Summary of the Mid-Term Results from the Dragon 4 Project: Lidar Observations from ADM-Aeolus and EarthCARE-Validation, Study of Long-range Transport of Aerosol and Preparation of a Future Chinese CO2 Lidar Mission

Abstract

The main objective of the Dragon 4 programme is the establishment of joint Sino-European teams to investigate the use of optical, thermal, active and passive microwave instrument data for science and applications development in P.R. China. In this context, the project aims at the validation of the wind, cloud and aerosol data products obtained from the upcoming Aeolus mission. For this purpose, ground-based and airborne measurements carried out with the ALADIN Airborne Demonstrator (A2D) will be analysed, where particular attention will be devoted to zero-wind calibrations and the retrieval of surface albedo using ground returns. Furthermore, the project aims at the preparation of the spaceborne Aerosol and Carbon dioxide Detection Lidar (ACDL) by means ground-based and airborne sounding instruments observations.