Aeolus Mission

5 May 2025

Photo: Žagar/ESA

The article in Geophysical Research Letters, authored by Nedjeljka Žagar together with members of her group and colleagues from ECMWF, explains how vertical shear of the zonal wind shapes the impact of Aeolus winds in the ECMWF system. The groundbreaking Aeolus mission of the European Space Agency improved forecasts of all global numerical weather prediction models that assimilated its data. The "Aeolus+Processes" project at UHH now provides insight into the dynamical processes influenced by Aeolus assimilation. The findings highlight the importance of observing strong shear layers in the tropical upper troposphere and lower stratosphere —strengthening the case for follow-on missions to Aeolus.