ADM-Aeolus vertical sampling scenarios

The Atmospheric Dynamics Mission ADM-Aeolus is
scheduled for launch in April 2011. ADM-Aeolus is a
polar orbiting satellite at 400 km altitude carrying a
Doppler wind lidar (DWL) to measure wind profiles
from the surface up to 30 kilometres altitude. It is the
first observing system to provide a global 3D coverage
of atmospheric winds and as such fills in the major
deficiency of the current global observing system as
recognized by the WMO.
In preparation for launch we aim to optimize the vertical
sampling of ADM by defining strategies for the
distribution of the 24 vertical bins. The flexibility to
change the vertical sampling scenario with a maximum
of 8 times per orbit opens the possibility of targeted
strategies for the various geographic regions.
The definition of a high-resolution database of atmospheric
dynamics and optical properties based on
ECMWF model parameters and CALIPSO satellite
data is discussed. The database serves as input to
select vertical sampling scenarios that maximize the
information content of retrieved winds taking into account
the atmosphere heterogeneity.