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The researchers at the Ocean University of China say their mobile lidar station can measure wind fields more accurately, which could help world-class athletes compete in international competitions such as the Olympics

"Wind is non-uniform even in a small sailing field", said Professor Zhi-Shen Liu who led the research. "Athletes could maximize their performances if they have the most accurate information to help them capture the wind."

Liu and his lidar group have developed what they call Doppler lidar, which works by scattering laser beams off atmospheric aerosols or molecules. Doppler lidar takes advantage of the fact that when such aerosols or molecules are moving in the wind, the scattered laser light changes frequency.

The research -- funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Key Laboratory of Ocean Remote Sensing, the Ministry of Education of China and the China Meteorological Administration -- appears in the journal Optics Letters.

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