Simulation of Wind Profiles from a Space-borne Doppler Wind Lidar

The importance of wind observations for meteorological analysis has been recognized for many years. The current global observing system lacks a uniform distribution of tropospheric wind measurements, especially in the tropics, southern hemisphere, and northern hemisphere oceans. A Doppler wind lidar (DWL), mounted on a spaceborne platform, has the potential to provide a global three-dimensional coverage of wind data. The European Space Agency (ESA) has decided to fly a DWL on a polar orbiting satellite platform in 2007 as part of the Atmospheric Dynamics Mission (ADM) called Aeolus. The proposed DWL is a non-scanning single perspective instrument, operating in the ultraviolet part of the electromagnetic spectrum, providing profiles of line-of-sight (LOS) wind components from detected light backscattered from the illuminated atmospheric volume. The concept has been simulated and was used in observation system simulation experiments (OSSE) to assess its potential impact on numerical weather prediction and climate processes. This paper describes the simulation of Aeolus LOS wind component profiles and its expected quality in cloud-free and cloudy conditions