Estimation of the integral wind velocity and turbulence in the atmosphere from distortions of optical images of naturally illuminated objects

Abstract

The average crosswind and intensity of atmospheric turbulence are simultaneously estimated by the classical laser scintillation method and by the passive optical method from the analysis of the light scattered by natural or man-made topographic objects in the natural daylight illumination conditions. The passive sensing method does not require artificial light sources, and consists in the formation of incoherent images of sunlit topographic objects and in the analysis of images’ distortions induced by the turbulence between the object and the image plane. Estimates of the integral average crosswind and the structural constant of the air refractive index are compared in atmospheric experiments on the same optical measurement path by both methods. Comparison with lidar data is made. The optical measurements of integral characteristics were accompanied by independent local acoustic measurements using an ultrasonic anemometer.