An improved method for automatic determination of the planetary boundary layer height based on lidar data

• Published in: Journal of quantitative spectroscopy & radiative transfer Vol. 257; p. 107382
• Main Authors: Li, Hongxu, Chang, Jianhua, Liu, Zhenxing, Zhang, Luyao, Dai, Tengfei, Chen, Sicheng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.12.2020
• Subjects: Lidar; Planetary boundary layer height; Wavelet covariance transform; Lidar; Wavelet covariance transform; Planetary boundary layer height
• ISSN: 0022-4073; 1879-1352
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jqsrt.2020.107382

•A novel method of dilation determination is proposed, which is more accurate, to several decimal places, compared to the frequently-used empirical integers.•Top limit is verified to be effective in reducing the interference of the cloud layer, residual layer, etc.•The improved method is accurate, effective and stable for automatic retrieval of PBLH based only on simple micropulse lidar (MPL), without the aid of other measurements.•This work overcomes the main problems of wavelet covariance transform (WCT) method and is beneficial to the popularization and application of the WCT method. The planetary boundary layer height (PBLH) is a primary parameter characterizing the boundary layer and its accurate estimation is critical. The wavelet covariance transform method is a common inversion algorithm of the PBLH estimation, but is subject to the problems of dilation selection and interference from clouds, aerosols, etc. An improved method combining the whale optimization algorithm (WOA) and the top limit (TL) is proposed to overcome these difficulties and realize the automatic determination of PBLH. In particular, the dilation obtained by WOA can be more accurate, to several decimal places, compared to the frequently-used empirical integers. The proposed method is tested on different simulation and real cases, and compared with radiosonde measurements. The results show that the improved method is accurate, effective and stable for automatic retrieval of PBLH based only on simple micropulse lidar (MPL), without the aid of other measurements. [Display omitted]