Simulation of a Direct Detection Doppler Wind LIDAR for the ADM.

Abstract

The Atmospherics Dynamic Mission ADM by ESA (European Space Agency) is the first mission worldwide to provide global atmospheric wind profiles by applying a Doppler wind LIDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) at a wavelength of 355 nm. This unit will be evaluated as an airborne system by DLR and it is essential to validate the complete system beforehand by a simulator. The transmitter is a pulsed, tripled Nd:YAG laser with a pulse repetition rate of 100 Hz. The receiver unit includes a detector for the Mie aerosol backscatter with a multi channel Fizeau interferometer and one for the Rayleigh molecular backscatter with a double edge Fabry Perot interferometer. Simulations of Doppler wind LIDAR will address the assessment of different instrument parameters, the impact of wind and atmospheric structures, the improvement of the data processing algorithms, the correlations between aerosol respectively molecular backscatter and atmospheric dynamics, cloud properties and calibration and monitoring using natural targets. All of these factors must be taken into account when predicting the performance of Doppler wind LIDARs using a simulator and ultimately the impact of the measurements on climate studies and numerical weather prediction.