Assessment of Spaceborne Lidar for Meteorological Analyses.

摘要

This report summarizes results of a basic research program to investigate and develop advanced techniques for obtaining and applying meteorological parameters from spaceborne lidars. The focus of this program was to identify potentially inexpensive lidar sensor concepts which provide maximum paybacks in improvements to numerical weather prediction (NWP) model performance. As the result of a trade-off of potential lidar systems for measuring meteorological parameters such as temperature, moisture, and winds, it was determined that maximum payback for NWP could be achieved by improving the accuracy and coverage of wind observations. Since they will be available from a polar orbiter, coverage will be increased, especially for extratropical areas. The lidar will produce winds wherever there is a cloud and will likely provide boundary layer winds from maritime aerosol backscatter. The assessment of the impact of candidate satellite lidar observation concepts on numerical weather analysis and prediction models was performed through a series of observing system simulation experiments (OSSEs). In addition to NWP model impacts, the fusion of potential lidar sensor system data with that from the current Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) suite of passive sensors was considered. Special emphasis was placed on investigating active/passive data fusion approaches for improving the retrieval of atmospheric temperature and moisture profiles and the analysis of clouds (i.e. nephanalysis) in support of tactical and strategic operations.