ESA's wind Lidar mission ADM-AEOLUS; on-going scientific activities related to calibration, retrieval and instrument operation

The Earth Explorer Atmospheric Dynamics Mission (ADM-Aeolus) of ESA will be the first-ever satellite to provide global observations of wind profiles from space. Its single payload, namely the Atmospheric Laser Doppler Instrument (ALADIN) is a directdetection high spectral resolution Doppler Wind Lidar (DWL), operating at 355 nm, with a fringe-imaging receiver (analysing aerosol and cloud backscatter) and a double-edge receiver (analysing molecular backscatter). In order to meet the stringent mission requirements on wind retrieval, ESA is conducting various science support activities for the consolidation of the on-ground data processing, calibration and sampling strategies. Results from a recent laboratory experiment to study Rayleigh-Brillouin scattering and improve the characterisation of the molecular lidar backscatter signal detected by the ALADIN double-edge Fabry- Perot receiver will be presented in this paper. The experiment produced the most accurate ever-measured Rayleigh-Brillouin scattering profiles for a range of temperature, pressure and gases, representative of Earth’s atmosphere. The measurements were used to validate the Tenti S6 model, which is implemented in the ADM-Aeolus ground processor. First results from the on-going Vertical Aeolus Measurement Positioning (VAMP) study will be also reported. This second study aims at the optimisation of the ADM-Aeolus vertical sampling in order to maximise the information content of the retrieved winds, taking into account the atmospheric dynamical and optical heterogeneity. The impact of the Aeolus wind profiles on Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) and stratospheric circulation modelling for the different vertical sampling strategies is also being estimated

NQO1-Dependent Redox Cycling of Idebenone: Effects on Cellular Redox Potential and Energy Levels

Short-chain quinones are described as potent antioxidants and in the case of idebenone have already been under clinical investigation for the treatment of neuromuscular disorders. Due to their analogy to coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10), a long-chain quinone, they are widely regarded as a substitute for CoQ10. However, apart from their antioxidant function, this provides no clear rationale for their use in disorders with normal CoQ10 levels. Using recombinant NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase (NQO) enzymes, we observed that contrary to CoQ10 short-chain quinones such as idebenone are good substrates for both NQO1 and NQO2. Furthermore, the reduction of short-chain quinones by NQOs enabled an antimycin A-sensitive transfer of electrons from cytosolic NAD(P)H to the mitochondrial respiratory chain in both human hepatoma cells (HepG2) and freshly isolated mouse hepatocytes. Consistent with the substrate selectivity of NQOs, both idebenone and CoQ1, but not CoQ10, partially restored cellular ATP levels under conditions of impaired complex I function. The observed cytosolic-mitochondrial shuttling of idebenone and CoQ1 was also associated with reduced lactate production by cybrid cells from mitochondrial encephalomyopathy, lactic acidosis and stroke-like episodes (MELAS) patients. Thus, the observed activities separate the effectiveness of short-chain quinones from the related long-chain CoQ10 and provide the rationale for the use of short-chain quinones such as idebenone for the treatment of mitochondrial disorders

Comparison of wind and wind shear climatologies derived from high-resolution radiosondes and the ECMWF model

International audienceThe climatology of atmospheric horizontal wind and its vertical gradient, i.e., wind shear, is characterized as a function of climate region. For a better representation of the average atmospheric wind and shear and their variabilities, high-resolution radiosonde wind profiles up to about 30 km altitude are compared with the collocated operational ECMWF model for short-range forecast winds. Statistics of zonal and meridional winds are established from both data sets. The results show mainly similarity in the probability distributions of the modeled and observed horizontal winds, practically at all levels of the atmosphere, while at the same time the vertical shear of the wind is substantially underestimated in the model. The comparison of shear statistics of radiosonde and ECMWF model winds shows that the model wind shear mean and variability are on average a factor of 2.5 (zonal) and 3 (meridional) smaller than of radiosondes in the free troposphere, while in the stratosphere, the planetary boundary layer results are more variable. By applying vertical averaging to the radiosonde data, it is found that the effective vertical resolution of the ECMWF model is typically 1.7 km. Moreover, it is found for individually collocated radiosonde model wind and shear profiles that the model wind may lack in some cases variability larger than 5 m s -1 and 0.015 s-1, respectively, due mainly to the effect of lacking vertical resolution, in particular near the jets. Besides the general importance of this study in highlighting the difference in the representation of the atmospheric wind shear by model and observations, it is more specifically relevant for the future Atmospheric Dynamics Mission (ADM-Aeolus) of the European Space Agency due for launch in 2012. The results presented here are used to generate a realistic global atmospheric database, which is necessary to conduct simulations of the Aeolus Doppler wind lidar in order optimize its vertical sampling and processing. © Copyright 2010 by the American Geophysical Union

The definition of an atmospheric database for Aeolus

The definition of an atmospheric database is an important component of simulation studies in preparation of future earth observing remote sensing satellites. The Aeolus mission, formerly denoted Atmospheric Dynamics Mission (ADM) or ADM-Aeolus, is scheduled for launch end of 2013 and aims at measuring profiles of single horizontal line-of-sight (HLOS) wind components from the surface up to about 32 km with a global coverage. The vertical profile resolution is limited but may be changed during in-orbit operation. This provides the opportunity of a targeted sampling strategy, e.g., as a function of geographic region. Optimization of the vertical (and horizontal) sampling strategy requires a characterization of the atmosphere optical and dynamical properties, more in particular the distribution of atmospheric particles and their correlation with the atmospheric dynamics. The Aeolus atmospheric database combines meteorological data from the ECMWF model with atmosphere optical properties data from CALIPSO. An inverse algorithm to retrieve high-resolution particle backscatter from the CALIPSO level-1 attenuated backscatter product is presented. Global weather models tend to underestimate atmospheric wind variability. A procedure is described to ensure compatibility of the characteristics of the database winds with those from high-resolution radiosondes. The result is a high-resolution database of zonal, meridional and vertical wind, temperature, specific humidity and particle and molecular backscatter and extinction at 355 nm laser wavelength. This allows the simulation of small-scale atmospheric processes within the Aeolus observation sampling volume and their impact on the quality of the retrieved HLOS wind profiles. The database extends over four months covering all seasons. This allows a statistical evaluation of the mission components under investigation. The database is currently used for the development of the Aeolus wind processing, the definition of wind calibration strategies and the optimization of the Aeolus sampling strategy

Sensitivity Analysis of the Effects of Aircraft and Environmental Parameters on Aircraft Wake Vortex Trajectories and Lifetimes

This study investigates the impact of aircraft parameters (position, heading, speed, weight, span, and spanwise load factor) and meteorological parameters (crosswind, headwind, wind shear, thermal stratification, turbulent kinetic energy, dissipation rate, and density) on wake vortex behavior. Typical measurement uncertainties of these parameters, on one hand, and the range in which they typically reside, on the other hand, are mapped on variations of lateral and vertical position and lifetime of the wake vortices. For this mapping process the D2P wake vortex model is employed complemented by some simple considerations, dimensional analysis, and sources from literature. Three scenarios comprising cruise conditions, flight within the atmospheric boundary layer, and ground proximity are considered. From these investigations the following ranking of the impact parameters has been deduced: wind, thermal stratification, turbulence, position, mass, spanwise load factor. The relevance of the remaining parameters appears small