Operational validation of the Meteo France wind profiler in La Ferte-Vidame

The wind profiler radar belongs to a new generation of meteorological equip ment implemented in the Meteo-France operational measurement network. It ha s been designed to provide continuous observation of the atmosphere from 1. 5 to 18 km height. The first instrument of this network was installed in 19 95 at La Ferte-Vidame, 100 km west of Paris. The results obtained after two years of systematic comparisons with the outputs of the operational foreca sting models have shown both the encouraging capabilities of the profiler a nd the efforts needed to obtain a fully reliable instrument. Presently in 9 9 % of cases, maximum standard deviation of the wind speed is about 3 m/s. In the remaining 1 % of cases, spurious echoes due to grating lobes result in a wrong selection of the peak on the spectrum leading to an important er ror reaching sometimes 40 m/s. This last point is expected to be solved dur ing the year 1998.