Preliminary results of atmospheric acoustic sounding at Calgary

Operation of a monostatic acoustic sounder on the campus of The University of Calgary for the period March to September, 1976, has provided data on the atmospheric boundary layer over Calgary. The formation and dissipation of the nocturnal temperature inversion layer leaves a clear signature in the sounder records. A trend is discerned in which the nocturnal layer tends to form at sunset, whereas convective instability is established some 2–3 hours after sunrise. Comparison of sounder records with an extensive set of radiosonde temperature profiles has shown that the height of the inversion layer can be determined reliably when a single, dark, ground-based return is visible on the sounder charts. On many occasions, however, the sounder detects multiple structures in the atmosphere. In these cases, it is difficult to establish a systematic correspondence of the turbulent structure as observed in the sounder records with the temperature profile as observed by the radiosonde.