STAR Seminar: Lidar measured wind profiles from space – overview of Doppler lidar technology

Posted on: July 21, 2019

NOAA NESDIS STAR SEMINAR SERIES

https://www.star.nesdis.noaa.gov/star/seminars.php#TopExp18780

Title:  Lidar measured wind profiles from space – overview of Doppler lidar technology and comparison with current and future wind measurement capabilities

Presenter: Sara Tucker, Ball Aerospace

Date: 25 July 2019 

Time: 11:30 am - 12:30 pm ET

Location : Conference Room # 2552-2553, NOAA Center for Weather and Climate Prediction, 5830 University Research Court, College Park, MD, NCWCP - Large Conf Rm - 2552-2553

Sponsor(s):

STAR Science Seminar Series

Remote Access:
WebEx (for screen sharing only, see below for Audio):
Event Number: 905 924 437
Password: STARSeminar
Event address for attendees:
https://noaa-nesdis-star.webex.com/noaa-nesdis-star/j.php?MTID=mb759c5932d21354d6b825c17b2328128

Audio:

USA participants: 866-832-9297
Passcode: 6070416

Abstract:
After more than four decades of international research and development in Doppler Wind Lidar, the Atmospheric LAser Doppler INstrument (ALADIN) on ESA's Aeolus mission is the first system to demonstrate direct measurement of vertically resolved wind profiles from space. While international studies are already demonstrating the positive impact of Aeolus lidar observations on weather forecasts, the ALADIN mission life is limited to a maximum of three years. The same year as the Aeolus launch, the NOAA Satellite Observing System Architecture (NSOSA) study listed 3D-Winds as one of the top observational objectives for future weather architectures and the National Academies Earth Science Decadal Survey (ESDS) listed Atmospheric Winds as one of the top targeted observables. The Optical Autocovariance Wind Lidar (OAWL) approach developed at Ball Aerospace, with funding support from NASA, provides a validated, high-TRL, and reduced-risk U.S. option for an Aeolus follow-on. This seminar will discuss the characteristics of Doppler wind lidar observations, compare wind lidar to other wind-observing methods used in numerical weather prediction, describe what the OAWL approach offers relative to Aeolus, and provide a roadmap for achieving a U.S. space-based wind lidar as part of a future operational weather architecture.

Bio:
Sara Tucker is technical lead of Operational Weather in Civil Space and Technologies at Ball Aerospace where she focuses on development of advanced remote-sensing techniques and system architectures to meet next-generation operational weather requirements and Earth science objectives. She also serves as the Principal Investigator for the Optical Autocovariance Wind Lidar (OAWL) system. At Ball, and previously at NOAA/CIRES, Sara has managed Doppler lidar development and participation in several ground, ship- and aircraft-based field campaigns to study atmospheric winds. She has written and contributed to publications on Doppler lidar instrument and data product development, planetary boundary layer dynamics, cloud processes, and dust/pollution transport and mixing processes. Sara graduated from the University of Colorado with M.S. and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering with a focus on digital signal processing and optics.

POC:
Stacy Bunin, stacy.bunin@noaa.gov