A wind profiler is a type of weather observing equipment that uses radar or sound waves (SODAR) to detect the wind speed and direction at various elevations above the ground. Readings are made at each kilometer above sea level, up to the extent of the troposphere (i.e., between 8 and 17 km above mean sea level).

Wind profilers are Doppler radars that most often operate in the VHF (30-300 MHz) or UHF (300-1000 MHz) frequency bands. There are three primary types of radar wind profilers in operation in the U.S. today.

Wind profilers are Doppler radars that transmit vertical electromagnetic pulses, which bounce off atmospheric conditions, such as clouds, precipitation, and turbulence to provide information about wind speed and direction at various heights in the atmosphere.

NOTICE: The scheduled power maintenance on PSL and NOAA Boulder systems is complete. Data services are back online.

The RAPTOR line of Radar Wind Profilers provides unattended, real-time operational support for weather forecasting and aviation, aerospace, military, research, and other applications demanding high-quality meteorological data products.

Scintec is a manufacturer of advanced instruments for remote sensing of atmospheric wind, temperature and turbulence. Products include radar wind profilers (LAP Series), sodars (SFAS, MFAS, XFAS), radio-acoustic sounding systems (RASS and windRASS) and scintillometers (BLS and SLS Series).

We have three 915 MHz profilers and one 1290 MHz profiler. These are standard LAP3000 boundary layer wind profilers commonly used for lower atmospheric research and monitoring, and have been deployed at over 50 field projects since 1992.

Sodar, an acronym of sonic detection and ranging, is a meteorological instrument used as a wind profiler based on the scattering of sound waves by atmospheric turbulence. Sodar equipment is used to measure wind speed at various heights above the ground, and the thermodynamic structure of the lower layer of the atmosphere .

A wind profiler is a piece of equipment that is used to monitor wind speed, direction and conditions. Wind profilers use sound waves (SODAR) or radar waves (RADAR) to detect these conditions at various levels above the ground – from sea level right up to the troposphere (zero to 17 kilometers above sea level).

This model of the LAP ® Series Radar Wind Profilers operates on a lower radio frequency in the 400 to 500 MHz range and achieves the highest measurement range. With its large antenna area of 28 m² and with a transmit power of 2000 W it provides wind measurements up to a height of 8 km above the ground.