Paul Ingmann

The atmospheric dynamics mission for global wind field measurement

The prime aim of the Atmospheric Dynamics Mission is to demonstrate measurements of vertical wind profiles from space. Extensive studies conducted by the European Space Agency over the past 15 years have culminated in the selection of a high-performance Doppler wind lidar based on direct-detection interferometric techniques. Such a system, with a pulsed laser operating at 355-nm wavelength, would utilize both Rayleigh scattering from molecules and Mie scattering from thin cloud and aerosol particles; measurement of the residual Doppler shift from successive levels in the atmosphere provides the vertical wind profiles. The lidar would be accommodated on a satellite flying in a sun-synchronous orbit, at an altitude of ~400 km, providing near-global coverage; target date for launch is in 2007. Processing of the backscatter signals will provide about 3000 globally distributed wind profiles per day, above thick clouds or down to the surface in clear air, at typically 200-km separation along the satellite track...

The ESA earth explorer EarthCARE mission

The EarthCARE (Earth Clouds, Aerosols and Radiation Explorer) mission has been recently selected as the 6th ESAs Earth Explorer Mission. The mission objective is to determine, in a radiatively consistent manner, the global distribution of vertical profiles of cloud and aerosol field characteristics. A major innovation of the EarthCARE mission is to include both active and passive instruments on a single platform, which allows for a complete 3-D spatial and temporal picture of the radiative flux field at the top of the atmosphere and the Earths surface to be developed. While the active instruments provide vertical cloud profiles, the passive instruments (mainly the multi-spectral imager) provide supplementary horizontal data to allow for the extrapolation of the 3-D cloud and aerosol characteristics. The EarthCARE payload is composed of four instruments: an Atmospheric backscatter Lidar, a Cloud Profiling Radar, a Multi-Spectral Imager and a Broad Band Radiometer. The mission baseline is a sun-synchronous orbit with an altitude around 450 km. The EarthCARE mission is a cooperative mission with Japan (JAXA and NiCT), which will provide the Cloud Profiling Radar. ESA will provide the ground segment and the rest of the space segment including the lidar, the imager and the broadband radiometer. The launch is planned for 2012.

System, spacecraft, and instrument concepts for the ESA Earth Explorer EarthCARE Mission

The EarthCARE (Earth Clouds, Aerosols and Radiation Explorer) mission has been recently selected as the 6th ESAs Earth Explorer Mission. The mission objective is to determine, in a radiatively consistent manner, the global distribution of vertical profiles of cloud and aerosol field characteristics. A major innovation of the EarthCARE mission is to include both active and passive instruments on a single platform, which allows for a complete 3-D spatial and temporal picture of the radiative flux field at the top of the atmosphere and the Earths surface to be developed. While the active instruments provide vertical cloud profiles, the passive instruments (mainly the multi-spectral imager) provide supplementary horizontal data to allow for the extrapolation of the 3-D cloud and aerosol characteristics. The EarthCARE payload is composed of four instruments: an Atmospheric backscatter Lidar, a Cloud Profiling Radar, a Multi-Spectral Imager and a Broad Band Radiometer. The mission baseline is a sun-synchronous orbit with an altitude around 450 km. The EarthCARE mission is a cooperative mission with Japan (JAXA and NICT), which will provide the Cloud Profiling Radar. ESA will provide the ground segment and the rest of the space segment including the lidar, the imager and the broadband radiometer. The launch is planned for 2012.

System definition of the ESA Earth Explorer WALES mission

WALES (Water vapour Lidar Experiment in Space) is one of the three candidate missions that are currently considered for the future ESA Earth Explorer missions. The objective of the mission is to provide better insight into the distribution of water vapour and aerosol in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere for research and applications in climatology and numerical weather prediction. This is to be achieved by providing globally accurate profiles of water vapour concentration. A direct detection Differential Absorption Lidar has been studied in the frame of the WALES mission pre-phase A. The lidar is based on high power laser emitting several wavelengths in the 920-950 nm range, each wavelength being tunable and frequency locked. The backscatter signal is collected through a large telescope and filtered through narrow band filters. The concept and the expected performance of the instrument are discussed in this paper.

The GMES Sentinel-5 mission for operational atmospheric monitoring: status and developments

Sentinel-5 is an atmospheric monitoring mission planned in the frame of the joint EU/ESA initiative Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES). The objective of the mission, planned to be launched in 2020, is the operational monitoring of trace gas concentrations for atmospheric chemistry and climate applications.

The third cycle of Earth explorers core missions

The Living Planet Programme of the European Space Agency encompasses a science-driven strategy for monitoring the Earth from space. The Earth Explorer missions are defined, developed and operated in close cooperation with the science community and focus on the key components of the Earth System: the atmosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere and the Earths interior. The emphasis of these missions is on providing data to advance our understanding of these individual components, their interaction with each other and the impacts that human activities have on natural Earth processes. By involving the science community from the beginning and introducing a peer-reviewed selection process, this ongoing user-driven approach has given the Earth science community an efficient tool in their endeavor to better understand and monitor our planet. So far, this process has resulted in six missions currently under development: GOCE, Cryosat, ADM Aeolus, SMOS, Swarm and EarthCARE. The third cycle of Earth Explorers Core Missions was started in 2005 to select the seventh Earth Explorer mission due to launch in 2014/2015. At present there are six candidate missions being assessed at pre-phase A level. These missions were chosen to enter the assessment phase as a result of the Call for Core Mission ideas released by ESA in 2005, which resulted in 24 proposals out of which six candidates were selected: - BIOMASS - global measurements of forest biomass and extent; - TRAQ - (TRopospheric composition and Air Quality) - Air quality monitoring and long-range transport of air pollutants; - PREMIER - (PRocess Exploration through Measurements of Infrared and millimetre-wave Emitted Radiation) Understanding the processes that link trace gases, radiation, chemistry and climate in the atmosphere; - FLEX - (FLuorescence EXplorer) - Observation of global photosynthesis through the measurement of fluorescence; - A-SCOPE - (Advanced Space Carbon and Climate Observation of Planet Earth) - Improving the understanding of the global carbon cycle and regional carbon dioxide fluxes; - CoReH2O - (Cold Regions Hydrology High-resolution Observatory) - Detailed observations of key snow, ice and water cycle characteristics. This paper presents an overview of the six candidate missions, describing the scientific objectives and outlining the main aspects of the candidate implementation concept currently under evaluation.

Earth explorer earth radiation mission

The Earth Explorer Earth Radiation Mission proposed by the scientific community for the ESA Earth Explorer line of missions will provide for the first time a multi-year set of cloud profiling and aerosols observations to progress in understanding the transport of energy and water between the Earths surface and the top of the atmosphere. A backscatter lidar and a cloud profiling radar will be used separately, in complement and synergy to provide these profiles that will be extended across track by a visible-IR cloud imager and a two-channel broadband radiometer, from a satellite at around 400 km altitude. The mission is unique for the combination and capability of its sensors and for its utilization.