DLR’S AIRBORNE SUPPORT OF ESA’S AEOLUS MISSION FROM PRE-LAUNCH CAMPAIGNS TO MISSION PERFORMANCE VALIDATION

Abstract

In August 2018, the first-ever spaceborne wind lidar – Aeolus – was launched and has since then been providing global data of the horizontal wind field from the ground up to 30 km to improve numerical weather prediction. Aeolus is based on a single instrument called ALADIN (Atmospheric Laser Doppler Instrument), which comprises a single-frequency, ultraviolet solidstate laser in a master oscillator power amplifier configuration that emits nanosecond pulses into the atmosphere. High output energy and excellent frequency stability ensure a sufficient signal-tonoise ratio of the backscatter return needed for an accurate determination of the wind-induced Doppler frequency shift. To demonstrate the Aeolus measurement principle and to validate the corresponding wind data quality, the German Aerospace Center (DLR) started with airborne prelaunch validation activities already in 2007. After launch, these activities were extended by four campaigns over Europe, the North Atlantic region, and the tropics. In this talk, the challenges of the development and the operation of ALADIN are addressed and the successful accomplishment of the Aeolus mission is demonstrated using the results obtained from the post-launch validation campaigns