ADM-Aeolus: ESA's Wind Mission
Abstract
Together with temperature, pressure, and humidity, wind is one of the basic variables describing the state of the atmosphere. Observations of wind speed and direction are needed in support of numerical weather forecast systems, tropospheric-stratospheric exchange processes and for the prediction of long-term climate change. Improved knowledge of the global wind field is widely recognised as fundamental to advancing the understanding and predictability of weather and climate. However, the ability to observe and analyse winds is far from adequate; both in-situ as well as remote sensing observing systems suffer from being incomplete in terms of spatial and temporal sampling and in some cases the accuracy of the wind measurements is inadequate. After various preparatory studies, ADM-Aeolus was selected in 1999 for implementation as the second ESA Earth Explorer Core mission. Complementing the technical activities, various supporting activities have been initiated addressing scientific aspects such as the benefit of independent line-of-sight wind observations in cases of forecast failures. In view of continuity with other lidar missions in space, also the potential of ADM-Aeolus spin-off cloud or aerosol products has been studied. The launch is scheduled for 2012.
- Publication:
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ESA Living Planet Symposium
- Pub Date:
- December 2010
- Bibcode:
- 2010ESASP.686E.158I