Abstract

A space-based Doppler Lidar Atmospheric Wind Sounder (LAWS) has been proposed by NASA as a facility instrument for the NASA Earth Observing System. Simpson Weather Associates, Inc. has developed LAWS Simulation Models (LSM) that are coupled with Global Circulation Models (GCM) to evaluate the potential impact of global wind observations on the basic understanding of the earth’s atmosphere and on the predictive skills of current forecast models (GCM and regional scale). This paper uses the LSM to examine the three dimensional distribution of LAWS’ observations over the globe. Such a study must consider the effects of atmospheric aerosols, molecular attenuation of the lidar signal, opaque clouds, and the presence of thin cirrus clouds.

© 1991 Optical Society of America