The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) Mobile LiDAR Station is a versatile atmospheric facility that enables high-resolution measurements of wind fields and atmospheric processes across diverse environments.
In this seminar, I will present how this experimental platform is being used to address fundamental and applied challenges in atmospheric science, spanning wind energy, boundary-layer turbulence, and air-sea interactions.
Giacomo Valerio Iungo,
University of Texas at Dallas
Mobile Doppler LiDAR measurements collected during major field campaigns are leveraged to characterize wind resources, atmospheric turbulence, wind turbine wakes, and wind-farm flow interactions. I will then discuss recent advances in understanding the organization of atmospheric turbulence in high-Reynolds-number boundary layers, where field experiments combining scanning Doppler LiDAR and large-scale atmospheric imaging have enabled the identification of energetic contributions associated with wall-attached eddies and very-large-scale motions (VLSMs). Finally, I will present recent research on the transport of sea-spray aerosols in the marine atmospheric boundary layer (MABL), showing that storm-generated sea spray can be transported hundreds of meters offshore and tens of meters above the wave boundary layer while strongly interacting with turbulent wind fluctuations, with important implications for air-sea interactions, aerosol transport, and offshore wind-energy applications. Together, these studies demonstrate how advanced mobile remote-sensing technologies can bridge fundamental turbulence physics and engineering applications, advancing our understanding of atmospheric flows across terrestrial, coastal, and marine environments.
Giacomo Valerio Iungo is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at The University of Texas at Dallas and the Director of the Wind Fluids and Experiments (WindFluX) Laboratory. His research focuses on atmospheric turbulence, wind energy, boundary- layer flows, and the development of physics-based and data-driven models for environmental fluid mechanics. By integrating full-scale field observations with advanced Doppler LiDAR remote sensing and controlled wind-tunnel experiments, his work seeks to improve the understanding and prediction of atmospheric flows relevant to renewable energy systems. Dr. Iungo received his Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Pisa, Italy, and previously conducted wind-energy research at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland. His research has been supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the U.S. Department of Energy, ARPA-E, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), and several industrial partners. Dr. Iungo is the recipient of the NSF CAREER Award, the NSF Mid-Career Advancement (MCA) Award, and the IAWE-ANIV Special Mention for outstanding contributions by a young researcher in wind engineering.