Version 3.0 (Changelog)
March 2022
VirES for Aeolus is a highly interactive data manipulation and retrieval interface for ESA's Aeolus mission products. It includes tools for studying various atmospheric parameters, in space and time, measured by the Aeolus satellite.
The VirES for Aeolus Web client provides easy access to ESA's Aeolus mission data through the web browser without the need of any software installation. The web client offers on the one side an interactive 3D globe where the measured curtains can be previewed and a very flexible and configurable analytics panel where different plots can be generated.
If you are interested in deepening your knowledge in the utilization of the service or want to have a quick peek at how it looks here is a presentation of last workshop providing an in-depth look at the VirES for Aeolus Service.
You can additionally find detailed slides on service usage here. Below are some screenshots of the web client components.
The VirES for Aeolus VRE is the latest extension to the service to allow easier and in-depth data exploitation. This is achieved by providing following service aspects:
ESA's Earth Explorer, Aeolus, was launched into space on 22 August 2018. This new satellite type provides novel global observations of wind profiles from the surface up to 30 km altitude. Although there are several ways of measuring wind from a satellite, Aeolus utilises the active Doppler Wind Lidars (DWL) method. This is currently the only technology that can provide direct wind profile observations in clear air, inside thin clouds and aerosol layers and on top of thick clouds globally. In addition, a DWL provides information on cloud top heights and the vertical distribution of thin clouds and aerosol. An improved knowledge of Earth's wind fields will lead to progress in atmospheric dynamics research and weather forecasting. Forecast impact experiments by a number of leading meteorological institutes across the world have shown that Aeolus observations lead to an improvement of operational weather forecasting. The experiments show that the impact is largest in the tropics, southern hemisphere, polar areas and in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere, where there are currently very few direct wind observations in the Global Observing System of the World Meteorological organization (WMO). The provision of global wind profiles will also benefit climate research. Climate models are similar to weather models, but predict the evolution of the coupled Earth System (atmosphere, land, ocean and ice) on the scale of years rather than days. As for weather forecast models, the key atmospheric variables in climate models are wind, temperature, pressure and humidity. The Aeolus winds will be used to evaluate climate models, and for the improvement of modelling of the global atmospheric transport and cycling of energy, water, aerosols and chemicals. An overview about the Aeolus satellite and its instruments, the Aeolus data products and more detailed information about the Aeolus mission can be found here.
Aeolus product data can be visualized on the platform, plotted over the globe and shown in a scatterplot. The scatterplot allows for multiple x- and y-axes with independent zoom and panning features as well as interactive data-readout. The time slider and various controls offer the possibility to make selections and set criteria for data filtering and visualization which immediately take effect on the display.
The subset of Aeolus data, selected by the user in this way, can be downloaded in different encoding formats to fit various use cases.
The following Aeolus products are publicly available to all users after registration:
Access to the following other products of Aeolus is limited to dedicated expert groups:
The relevant documentation for each of the products can be downloaded from the Aeolus Data Description section on ESA Earth Online (https://earth.esa.int/eogateway/missions/aeolus).
In addition:
The data accessible on VirES consists of the newest baseline available and any new data will appear within 4 hours of generation.
Access to Aeolus VirES is available only to registered users. Users can self-register for access to L1B and L2B wind products. Please register here.
Access to all other Aeolus datasets is limited to dedicated expert groups. Should you need access to such products, please contact EOHelp@esa.int.The request requires approval by the Aeolus Mission Manager.
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Feedback and ideas are very welcome, feel free to contact us under feedback@vires.services.
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