Validation of Aeolus wind products above the Atlantic Ocean

Abstract. In August 2018, the first Doppler wind lidar in space called ALADIN was launched on-board the satellite Aeolus by the European Space Agency ESA. Aeolus measures horizontal wind profiles in the troposphere and lower stratosphere on a global basis. Furthermore, profiles of aerosol and cloud properties can be retrieved via the high-spectral-resolution lidar (HSRL) technique. The Aeolus mission is supposed to improve the quality of weather forecasts and the understanding of atmospheric processes. We used the chance of opportunity to perform a unique validation of the wind products of Aeolus by utilizing the RV Polarstern cruise PS116 from Bremerhaven to Cape Town in November/December 2018. Due to concerted course modifications, six direct intersections with the Aeolus ground track could be achieved on the Atlantic Ocean, west of the African continent. For the validation of the Aeolus wind products, we launched additional radiosondes and used the EARLINET/ACTRIS lidar PollyXT for atmospheric scene analysis. The six analyzed cases proof the concept of Aeolus to be able to measure horizontal wind speeds in the nearly West-East direction. Good agreements with the radiosonde observation could be achieved for both Aeolus wind products – the winds observed in clean atmospheric regions called Rayleigh winds and the winds obtained in cloud layers called Mie winds according to the responsible scattering regime. Systematic and statistical errors of the Rayleigh winds were less than 1.5 m/s and 3.3 m/s, respectively, when comparing to radiosonde values averaged to the Aeolus vertical resolution. For the Mie winds, a systematic and random error of about 1 m/s was obtained from the six comparisons in different climate zones. However, it is also shown that the coarse vertical resolution of 2 km in the upper troposphere which was set in this early mission phase two months after launch led to an underestimation of the maximum wind speed in the jet stream regions. Summarizing, promising first results of the first wind lidar space mission are shown and proof the concept of Aeolus for global wind observations.