Large Aperture Scintillometers

The Scintec BLS Neo Series Scintillometers measure atmospheric turbulence, heat flux and crosswind over large spatial scales. Various versions are available for path lengths between 100 m and 12 km. With complementing meteorological sensors, the BLS Neo Series Scintillometers can also be used to determine the evaporation or evapotranspiration over extended areas.

The models of the Scintec BLS Neo Series are so-called large aperture scintillometers. Large transmission and reception areas allow for measurement ranges of several kilometers without saturation of scintillation. This compares to laser scintillometers where the transmitter-to-receiver distance is limited to a few hundred meters due to saturation.

Note that generally, large aperture scintillometers cannot measure the so-called inner scale of turbulence. For the measurement of the turbulent fluxes, separate wind measurements are required therefore. See the Scintec SLS Series for purely optical measurements of the turbulent fluxes.

All BLS Neo Series Scintillometers use LED arrays as transmitters. Wide emission angles virtually eliminate the need for transmitter alignment and maintain high data accuracy even on drifting mounts or on towers which are prone to vibration.

The Neo Version (New Emission Option) operates at a wavelength of 850 nm and features a significantly reduced power consumption and increased LED lifetime.

Applications

Air Quality

Climate Research

Meteorological Research

Turbulence and Seeing

Water and Agriculture

Models

Large Aperture Scintillometer BLS450 Neo

The BLS450 Neo uses one radiating disk, which makes it the most economical and lightest of the BLS Neo series.

measures turbulence over large spatial scales

maximum path length 6000 m

LED array eases transmitter alignment

built-in Receiver Alignment Monitor

LED array allows transmitter to be mounted on vibrating towers

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Large Aperture Scintillometer BLS900 Neo
Dual-Disk Design

The Dual-Disk Design of the BLS900 Neo provides for instantaneous corrections of absorption fluctuations, saturation of scintillation and outer scale effects.

measures turbulence over large spatial scales

maximum path length 6000 m

Dual-Disk Design for unrivalled accuracy

crosswind measurement capability

built-in Receiver Alignment Monitor

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Large Aperture Scintillometer BLS2000 Neo
Dual-Disk Design

The BLS2000 Neo is a Large Aperture Scintillometer with Dual-Disk Design for very long paths

measures turbulence over large spatial scales

maximum path length 12 km

Dual-Disk Design for unrivalled accuracy

crosswind measurement capability

built-in Receiver Alignment Monitor

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Competitive Advantages

Spatially Representative Data

Scintillometers measure a path average between a transmitter and a receiver. This leads to representative data even in inhomogeneous terrain. The large footprint of a scintillometer contrasts with the small footprint of a conventional point sensor, which is solely determined by the fetch and largely dependent on wind direction and atmospheric stability.

High Temporal Resolution

The path averaging of a scintillometer reduces the need for temporal averaging when comparing to a conventional point sensor. This means that a scintillometer can produce statistically stable averages in much shorter times. As an estimate, one scintillometer can replace about 100 conventional point sensors for a similar statistical significance with identical averaging times.

Double-Ended Remote Sensing

Scintillometers can easily measure over water, across a valley or over urban areas, for example, where the deployment of in-situ sensors would be troublesome.

No Flow Distortion

The path weighting functions of a scintillometer reaches zero at the transmitter and receiver positions. So there is virtually no distortion of the turbulent flow caused by the instruments themselves. This compares to point sensors, where a flow distortion correction is needed and often essential.

Wide Emission-Angle

All BLS Neo Series transmitters use multiple LEDs with wide emission angles. This drastically simplifies the alignment compared to telescope-based transmitters. It also allows operation of the transmitter from vibrating platforms such as towers or tripods in strong wind. Power consumption is still low with the optional pulsed modes.

Dual-Disk Design

The BLS900 Neo and BLS2000 Neo use dual transmitting disks. In this way, they can eliminate intensity fluctuations caused by absorption changes instead of temperature fluctuations. This is especially important in conditions of weak thermal turbulence. In strong thermal turbulence, the dual-disk design allows the instrument to operate deeper into saturation since a saturation correction is applied. Altogether, the dual-disk design gives accuracy advantages in both, weak and strong turbulence conditions.

Crosswind Measurement Capacity

The Scintec BLS900 Neo, BLS2000 Neo and all SLS ES Series Scintillometers can measure crosswind. This includes the sign (direction) of the crosswind. These instruments can also reliably measure crosswind if the wind direction is near the direction of the optical propagation paths.

Position-Sensitive Detector for Receiver Alignment

All receivers of the Scintec BLS Neo Series contain a position-sensitive detector indicating incorrect receiver alignment and hence avoiding that measurement errors occur.

Separate Storage Unit for Easy Data Access

All Scintec BLS Neo and SLS ES Scintillometers store their measurement data in a designated Signal Processing Unit (SPU). The SPU is separate from the receiver and can be mounted in a location convenient for access to the data. Since the receiver must be mounted pointing to the transmitter, usually on a tripod or another elevated platform, it may not be in easy reach.

Large Data Storage Capacity

All Scintec BLS Neo and SLS ES Series Scintillometers have a data storage capacity of 6 GB which can hold large amounts of measurement and raw data. The measurement data storage period depends on the individual setting and can range from months to years.

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