Doppler Scanning Gas Filters (DSGF): A passive sensor solution to global observation of upper atmosphere dynamics

This proposed effort will establish the ability to observe global upper atmosphere dynamics at the vertical and horizontal resolutions required to dramatically advance weather forecasts and predict upper atmosphere turbulence. We show this can be accomplished with simple static thermal DSGF imagers looking in both the limb and nadir. The limb measurements, with a sensor called the Doppler Wind and Temperature Sounder (DWTS), provide global wind and temperature fields from 20 to 200km. An international effort to demonstrate DWTS is already funded and underway. The nadir sounder called the High-Altitude Temperature Sounder (HATS), which has been rigorously but tentatively modelled, will provide highly resolved thermal wave fields from cloud-top to nearly 100 km. The combination of the two provides the wave and wind fields that enable major advances in weather and high-altitude turbulence forecasting. This study will establish the ability to construct a HATS sensor with the required performance to achieve our forecast goals. It is the key sensor in a proposed Constellation of four types of sensors for observation of Upper Atmosphere Dynamics that we call CUAD.