NOAA/NESDIS support of ESA’s ADM/Aeolus mission

1. NOAA/NESDIS support of ESA’s ADM/Aeolus mission Lars Peter Riishojgaard Joint Center for Satellite Data Assimilation COPC Meeting at NCEP, 20-21 October 2009

2. Overview • ADM/Aeolus • Mission highlights • NWP relevance • Data policy • Baseline ground segment • Possibly alternative ground stations COPC Meeting at NCEP, 20-21 October 2009

3. ADM highlights • Tech demo mission to be launched in 2011 • First space-borne demonstration of wind lidar measurement • Potentially a large contributor to NWP skill • Currently, the Global Observing System is dominated by mass (temperature) measurement • No direct, vertically resolved wind measurement available over uninhabited regions COPC Meeting at NCEP, 20-21 October 2009

4. ADM-Aeolus • Doppler Wind Lidar • Cross-track HLOS winds • sHLOS (z) = 2-3 m/s • Profiles 0–30 km@0.5-2 km • Once every 200 km length • Aerosol and molecular measurement channel • Dawn-dusk polar-orbiter • Launch date June 2011 • www.esa.int/esaLP/LPadmaeolus.html • (Stoffelen et al., BAMS, 2005) COPC Meeting at NCEP, 20-21 October 2009 Slide from A. Stoffelen, KNMI

5. Current Upper Air Mass & Wind Data Coverage for operational NWP Upper Air Mass Observations Upper Air Wind Observations COPC Meeting at NCEP, 20-21 October 2009

6. COPC Meeting at NCEP, 20-21 October 2009

7. ADM data policy • ADM/Aeolus is an R&D mission, but … due to the value of these observations to NWP, ESA and WMO are making ADM part of the WMO Global Observing System • Unprecedented step for ESA • Data will be made available to the WMO member NMHS’s in “real time” • Disseminated via the GTS COPC Meeting at NCEP, 20-21 October 2009

8. Baseline ground segment • Single receiving station at Svalbard • Full orbital dumps; 50 Mb of science data per orbit • 110 s total visibility required for one orbit • 30 s for antenna locking • 80 s for data dump • Any additional data may require additional time (e.g. QRT or stored orbits) COPC Meeting at NCEP, 20-21 October 2009

9. NRT stream • Near Real Time, defined as data (level 1B) having latency of 3 h or less for the end user • NRT is targeted for global NWP and should in principle be available for all orbits • Low ADM orbit height => blind orbits in spite of high latitude of Svalbard • WMO requirement for global NWP is 1 h COPC Meeting at NCEP, 20-21 October 2009

10. QRT stream • Quasi Real Time data targeted at regional NWP and other applications • Latency of 30 min or less • Assuming 20 (or 15) minutes total processing time, the QRT stream will consist of the last 10 (or 15) minutes of the orbit dumped either at the beginning of the pass (“AEAP”) or at the end of the pass (“ALAP”) • No Southern Hemisphere QRT data in Svalbard only scenario COPC Meeting at NCEP, 20-21 October 2009

11. QRT “AEAP” Scenario using Svalbard and Troll, assuming 15 (red+blue) or 20 minutes (blue) total processing time (all figures courtesy of H. Nett, ESA/ESTEC) COPC Meeting at NCEP, 20-21 October 2009

12. QRT (II) • QRT availability for Europe is guaranteed under combined Troll/Svalbard scenario • QRT will not be available for North America under this scenario • However, a receiving station at Troll now appears unlikely due to financial constraints • On request from LPR, ESA has studied implications of adding either Wallops or Svalbard as additional ground receiving stations COPC Meeting at NCEP, 20-21 October 2009

13. ADM pass duration at Svalbard (red) and Fairbanks (green) COPC Meeting at NCEP, 20-21 October 2009

14. ADM pass duration (elevation > 2 deg) at Svalbard (red) and Wallops (blue) COPC Meeting at NCEP, 20-21 October 2009

15. ADM pass duration (elevation > 1 deg) at Svalbard (red) and Wallops (blue) COPC Meeting at NCEP, 20-21 October 2009

16. QRT “AEAP” Scenario using Svalbard and Wallops, assuming 15 (red+blue) or 20 minutes (blue) total processing time COPC Meeting at NCEP, 20-21 October 2009

17. QRT (III) • Fairbanks adds relatively little to QRT scenario; sees basically the same orbits as Svalbard; adds robustness for NRT stream • Due to near-perfect longitude, Wallops is a useful addition in spite of the low latitude • Assuming 1 deg minimum elevation angle, Northern Hemisphere QRT will be available for all orbits under Svalbard/Wallops scenario COPC Meeting at NCEP, 20-21 October 2009

18. Potential US involvement • NOAA/NESDIS owns suitable antennas at Wallops that are currently not fully utilized • Dedicating an antenna to ADM as a secondary receiving station for a few (<6) orbits per day, 2-3 minutes per orbit would accomplish the following • Guarantee QRT (< 30 min latency) for eastern North America • Add robustness and reliability of global NRT data COPC Meeting at NCEP, 20-21 October 2009

19. Current status • Kathy Kelly, briefed on May 15 • Has verified technical feasibility with OSO staff; cost not seen as a major issue • Direct contact established between technical staff at OSO and ESA/ESTEC • Subject brought to the attention of the NESDIS AA who expressed support • NOAA/NESDIS is prepared to support ADM with a secondary receiving station at Wallops upon request from COPC • Draft letter being prepared for signatures by COPC Principals • JAG/ODAA endorsed the idea of NOAA/NESDIS ground support for ADM at 09/16/09 meeting COPC Meeting at NCEP, 20-21 October 2009