Doppler Wind Lidar and the OAWL Instrument: Potential Contributions to the Future Global Winds Measurement Enterprise

Vertically resolved measurements of wind speed and direction on global scales remains one of the largest unmet needs for improving weather forecasting. To fill gaps still present within the larger “wind-measurement-enterprise” lidar technologists, together with input from the numerical weather prediction community, have been developing Doppler wind lidar (DWL) for measuring winds globally from space. ESA is expected to launch the first ever DWL mission, Aeolus, by early 2018. In the U.S., recent airborne flight and ground testing of the Optical Autocovariance Wind Lidar (OAWL) Doppler Wind lidar system have validated the measurement approach and performance. Combined with radiometric modeling techniques, the tests demonstrate the potential for an OAWL instrument to deliver vertically-resolved horizontal winds from a space-based platform such as the ISS or a free flyer. The presentation will review the OAWL performance results and focus on the role of DWL, specifically OAWL, within the context of other existing and proposed global winds measurement capabilities.