Aeolus tightens up wind models

A paper published in Geophysical Research Letters describes how Aeolus’ observations in the tropical upper troposphere and lower stratosphere have helped correct the ECMWF weather model to better represent the atmospheric flow by capturing wind shear caused by Kelvin waves. Kelvin waves triggered, for example, by strong convective towers pushing airmasses upwards, are the main drivers of tropical weather patterns. Phenomenon such as the Asian monsoon and the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), which are key to tropical rainfall, are found in these regions. The figure shows the standard deviation of the difference in zonal winds for ECMWF model analysis over a period of six months, at 200 hPa level, with and without Aeolus winds. The larger the difference, the more Aeolus winds change the model wind fields. Aeolus winds also change the model in the South Pacific and South Atlantic convergence zones (SPCZ and SACZ), which is home to the southern hemispheric storm region and the ‘roaring forties’. In these areas, the use of Aeolus wind observations ties the model closer also to other sparse but very accurate weather observations, for example by routine weather balloon soundings.

Read full story: Aeolus paves the way for future wind lidars in space