Preliminary Impact of Aeolus Doppler Wind Lidar on Forecasts from NCEP's Global Forecast System

The European Space Agency launched the Aeolus satellite in August 2018 with the Atmospheric Laser Doppler Instrument (ALADIN) aboard. The ALADIN is a Doppler Wind Lidar (DWL) designed to provide vertical profiles of horizontal winds along its orbit path. This offers the opportunity to gather 3D winds in remote places with sparse observations (e.g., over the oceans and sparsely populated land masses). Previous results using different assimilation systems and models have shown forecast improvements. This study presents the results of an Observing System Experiment assimilating Aeolus DWL winds into NCEP’s Global Data Assimilation and Forecast System. The forecast impacts will be discussed along with an in-depth analysis of how the data impacts analyses and forecasts.