Validation campaigns for Aeolus with the ALADIN Airborne Demonstrator and 2-µm Doppler wind lidar team

Abstract

The German Aerospace Center (DLR) has conducted four airborne campaigns with a focus on validating the Aeolus wind products during different states of the ESA mission since launch in 2018. During these campaigns, the DLR Falcon aircraft was equipped with two Doppler wind lidar instruments (DWLs): the ALADIN Airborne Demonstrator (A2D), being the prototype of the direct detection wind lidar instrument on-board Aeolus, and a high-accuracy scanning coherent detection 2-µm DWL, used as a reference. The two instruments were operated in parallel in a downward looking configuration for coordinated flights along a total distance of 26,000 km under the Aeolus measurement track. Complementary and synergistic results from both DWLs allow us to characterize the Aeolus wind errors and to provide recommendations for the optimization of the Aeolus wind retrieval. This contribution gives an overview of the Aeolus wind measurement performance evolution and related results from the four airborne validation campaigns.