At a special measuring site for boundary-layer studies as well as land-surf
ace processes the Meteorological Observatory Lindenberg of the German Weath
er Service (DWD) has recently put into operation a newly-designed phased-ar
ray SODAR/RASS, which has been developed by METEK on behalf of the DWD. Thi
s system provides the vertical profiles of the three-dimensional wind vecto
r in the boundary layer on an operational basis and is furthermore suitable
for getting information on the profile of virtual temperature up to about
400 m in height based on the addition of RASS components. The following pap
er describes both the technique of this SODAR/RASS and the various modes of
operation as well as the different options in managing the system. First e
valuations on the data availability concerning the maximum height coverage
will give an impression on the system's capabilities. Finally, the accuracy
of the derived profiles of winds and temperature will be investigated by m
eans of comparisons of the SODAR/RASS data with measurements of a six-sonde
tethered-balloon system as well as meteorological data of a 99 m tower in
the vicinity of the system.