Automatic detection of inversions using sodar

An automatic detection system for the conversion of digital sodar measurements into a coding for the type and the height of temperature inversions and of the presence of convection, is presented. The system contains a microprocessor that determines the echo intensity as a function of height and averages over fifty pulses, as well as pattern recognition software allowing the determination of the inversion heights from the intensity profiles. The results of the automatic detection were compared with a subjective manual coding of facsimile registrations. The agreement is very good in clear situations. In less clear situations the agreement is worse, and the automatic scheme has a tendency to code no detection. The advantage of automatic detection is that the coded information can be sent to and stored in a data base.