
SOUnding SYstem for atmospheric structure and dymanics
Principle of measurement
VHF - Radars
Stationary SOUSY VHF Radar / Harz
Mobile SOUSY VHF Radar
Observational Results
A host of dynamical processes occur in the troposphere, stratosphere
and mesosphere particularly in the micro- and mesoscale ranges, which can be
investigated with high temporal and spatial resolution measurements using radar
and lidar methods. Microscale motions have characteristic sizes extending to
several hundred meters. Their horizontal and vertical velocity components are
typically of the same order of magnitude and they mainly comprise three kinds of
turbulence, which differ due to their generating processes: turbulence in the
planetary boundary layer, turbulence in clouds, and turbulence in the
'cloudless' region above the boundary layer. Mesoscale motions have horizontal
dimensions extending up to several hundred kilometers, and include such
phenomena as frontal disturbances, jet streams, atmospheric waves, and shear
instabilities. These processes are too small to be resolved using conventional
synoptic observational networks and yet too large to be effectively studied
using single observational sites.
Micro- and mesoscale processes are coupled together as well as with larger
scale processes such as synoptic disturbances, atmospheric tides, planetary
waves, and global circulation patterns. Examples of the coupling between
micro- and mesoscale processes that can be studied using VHF radar methods
include the productions of shear and convective instablities in the polar and
subtropical jet stream, as well as the generation of instabilities through
gravity waves and tides in the mesosphere.
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