Lidar Concept of “Guanlan” Mission for Space Oceanography

¹ Ocean Remote Sensing Institute, College of Information Science and Engineering, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266100, China
² Laboratory for Regional Oceanography and Numerical Modeling, Pilot National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology (Qingdao), Qingdao 266237, China
³ Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, Shanghai 201800, China

^* Email: wush@ouc.edu.cn

Published online: 7 July 2020

Abstract

Among the various challenges in spaceborne radar observation of the ocean, the following two issues are probably of a higher priority: inadequate dynamic resolution, and ineffective vertical penetration. Two highly anticipated breakthroughs in the coming decade are likely to be associated with radar interferometry and ocean lidar technology, which are expected to make a substantial contribution to a sub-mesoscale-resolving and depth-resolving observation of the ocean. The planned “Guanlan” science mission comprises a dual-frequency (Ku and Ka) interferometric altimetry (IA) and a near-nadir pointing ocean lidar (OL). The spaceborne active OL will ensure a deeper penetration depth and an all-time detection which leads to a layered characterization of the optical properties of the subsurface ocean. The simultaneous functioning of the OL and a dual-frequency (Ku and Ka) interferometric altimetry system will allow an enhanced understanding of contributions of the atmosphere and the air-sea interface which in turn considerably reduce the error budgets of the two sensors. The OL payload is expected to partially reveal the marine food chain and ecosystem with 10-m vertical interval in the euphotic layer, moving a significant step down to the oceanic mixed layer both dynamically and bio-optically.