The development of a diode laser Doppler velocimeter for boundary layer measurements under ice: A feasibility investigation

Measurements of the turbulent fluxes of momentum, heat, and salinity in the oceanic boundary layer are difficult to obtain, as both a stable platform and high-resolution instrumentation are required. The overall objective of the present investigation was to develop a boundary layer instrumentation system capable of measuring turbulent fluxes in the marginal ice zone environment. This investigation focuses on a feasibility study toward development of a diode laser Doppler velocimeter (DLDV) to be used as the velocity sensor for a high-resolution velocity/temperature/conductivity cluster, with a spatial resolution of 1 to 2 cm. Phase 1 findings show very promising results for the DLDV in laboratory environments. Measurements in a pipe flow facility demonstrated very distinctive Doppler burst signals, with more than adequate signal-to-noise ratio, even in clean tap water passed through a 10 micrometer filter. Excellent burst density was observed when a small quantity of Puget Sound water was added to the tap water. For all practical purposes, the performance of the DLDV is at least as good as that of a well-established LDV system using a helium-neon laser as the light source.