Validation of Aeolus winds using ground-based radars in Antarctica and in northern Sweden

Abstract

Abstract. Winds measured by lidar from the Aeolus satellite are compared with winds measured by two ground-based radars, MARA in Antarctica (70.77° S, 11.73° E) and ESRAD (67.88° N, 21.10° E) in Arctic Sweden. Aeolus is a demonstrator mission to test whether winds measured by Doppler lidar from space can have sufficient accuracy to contribute to improved weather forecasting. A comprehensive programme of calibration and validation has been undertaken following the satellite launch in 2018 but, so far, direct comparison with independent measurements from the Arctic or Antarctic regions have not been made. The comparison covers heights from the low troposphere to just above the tropopause. Results for each radar site are presented separately for Rayleigh (clear) winds, Mie (cloudy) winds, summer and winter, and ascending and descending satellite tracks. Horizontally-projected line-of-sight (HLOS) winds from Aeolus, for passes within 100 km from the radar sites, are compared with HLOS winds calculated from one-hour averaged radar horizontal wind components. The agreement in most data subsets is very good, with no evidence of significant biases (