COST Action 76 : development of VHF/UHF wind profilers and vertical sounders for use in European observing systems : final report

COST Action 76 aimed at making all preparations necessary for the future deployment of an operational wind profiler network in Europe. Thirteen countries participated in this action, coordinating the activities of European meteorological offices, universities, research institutes and industry. The main objectives of the project were: - to complete actions on radio frequency allocation, technological development and operational deployment of wind profiler radars in Europe; - to evaluate the usefulness of upper-air measurements at high temporal resolution for meteorological operations and scientific research in Europe; - to investigate benefits from the use of vertical sounding systems for other meteorological variables in association with wind profiler radars. The action was organised in three working groups and was coordinated by a management committee. In general the objectives were met. An important result was the establishment of a semi-operational European wind profiler network. To disseminate results, workshops were organised at Engelberg in 1997 and, together with the MST9 workshop, in Toulouse in 2000. With the intention to give this final report the character of a handbook on wind profilers, chapters on the technique of wind profilers, on other ground-based remote-sensing techniques and on the role of wind profilers in observing systems were written.