Why Scintillation is Superior

The measurement of atmospheric turbulence has traditionally been a difficult task. It has especially been realized that in-situ anemometers, thermometers and their mounting cause significant aerodynamic flow distortions which influence the measurements. It also turned out that the statistics of point measurements demand quite long averaging times - often longer than the process to be investigated or stationarity of the atmosphere is given.

Micrometeorological research has demonstrated the superior capabilities of scintillometers for turbulence measurements. Scintillometers remotely sense turbulence between an optical transmitter and a receiver, about 100 m to 10,000 m apart. In contrast to conventional devices, instrument and medium are distant and flow distortions are excluded. Moreover, the path averaging leads to representative and statistically stable data already after averaging times of seconds or minutes. This outstanding temporal resolution is accompanied by a high sensitivity and accuracy and by the reliability of an instrument without moving parts.

Scintec has become the world leader for meteorological scintillometers and offers two model lines today: The SLS Series (small aperture scintillometers) for short measurement paths and the BLS Series (large aperture scintillometers) for long measurement paths. Unique advantages define the state of the art in scintillation technology.