The HAWC-OAWL

A Doppler Wind Lidar (DWL) mission promises to provide globally distributed observations of range-resolved wind profiles to feed data-starved numerical weather prediction models for weather and air-quality forecasts. To help address this need, Ball Aerospace developed a Doppler lidar receiver using a modified Mach-Zehnder interferomter receiver to measure wind-induced Doppler shifts from aerosol backscattered laser light. With Instrument Incubator Program (IIP) funding from the NASA Earth Science Technology Office (ESTO), Ball developed the receiver into the Optical Autocovariance Wind Lidar (OAWL). The original system was demonstrated in ground-validation and autonomous aircraft flights tests at the 355 nm wavelength in 2011. Under the new HAWC-OAWL (HSRL for Aerosols Winds and Clouds using OAWL) IIP, Ball will optimize the OAWL system for airborne operation and demonstrate airborne measurement of winds at both the 355 nm and 532 nm wavelengths to compare their aerosol-profile-dependent measurement coverage. The two wavelengths will be pointed at two different angles to also demonstrate a two-look approach to measuring horizontal wind speed and direction. We will review the progress from early development and validation of OAWL and will present early designs and science demonstration plans for the HAWC-OAWL system.