Thermodynamic profiling through ASSIST observations and TROPoe retrievals

The U.S. Department of Energy, in particular, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have recently invested significant financial and human resources to improve measurement capabilities for wind energy applications. One of the newest additions to NREL’s feet of atmospheric instruments is the ground-based infrared spectrometer called the Atmospheric Sounder Spectrometer by Infrared Spectral Technology (ASSIST-II by LR Tech Inc., referred to in the remainder of the report simply as an ASSIST). The raw measurements from an ASSIST carry information about the temperature and moisture profiles in the atmosphere, which can be estimated through the Tropospheric Remotely Observed Profiling via Optimal Estimation (TROPoe) algorithm.