Introduction and Workshop Objective

ESA’s Doppler Wind Lidar Mission, Aeolus, was launched in August 2018 and successfully passed its commissioning phase in January 2019. The mission is an Earth Explorer, providing vertical profiles of tropospheric and lower stratospheric winds for the improvement of numerical weather prediction (NWP) and atmospheric dynamics research. It is furthermore demonstrating space-based Doppler Wind Lidar technology and its potential use for possible future operational missions. The Aeolus profiles of line-of sight winds will allow an improved determination of the tropospheric and lower stratospheric circulation, particularly in the tropics and Southern Hemisphere, over the oceans and in polar areas, where atmospheric winds are currently not well measured. In addition, Aeolus provides valuable information of aerosol and cloud layer vertical distribution and their optical properties. Further information about the mission is available on Aeolus ESA.

The yearly Aeolus Cal/Val and Science workshops are the main forum for reporting on mission status and product evolution, for informing and coordinating mission Cal/Val activities, as well as reporting on results on NWP impact assessments and further scientific exploitation of the Aeolus data.

At the 2019 Aeolus CAL/VAL and Science workshop, first in-orbit results from the Aeolus CAL/VAL and science teams were presented. At the 2020 workshop, further and more consolidated results from these teams will be presented, as well as work done by new scientific teams who have joined the Aeolus CAL/VAL and science efforts in 2019.

This ESA organized workshop will take place as a virtual workshop on 2-6 November 2020, and is kindly co-hosted by EUMETSAT and the German Aerospace Center (DLR).