Introducing the atmospheric thermodynamics lidar in Space: ATLAS

Our understanding of the distribution of heat and water in the atmosphere still shows critical gaps on all temporal and spatial scales. This is mainly due to a lack of accurate measurements of water vapor and temperature profiles - hereafter called thermodynamic (TD) profiles - with high vertical and temporal resolution, especially in the lower troposphere. Accurate, high temporal-spatial resolution observations of TD profiles are essential for improving weather forecasting and re-analyses, for studying land-atmosphere feedback processes and for improving model parameterizations of landsurface and turbulent transport processes in the Atmospheric Boundary Layer. These observational gaps can be addressed with a new active remote sensing system in space based on the Raman lidar technique. Combining vibrational and rotational Raman backscatter signals, simultaneous measurements of water vapour and temperature profiles and a variety of derived variables are possible with unprecedented vertical and horizontal resolution, especially in the lower troposphere. This is the key concept of ATLAS, which was submitted in March 2018 to the European Space Agency in response to the Call for Earth Explorer-10 Mission Ideas in the frame of ESA EOEP. An assessment of the expected performance of the system and the specifications of the different lidar sub-systems has been performed based on the application of an analytical simulation model for space-borne Raman lidar systems. Results from the simulations and technical aspects of the proposed mission will be illustrated at the conference.