Study of the precision of upper atmospheric wind field measurement

The passive optical methods to observe the earthly upper atmospheric wind field by satellite remote sensing is to measure the parameters including atmospheric wind velocities, temperature, pressure and volume emission rates of airglow (aurora). WINDII is the first image interferometer for upper atmospheric wind measurement in 1991 made by Canada and France loaded on NASA's UARS. The precision of wind speed is 10m/s for WINDII and its temperature precision is 10K. The second wind measurement instrument of SWIFT is launched at 2011 based on the same principle as WINDII. SWIFT's wind speed precision is 3m/s, and its temperature precision is 2K. According to the development of the photoelectron technology and CCD, the wind field's detected precision is enhanced continuously. In this paper, the theory of detected precision of wind speed and temperature is analyzed firstly; the factors between the higher precision of wind field and CCD detector parameter are made sure. And then the precision equation is deduced. The wind speed and temperature precision expression includes of optical path difference (OPD), phase, aurora wavelength, visibility, CCD's responsibility, signal-to-noise, view of field (VOF) etc. The precision of 1m/s wind speed and 1K temperature need fixed OPD 24.28cm with O+ 732.0nm aurora. This research can provide the theory for advance upper atmospheric wind field detecting precision. © 2009 SPIE.