ADM-AEOLUS VERTICAL SAMPLING

In 2012 the ESA Core Explorer Atmospheric Dynamics Mission, ADM-Aeolus, is due for launch. Scientific preparations are being made in the area of campaigns, Cal/Val, the development of an End-to-End simulator, E2S, and L1 and L2 wind profile processors. For ADM an advanced vertical sampling scenario needs to be elaborated due to the limited number of vertical range gates that are available in the Doppler Wind Lidar instrument. Issues of instrument wind calibration, wind variability climate, atmospheric optical and dynamical heterogeneity, expected beneficial impact, and data assimilation method are all at interplay in the optimisation of the vertical sampling. In this manuscript the focus will be on Aeolus performance in relation to atmospheric heterogeneities. Both in terms of processing and in terms of the distribution of vertical range gates (vertical processing levels) the characteristics of the atmosphere play an important role. High-resolution radiosondes, space lidar (CALIPSO), ECMWF model data and ground based measurement data sets are collocated to yield the combined optical and dynamical properties of the atmosphere that are relevant for Aeolus. Collocated CALIPSO and enhanced ECMWF data provide realistic test data to study Aeolus processing and sampling options. In a second step the sensitivity of data assimilation and NWP models to vertical sampling is investigated and some first results are shown in this paper. Tropospheric observations appear most relevant for defining both tropospheric and stratospheric flow.