Bias correction and overall performance of a VHF Spaced Antenna boundary layer profiler for operational weather forecasting

• First Spaced Antenna operational wind profiler.
• First boundary layer troposphere operational wind profiler operating in the lower VHF band.
• First bias correction of the Spaced Antenna full correlation analysis.

Wind profiling radars are now in general use by a number of weather agencies worldwide. These use the Doppler Beam Swinging approach exclusively. The Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology has adopted a Boundary Layer wind profiling radar using the Spaced Antenna technique. This paper describes the performance of these radars and discusses some of the issues that needed to be addressed for appropriate performance in an operational environment, namely the known wind magnitude underestimation. The underestimation was successfully addressed with an empirical correction. Quality control and hardware improvements to minimize internal clutter have been implemented, resulting in largely outlier free wind estimates on presentation to forecasters, and excellent height coverage.