Kevin Repasky
Montana State University, MT·Earth & Environmental Science
Short-term weather forecasts depend on knowing the starting state of the atmosphere, especially in the layer closest to the ground. Frequent, closely spaced observations of that layer matter a great deal for accurate forecasts.
- Fields
Earth & Environmental Science
Physics
Engineering
- Topics
lidar
vertical wind profiling
diode laser
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Dec 2026
What they work on
- Model the performance trade-offs of using etalons versus interferometers as optical filters in the receiver of a diode-laser-based Doppler lidar.
- Build a prototype dual-edge direct detection Doppler lidar, including laser stabilization, the laser transmitter, temperature-stabilized mounts and the receiver.
- Develop data acquisition software and an algorithm that calculates vertical wind speed in the lower troposphere, then test the results against other vertical wind measurements.
More about the research
One gap is the vertical wind, the up-and-down air motion in the lower troposphere (the lowest layer of the atmosphere), which is not currently measured continuously without people tending the instrument. This project aims to fill that gap.
Why it matters
Continuous, unattended measurements of vertical wind near the ground could improve the starting data that weather forecasting models rely on. Better data could in turn improve short-term forecasts that communities and forecasters depend on. A low-cost diode-laser design could also add wind measurements to the existing MPD lidar network.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Haiyan Jiang
Florida International University, FL·Earth & Environmental Science
Characterize how tropical cyclone rainfall distribution and asymmetry change before, during and after landfall, using statistical analysis of long-term satellite observations.
Terry Deshler
University of Colorado Boulder, CO·Earth & Environmental Science
Test how important supersaturation is in setting stratospheric humidity, using balloon-borne Vaisala RS41 and tunable diode laser moisture sensors that previously recorded relative humidities above 150% in the tropical tropopause layer.
Patricia Cleary
University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, WI·Earth & Environmental Science
Develop and integrate an uncrewed aerial systems (UAS) vertical profiler, including a nitrogen dioxide (NO2) instrument built with NOAA, to measure ozone and NO2 above the Lake Michigan shoreline.
The school
Montana State University: 15 labs on PI Pages, $258M a year on research, 85 research doctorates a year.
Reach out
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