If lidar is light radar, then you can probably guess that sodar is sound radar. Sodar stands for Sound Detection and Ranging. It is different from sonar in that sonar uses sound waves traveling through water, whereas sodar is detecting the reflection of sound waves through the air. By calculating the Doppler shift of sound waves, sodar can be used for evaluating wind speeds and direction, as well as temperature inversions and other types of turbulence.