Investigation of Radar Interferometric Techniques With Application to the Atmosphere

In this thesis various radar interferometric techniques for studying the atmosphere are investigated. The Radar interferometric imaging (RII) technique is a powerful remote sensing technique for the visualization and investigation of the cross-field dynamics of ionospheric plasma irregularity processes. The inherent Doppler sorting capability of the technique helps in resolving between closely spaced irregularity patches with distinct line-of-sight motions. An example of this is demonstrated with the spread-F data collected at Jicamarca Radio Observatory, located near Lima, Peru. The zonal and vertical components of the drift velocity of distinct irregularity patches within the radar field of view are estimated using a combination of Doppler and image evolution information RII technique provides with temporal and spatial resolutions of a few seconds and kilometers, respectively. Other interferometric radar data collected at Jicamarca are studied to model the spectral and cross-spectral signatures of lower mesospheric returns. The aspect sensitivity of radar echoes and the horizontal, vertical, and random components of atmospheric fluid velocity are estimated using the spectral model developed and the poststatistics steering (PSS) technique. Simple interferometric methods are suggested to cope with the extreme conditions which can introduce systematic errors in wind and turbulence studies. Next, the viability of wind velocity estimation with the PSS technique is demonstrated by using the multiple-receiver MF radar data acquired near Islote, Puerto Rico. The PSS wind estimates compare favorably with spaced antenna (true) and interferometric wind estimates. However, spaced antenna (SA), imaging Doppler interferometry (IDI), and Doppler beam swinging (DBS) horizontal wind velocity estimators share common biases proportional to horizontal gradients in the vertical wind component w. In addition, SA wind estimators suffer some contamination coming from horizontal gradients of horizontal wind velocities. The response of SA "apparent" and "true" wind estimators to horizontal gradients in horizontal wind components within the scope of a linear wind model is studied numerically. Apparent velocity estimates are particularly sensitive to the presence of horizontal wind gradients. True velocity errors, on the other hand, are bounded by $\sim$4 m/s or less at mesospheric altitudes for realistic values of horizontal wind gradients.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Electrical Engineering

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2014

Author dc:creator

• Surucu, Fahri

Contributors dc:contributor

• Kudeki, Erhan

• Engineering, Electronics and Electrical
• Physics, Atmospheric Science
• Remote Sensing

Identifier

(UMI)AAI9314947

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/71994