BackForwardInstrument:  ALADIN 

Instrument details
Acronym ALADIN
Full name Atmospheric Laser Doppler Instrument
Purpose Wind profiles in clear air and aerosol layers. Also providing atmospheric backscatter and extinction coefficient profiles at 355 nm down to ground or optically thick clouds.
Short description
  • Single-wavelength (355 nm), side-looking (35° off-nadir). Pulsed laser source (50 Hz), High Spectral Resolution Lidar (HSRL) discriminating atmospheric and particle atmospheric returns (measures Rayleigh and Mie winds)
  • Instrument monitoring and calibration here
Background

New development
Scanning Technique

No scanning. Pulse echoes averaged over 87 km along the satellite track. FOV: 15 m footprint on ground. Continuous sampling
Resolution Horizontal: 87 km continuous sampling. Vertical: from 250 m in the PBL to 2 km at ~ 20 km. Vertical sampling variable and possible up to 30 km
Coverage / Cycle Global coverage: 16 orbits per day, weekly repeat cycle
Mass 500 kg Power 840 W Data Rate 11 kbps

 

Providing Agency ESA
Instrument Maturity Flown on an R&D satellite
Utilization Period: 2018 to 2023
Last update: 2024-09-09
Detailed characteristics
Satellites this instrument is flying on

Note: a red tag indicates satellites no longer operational, a green tag indicates operational satellites, a blue tag indicates future satellites

Instrument classification
  • Earth observation instrument
  • Active and radio-occultation sensor
  • Lidar (Doppler lidar, backscatter lidar, lidar Dial, lidar altimeter)
WIGOS Subcomponents
  • Subcomponent 2
  • Lidar (Doppler and dual/triple-frequency backscatter)
  • Lidar (Doppler - for wind)
Mission objectives
Primary mission objectives
  • Wind (horizontal)
Evaluation of Measurements

The following list indicates which measurements can typically be retrieved from this category of instrument. To see a full Gap Analysis by Variable, click on the respective variable.

Note: table can be sorted by clicking on the column headers
Note: * Primary mission objective.
VariableRelevance for measuring this variableOperational limitationsExplanation
Aerosol column burden2 - very highCloud sensitive.. Radial, along-view only.Secondary information from Doppler lidar wind profiler
Aerosol mass mixing ratio2 - very highCloud sensitive.. Radial, along-view only.Secondary information from Doppler lidar wind profiler
Aerosol Optical Depth2 - very highCloud sensitive.. Radial, along-view only.Secondary information from Doppler lidar wind profiler
Aerosol volcanic ash2 - very highCloud sensitive.. Radial, along-view only.Opportunity information from Doppler lidar wind profiler
Aerosol volcanic ash Total Column2 - very highCloud sensitive.. Radial, along-view only.Opportunity information from Doppler lidar wind profiler
Wind (horizontal)*1 - primaryCloud sensitive.. Radial, along-view only.Side-looking UV Doppler lidar for aerosol and air molecules scattering