sodar

From Glossary of Meteorology

(Coined word from sound detection and ranging.) Sound-wave transmitting and receiving equipment operated on principles analogous to those of radar.
Irregularities in atmospheric temperature and wind velocity constitute sources of scattering for acoustic waves. Sodars measure vertical profiles of the mean and turbulent properties of the sound to heights of several hundred meters by transmitting acoustic waves upward and measuring the Doppler shift in the backscattered acoustic signals. Sodar is sometimes inappropriately called acoustic radar.

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