Winds
Chair: Mike Hardesty (University of Colorado/NOAA, USA) - Co-Chair: Anne Grete Straume-Lindner (European Space Research and Technology Centre of the European Space Agency - ESA/ESTEC)
Together with temperature, pressure, and humidity, wind is one of the basic variables describing the state of the atmosphere. Improved knowledge of the global wind field in the troposphere and lower stratosphere is needed to improve numerical weather forecasts and to better understand and predict long-term climate change. Wind profiles are measured by ground-based networks and from some commercial aircraft, but due to the limited coverage (mostly Northern Hemisphere extra-tropics) measurements from orbiting platforms are essential to get more uniform global coverage. Among many possible techniques, lidar systems offer the best approach for obtaining wind profile observations globally with the required accuracy and coverage. The Winds Session will focus on all aspects associated with measurement of winds in space, including mission concepts, lidar technology, platforms, and scientific returns. The session will include invited talks describing the status of wind programs, research objectives, science applications, and future plans presented by representatives of the major agencies that pursue space-based global wind measurements. Contributions from the lidar community in the form of extended abstracts of up to six pages are solicited for inclusion in the Workshop Proceedings, which will include a White Paper and Session Summary highlighting the major points discussed at the Workshop and contributed by the wind lidar community. Oral summaries of contributed abstracts and a panel discussion with full audience participation will conclude the half-day session. Appropriate submissions for the Proceedings will address current topics in space-based wind lidar. These include transmitter and receiver design and technology, (laser sources, detectors, interferometers, telescopes, beam direction, optical damage issues, lifetime, beam steering), systems concepts and trade-offs (coherent detection, direct detection, optical autocorrelation, hybrid implementations), and platforms (polar orbiter, International Space Station, geostationary satellites, very low orbit). Submissions discussing other important aspects associated with design and development of space missions, such as selection of mission science objectives, airborne demonstration campaigns, and data handling and analysis are also appropriate for submission. The Workshop Proceedings will be made available to all Workshop participants and contributors, as well to the various space agencies and industrial organizations attending.
