A
wind profiler is a type of weather observing equipment that uses
radar or sound waves (
SODAR) to detect the
wind speed and
direction at various elevations above the ground. Readings are made at each kilometer above sea level, up to the extent of the troposphere (i.e., between 8 and 17 km above mean sea level). Above this level there is inadequate water vapor present to produce a radar "bounce." The data synthesized from wind direction and speed is very useful to meteorological forecasting and timely reporting for flight planning. A twelve-hour history of data is available through
NOAA websites.