The Active Sensors Team is advancing SDL-developed technologies with the Tropospheric Wind LIDAR Technology Experiment (TwiLiTE).

TwiLiTE profiles winds through the complete troposphere from high-altitude aircraft. These profiles, critical for numerical weather prediction and atmospheric dynamics analysis, are in high demand by the operational weather community. The profiles are also vital to research of the global hydrologic cycle, aerosols, and trace species.

This NASA program will fly for two years aboard a WB-57 research aircraft; both NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) will be involved as TwiLiTEbuilds towards global capability in spaceborne systems.

Drawing of the TwiLiTE sensor