Ground-based general purpose Doppler-lidar: a technology for Doppler-aerosol measurements and beyond

We present the mission proposal for a spaceborne multi-frequency lidar that is able to perform simultaneous Doppler Rayleigh, Mie and resonance measurements to gain temperature and wind data from ground to thermosphere. The suitability of the technology is demonstrated with a novel ground-based lidar with a diode-pumped alexandrite laser that acts as a unit for a lidar network able to cover the atmosphere up to 100 km over a large area at day- and nighttime in polar regions. The performance of a spaceborne lidar at the iron resonance line at 386 nm is derived from simulations with parameters similar to Aeolus. The multi-frequency lidar achieves the same resolution and uncertainties in wind measurements as Aeolus but additionally provides the wind and temperature up to 120 km. The reduction of the solar background by three to five orders of magnitude by means of the usage of narrow bandwidth filters and laser allows for significantly lower laser pulse energies (~ 10 mJ) and higher repetition rates (~500 Hz). Thereby the laser as a key-component and with the highest risk of failure is reduced in complexity, as no amplification stages are necessary to yield the high pulse energy. The roadmap to space is discussed in light of the heritage from Aeolus and with the diode-pumped alexandrite laser that is in line with the FULAS (Future Laser System) platform that is also the basis for the emitter of Merlin. The necessary development steps are identified and the current activities to address them are described.