Challenges and achievements of the first wind lidar in space on ESA's Aeolus mission

Soon after its launch in August 2018, the spaceborne wind lidar onboard ESA's Aeolus satellite provided atmospheric wind profiles on a global scale. Being the first ever Doppler Wind Lidar (DWL) instrument in space, the Aeolus mission contributed to the improvement in numerical weather prediction (NWP) until the end of its operational phase on 30 April 2023. Following an instrument test period until 5 July 2023, where a new record in ultraviolet (UV) laser energy of 182 mJ over 33 h was achieved, the Aeolus satellite re-entered into the atmosphere on 28 July 2023. The focus of the presentation will be on the instrument performance and the evolution of the quality of the wind observations including the contributors to the random and systematic wind errors. The important role of the Aeolus Data Innovation and Science Cluster (DISC) in the operational phase of the Aeolus mission will be discussed.