PI: V. Amiridis

Start date: 2019

Assigned by: European Space Agency
The objective of this project is to validate the Aeolus L2A cloud and aerosol spin-off
products (supplementary geophysical products) and the related instrument
calibration modes and algorithms. The validation will be performed with ground-
based Raman/polarization lidar instruments providing unbiased profiles of particle
extinction, optical depth, backscatter, extinction-to-backscatter ratio and linear and
circular depolarization ratios for clouds and aerosol at 355 nm. Simultaneous
measurements will be performed during the ground campaign planned to be carried
out at different geo locations. All the selected sites are members of the ACTRIS
European Infrastructure Network.

PI: V. Amiridis

Start date: 2019
Assigned by: European Space Agency
The objective of ACROSS is to perform thorough cal/val investigations on EarthCARE
products over Greece, a region well-known for its complex atmospheric
environment. The experiments will be designed such as to achieve the following core objectives:

1. to perform a thorough validation of the EarthCARE stand-alone
   aerosol and cloud products employing sophisticated ground-based remote sensors
   and spaceborne observations derived from passive and active satellite instruments;
2. to utilize the validated aerosol and cloud products in Radiative Transfer Model (RTM) simulations for depicting radiation and further intercompare with high-quality solar irradiance measurements at surface (ground-based actinometry) and at TOA (space-borne radiometers, including BBR);
3. to expand ESA-LIVAS for including EarthCARE aerosol, cloud and radiation products, and to utilize the RTM developed in step 2 in order to include CALIPSO-based radiation estimations in the existing ESA-LIVAS aerosol and cloud climatic dataset.