LWG briefing to NESDIS/OSD and NWS/OST

Lars Peter Riishojgaard, JCSDAMike Hardesty, NOAA/OAR/ESRL

Co-chairs, US Working Group on Space-Based Lidar Winds

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BackgroundBackground

Destin, February 2010: Plans to propose ISS-based wind lidar mission contingent on mission and instrument studies, e.g. at the Goddard Integrated Design Center; total costs estimated at $240K George Komar (ESTO) willing to put down $60K if other interested

parties within NASA, US Air Force and NOAA would do likewiseKirtland AFB, April 2010

Wayman Baker, Dave Emmitt briefed Air Force on plans; commitment to co-fund IDC studies at the level of $60K subsequently obtained

Washington DC, June 2010 Ramesh Kakar (Weather Focus Lead for NASA’s Earth Science

Division) commitment to contribute $60KWashington DC, July 2010

Briefing to NESDIS/OSD (was originally planned for May, but had to be rescheduled).

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LWG Briefing to NOAALWG Briefing to NOAA

Rescheduled briefing took place July 22 in Silver Spring

From NESDIS/OSD: John Pereira, Rich Fulton, Steve Mango

From NWS/OST: J.C. Duh, Mike Johnson, Bill Sjoberg

Briefers: Lars Peter Riishojgaard, Mike Hardesty (phone)

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Objective of this briefing Current Upper Air Mass and Wind Data Coverage; the need for

Wind Lidar Observations Forecast Impact Results with Airborne DWL Data Need for Improved Accuracy of Transport Estimates for Climate

Applications Missions

ESA’s ADM/Aeolus; NOAA role in ADM NASA’s Wind Lidar plans ISS opportunity

The Lidar Working Group Concluding Remarks

Briefing OutlineBriefing Outline

Briefing ObjectivesBriefing Objectives

Update on activities of the Working Group on Space-Based Lidar Winds

Provide current status of global wind measurement activities in Europe and the US

Introduce opportunity to advance global wind measurement demonstration through NASA Venture Class proposal Current wind mission categorized as a Tier 3 mission, launch

scheduled for 2030+ (15 year winds gap after ADM) NASA Venture Class offers opportunity for International Space

Station winds mission within next 6 – 8 years Cost of Venture Class design and feasibility study = $240K, with

$120K to be provided by NASA and $60K to be provided by the Air Force

A NOAA contribution of $60K would ensure that this effort goes forward

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Current Upper Air Mass & Wind Data CoverageCurrent Upper Air Mass & Wind Data Coverage

Vertically resolvedMass Observations

Vertically resolvedWind Observations

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Mean (29 cases) 96 h 500 hPa height forecast error difference (Lidar Exper minus Control Exper) for 15 - 28 November 2003 with actual airborne DWL data. The green shading means a reduction in the error with the Lidar data compared to the Control. The forecast impact test was performed with the ECMWF global model.

DWL measurements reduced the 72-hour forecast error by ~3.5% This amount is ~10% of that realized at the oper. NWP centers worldwide in the past 10 years from all the improvements in modelling, observing systems, and computing power Total information content of the lidar winds was 3 times higher than for dropsondes

Forecast Impact Using Actual Aircraft Lidar Winds inForecast Impact Using Actual Aircraft Lidar Winds in ECMWF Global Model (Weissmann and Cardinali, 2007) ECMWF Global Model (Weissmann and Cardinali, 2007)

Green denotesa positive impact

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ADM-Aeolus

• Doppler Wind Lidar• Cross-track HLOS winds• HLOS (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 (now late 2012, LPR)

www.esa.int/esaLP/LPadmaeolus.html (Stoffelen et al., BAMS, 2005)

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ADM provides an opportunity to gain experience with the first-ever direct wind measurements from space

ADM wind data are expected be of high quality and could potentially improve the NCEP operational model forecasts, especially in the tropics

ESA is investing more than $400M in ADM and providing the data to the NOAA (and other WMO members) at no cost

ADM serves as a learning experience for the processing and assimilation of data from the subsequent U.S. Decadal Survey Wind Lidar mission

Why should NOAA care Why should NOAA care (about ADM) (about ADM) ? ?

Prospects for operational follow-on to ADMProspects for operational follow-on to ADM

•ADM/Aeolus demo mission will end in 2014/15

•(EUMETSAT was considering DWL for post-EPS; this is currently at the top of the list of unfunded requirements; funding tied up by continuity missions)

•NPOESS IPO sponsored Goddard IDL study in 2007 regarding potential adaptation of NASA Decadal Survey GWOS concept for next-generation NPOESS• 2030+?

•=> In the best case there is a likely temporal gap in space-based wind profiling of 15+ years

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Mission opportunityMission opportunity

The International Space Station (ISS) provides a potential NASA Venture Class opportunity to get a slimmed down GWOS/NWOS-based US pre-operational demonstration wind lidar in orbit

Low altitude, low inclination orbit, suitable for active sensing of tropics and mid-latitude region

Strong push from NASA and Air Force to explore this optionConcept studies needed to verify feasibility and identify potential tall poles Instrument Design Laboratory $100K Mission Design Laboratory $100K Mission Definition Team support $40K

Air Force, NASA ESTO, and NASA HQ have agreed to contribute $60K each, or $180K of the $240K needed

If NESDIS/OSD can contribute the final $60K we can move ahead with the ISS feasibility study

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SummarySummary Direct measurements of vertical profiles of the horizontal winds away from the major developed regions (covered by radiosondes) are at the top of the priority list for the NWP community

Wind Lidar technology is ready to be demonstrated in space ADM scheduled to launch in late 2012 No follow-on planned (“first measurement below the line” for post-

EPS) No current US plans for deployments in space this side of 2030

Lidar Working Group provides a national forum to develop and coordinate various aspects of wind lidar technology, data impact experiments, measurement campaigns, international outreach (and advocacy) ISS/ NASA EV provides a unique opportunity for an early US

demonstration mission Study funds requested from NESDIS/OSD as the final piece in a

cost-sharing partnership with NASA and the Air Force

Summary of briefingSummary of briefing

Briefing received positively

NWS/OST concurred with our assessment that the space-based GOS is severely out of balance

NESDIS/OSD subsequently agreed to sponsor IDC study at the $60K level

NESDIS/OSD also agreed to continue to fund LWG (one meeting per year) Action on LPR and MH: Brief NASA HQ and seek NASA funding

for the other meeting

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