AEOLUS+ INNOVATION – OCEAN SUB-SURFACE PRODUCTS AND APPLICATIONS

The Aeolus Ocean Color (AOC) project aims at assessing the potential of the Aeolus mission to monitor ocean sub-surface optical and biogeochemical properties based on the measurements from the wind lidar ALADIN (Atmospheric Laser Doppler Instrument) at 355 nm. AOC is funded by ESA within the framework of the Aeolus + Innovation project.

The retrieval scheme for the AOC products relies upon parametric relationships between the lidar signal and the parameters of interest in a stepwise approach:

• “lidar-derived optical” parameters that can be inferred from the two lidar profiles in the Mie and Rayleigh channels: the particulate attenuated backscatter β_P and the attenuation coefficient K_L;
• “ocean optical” parameters related to ocean optical properties: the diffuse attenuation coefficient (K_d(355)) and the particulate back-scattering parameter (b_bp(355)) that can be derived from the lidar-derived parameters;
• “biogeochemical”parameters: the particulate organic carbon (POC), the phytoplankton carbon (C_phyto) and the coloured dissolved organic matter (CDOM) that can be derived from the optical parameters.

The prototype AOC product will be generated over a set of regions of interest (English Channel, tropical gyres, Polar Ocean), and evaluated against available ground truth as well as other comparable remotely sensed products and biogeochemical model simulations.