A study of the impact of simulated satellite lidar wind observations

Observing system simulation experiments (OSSEs) are conducted to assess the impact of a space borne Doppler wind lidar sensor. Analyzed and forecast meteorological fields are greatly improved by the addition of the lidar wind profiles. The greatest impacts are in the Southern Hemisphere height and wind fields and the tropical wind fields. In order to calibrate the OSSE results, comparisons are made with real data observing system experiments (OSEs). These comparisons indicate that the expected impact of an actual lidar with the stated geographic coverage (equivalent to that of the current operational temperature sounders) and error characteristics (random, 1 m/s rms) would improve forecasts by approximately 36 hours in the Southern Hemisphere.