ESA’s Lidar Missions Aeolus and EarthCARE

Kanitz, Thomas; Ciapponi, Alessandra; Mondello, Alessia; D’Ottavi, A.; Mateo, Ana Baselga; Straume, Anne-Grete; Voland, Christoph; Bon, Didier; Checa, Elena; Álvarez, E. González; Bellucci, Ida; Carmo, J. Pereira do; Brewster, John; Marshall, Jon; Schillinger, Marc; Hannington, Mark D.; Rennie, Michael; Reitebuch, Oliver; Lecrenier, Olivier; Bravetti, P.; Sacchieri, V.; Sanctis, V. De; Lefebvre, Alain; Parrinello, Tommaso; Wernham, Denny

doi:10.1051/epjconf/202023701006

Cited by 10 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…Absorbing aerosols originating from north China resulted in relatively large LRs at high altitude in Shanghai. Liu et al (2012) reported that vast majority of aerosol particles in the Yangtze Delta region (including Shanghai) were below 2 km. In order to precisely analyze the variation characteristics of the LR in Shanghai, Fig.…”

Section: Temporal Variations In Lrmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long-term variation in aerosol lidar ratio in Shanghai based on Raman lidar measurements

Liu

Chen

et al. 2021

Atmos. Chem. Phys.

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Abstract. Accurate lidar ratio (LR) and better understanding of its variation characteristics can not only improve the retrieval accuracy of parameters from elastic lidar, but also play an important role in assessing the impacts of aerosols on climate. Using the observational data of a Raman lidar in Shanghai from 2017 to 2019, LRs at 355 nm were retrieved and their variations and influence factors were analyzed. Within the height range of 0.5–5 km, about 90 % of the LRs were distributed in 10–80 sr with an average value of 41.0 ± 22.5 sr, and the LR decreased with the increase in height. The volume depolarization ratio (δ) was positively correlated with LR, and it also decreased with the increase in height, indicating that the vertical distribution of particle shape was one of the influence factors of the variations in LR with height. LR had a strong dependence on the original source of air masses. Affected by the aerosols transported from the northwest, the average LR was the largest, 44.2 ± 24.7 sr, accompanied by the most irregular particle shape. The vertical distribution of LR was affected by atmospheric turbidity, with the greater gradient of LR under clean conditions. The LR above 1 km could be more than 80 sr, when Shanghai was affected by biomass burning aerosols.

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Section: Temporal Variations In Lrmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long-term variation in aerosol lidar ratio in Shanghai based on Raman lidar measurements

Liu

Chen

et al. 2021

Atmos. Chem. Phys.

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“…First results of the Aeolus instrument characterization and calibration are presented in [1] and [2]. This paper shows first results of the Aeolus Level 2 product assessment.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 96%

ESA’s Space-Based Doppler Wind Lidar Mission Aeolus – First Wind and Aerosol Product Assessment Results

et al. 2020

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The European Space Agency (ESA) wind mission, Aeolus, hosts the first space-based Doppler Wind Lidar (DWL) world-wide. The primary mission objective is to demonstrate the DWL technique for measuring wind profiles from space, intended for assimilation in Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) models. The wind observations will also be used to advance atmospheric dynamics research and for evaluation of climate models. Mission spin-off products are profiles of cloud and aerosol optical properties. Aeolus was launched on 22 August 2018, and the Atmospheric LAser Doppler INstrument (Aladin) instrument switch-on was completed with first high energy output in wind mode on 4 September 2018 [1], [2]. The on-ground data processing facility worked excellent, allowing L2 product output in near-real-time from the start of the mission. First results from the wind profile product (L2B) assessment show that the winds are of very high quality, with random errors in the free Troposphere within (cloud/aerosol backscatter winds: 2.1 m/s) and larger (molecular backscatter winds: 4.3 m/s) than the requirements (2.5 m/s), but still allowing significant positive impact in first preliminary NWP impact experiments. The higher than expected random errors at the time of writing are amongst others due to a lower instrument out-and input photon budget than designed. The instrument calibration is working well, and some of the data processing steps are currently being refined to allow to fully correct instrument alignment related drifts and elevated detector dark currents causing biases in the first data product version. The optical properties spin-off product (L2A) is being compared e.g. to NWP model clouds, air quality model forecasts, and collocated ground-based observations. Features including optically thick and thin particle and hydrometeor layers are clearly identified and are being validated.

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“…Global measurements of tropospheric wind, water vapor, CO2, temperature, and surface vegetation from space lidars will be highly desired (Baker et al, 2014; National Academics of Sciences, 2018a; National Academics of Sciences, 2018b), but there are challenges to overcome. ESA's Aeolus wind satellite was launched on August 22, 2018 and demonstrated the feasibility to measure wind from the space (Kanitz et al, 2020). Its fixed-beam pointing cannot provide wind speed and direction, however.…”

Section: Space-based Lidar For Measurements Beyond Aerosol Clouds Amentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A variety of lidar technologies have been developed to provide atmospheric and surface properties during the last 60 years (Fiocco and Smullin, 1963;Weitkamp, 2005;Kashani et al, 2015) to support advancements in digital models of terrain, cryospheric discovery, terrestrial ecology, hydrology, atmospheric science, and oceanography. The successful lidar operations of NASA's Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO, Winker et al, 2010) and Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat, Markus et al, 2017) and ESA's Aeolus wind satellite (Kanitz et al, 2020) highlight a new era of lidar developments and applications. Measurement concepts and technology are evolving simultaneously in different directions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%