Airborne Simulation Of A Satellite Based Doppler Lidar

Recent advances in the application of lasers to remote sensing have prompted a series of feasibility studies to examine the potential for using a Doppler lidar to measure tropospheric winds around the globe. As presently envisioned, such a system would circle the earth tracing out a cycloidal pattern with its conically scanning laser beam. Each pulse, after undergoing scattering and absorption, would return to the sensor with information on the aerosol concentrations, atmospheric turbulence and the wind component along the laser beam's line-of-sight. The individual radial velocity measurements would then be combined to obtain an estimate of the horizontal u and v wind components for a specified volume of the earth's atmosphere. This paper addresses the feasibility of simulating such measurements from an airborne platform. It will briefly describe the changes in configuration required of the Marshall Space Flight Center's airborne Doppler lidar and will discuss the scalability of the meteorological phenomena to be measured.