Optical Turbulence Profile Forecasting and Verification in the Offshore Atmospheric Boundary Layer

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

This is an interesting study; the authors have reported the detailed estimation approach for optical turbulence profiles in the offshore atmospheric boundary layer based on a backpropagation neural network (BPNN). Different techniques of optical turbulence profiles estimation have already been extensively investigated in the literature. This paper proposes a new method for the forecasting of optical turbulence profiles using the machine learning technique. It has been shown the estimated results obtained by the BPNN are in good agreement with the measured optical turbulence profiles.

I have the following comments:

1. I recommend writing the full name of the models and not only their abbreviation, in line59.
2. In line 375, the authors mentioned improving the accuracy of the approach. What is their plan for improving the accuracy?

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

The manuscript focuses on an interesting topic “Optical turbulence profile forecasting and verification in the offshore atmospheric boundary layer”

 

- line 28. «the free atmosphere layer» I suggest to delete the word “layer” or clarify elected layer in a free atmosphere. I may notice that if you say a layer, then it must be selected according to certain physical atmospheric characteristics.

 

-line 29. “The frequency of turbulence in the atmospheric boundary layer is very high...”. Please clarify the following question. Do you mean dynamic turbulence or optical turbulence here? In any case, you are talking about turbulence frequencies, which are determined by the mean wind speed. Wind speed increases with altitude in average. Maybe you mean that the strength of optical turbulence is high in the atmospheric boundary layer?

 

- line 34. «The fluctuations of the refractive index of the atmosphere (Cn 2 )» According to the theory of turbulence the fluctuations of the refractive index of the atmosphere are n` and Cn 2 is structural parameter (or yoy may use the word constatnt) of the refractive index.

 

-lines 41 — 42. «...Cn 2 can be derived by several techniques such as radiosonde, radar, and optical remote sensing and so on.» It is necessary to cite the corresponding papers here:

- Song, T., Cai, Z., Liu, Y., (...), Song, Q., Du, Z. Daytime optical turbulence profiling with a profiler of the differential solar limb / Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 2020,

499(2), pp. 1909-1917.

-Shen, H., Yu, L., Jing, X., Tan, F. Method for measuring the second-order moment of atmospheric turbulence Atmosphere ,2021. 12(5),564

-Chabé, J., Aristidi, E., Ziad, A., (...), Marjani, M., Renaud, C. PML: a generalized monitor of atmospheric turbulence profile with high vertical resolution / Applied Optics 59(25), pp. 7574-7584

-Shikhovtsev, A.Y. et al. Method for Estimating the Altitudes of Atmospheric Layers with Strong Turbulence. Atmos Ocean Opt 33, 295–301 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1024856020030100

 

 

- line 62. «through external scales» Do you mean the outer scale of turbulence? there is a wide used expression «outer scale» (not external?).

 

-In introduction you describe the approaches for evaluating Сn2. Also you may consider the method based on the baroclinic energy of the atmosphere and the calculations of Cn2 using the energy spectrum of the turbulence in the range from large-scale atmospheric fluctuations to small-scale turbulent fluctuations:

 

Kovadlo, P.G., Lukin, V.P. & Shikhovtsev, A.Y. Development of the Model of Turbulent Atmosphere at the Large Solar Vacuum Telescope Site as Applied to Image Adaptation. Atmos Ocean Opt 32, 202–206 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1024856019020076.

 

 

 

-Figure 3. You should add units for L0, S, dT/dh, M.

 

 

- You estimated the vertical profiles of CN2. Ussually, CN2(h) profiles are approximated by a power law (CN2(h)~CN2(0)h^-a). CN2(0) is surface value of CN2. Please indicate if it possible the value of a for your averaged profile.

 

-Please clarify the question regarding the averaging time of the input data of CN2 for each curve in figures 4 and 5.

 

 

I believe the manuscript is written by modern scientific language and is well structured. I recommend the manuscript  for publication after correction.

Author Response

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Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

The manuscript has an interesting topic, the results in the study correspond to the physical concepts of optical turbulence. The manuscript can be reviewed for publication.Text revision is required 

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf