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A unique Rayleigh-Mie Doppler lidar capable of wind measurements in the 5-50 km altitude range is operated routinely at La Reunion island (21° S, 55° E) since 2015. We evaluate instrument’s capacities in capturing fine structures in stratospheric wind profiles and their temporal and spatial variability through comparison with collocated radiosoundings and ECMWF analysis. Perturbations in the wind velocity are used to retrieve gravity wave frequency spectrum.

A unique Rayleigh-Mie Doppler wind lidar, measuring Doppler shift between the emitted and backscattered light using directdetection technique is deployed at Observatory of Haute Provence Southern France) and at Reunion island (tropical Indian Ocean). The instrument was shown capable of wind measurements between 5 and 50 km with accuracy better than 1 m/s up to 30 km. The system consists of a monomode Nd:Yag laser operating at 532 nm, three telescopes and a double-edge Fabry-Perot interferometer. The laser light is sent alternatively in the vertical as well as zonal and meridional directions at 40° from the zenith using a rotating mirror. The two components of the horizontal wind are obtained from the measurement of the Doppler shift of the return signal spectrally filtered by the Fabry-Perot etalon. After demonstration of the method in 1989 the measurements were used for studying stratospheric dynamics as well as for constructing wind climatology up to 50 km altitude. A new system, featuring a more compact design was installed at Maïdo observatory at Reunion Island (21° S). The design of the instrument, results of observations and comparison against GPS radiosondes are presented. Application of Doppler lidar for validation of the future ADM-Aeolus satellite mission is discussed as well.