WIVERN: An ESA Earth Explorer Concept to Map Global in-Cloud Winds, Precipitation and Cloud Properties

The main objective of the proposed WIVERN mission is to provide global line-of-sight in-cloud winds in real time that can be assimilated into numerical weather prediction (NWP) models to improve weather forecasts. This will be achieved by a conically scanning dual polarisation Doppler 94 GHz radar with an 800 km wide ground track in a sun-synchronous polar orbit to provide daily visits poleward of 50°. According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), wind-storms are by far the largest contributor to economic losses caused by weather related hazards, resulting in approximately 500 billion USD (adjusted to 2011) of global damage over the last decade. A unique advantage of WIVERN is its ability to measure winds within active weather systems that are filled with thick cloud where there are currently very few wind observations, especially in tropical cyclones and hurricanes. These in-clouds winds will complement the predominantly clear air winds from the AEOLUS wind lidar launched in August 2018 which have been shown to have a significant impact in reducing forecast errors. A subsidiary objective of WIVERN is to provide high resolution reflectivity profiles of rain, snow and ice water content to validate and improve parameterisation schemes in NWP and climate models.