The VITAL (Vertical profiling of the troposphere: Innovation, opTimization and AppLication) concept is part of the Hans Ertel Centre for Weather Research and focuses on novel observations of the vertical structure of the troposphere. It is a joint networking effort of four HErZ projects, DWD observational and modeling experts, as well as diverse external partners. The concept consists of two measurement campaigns: VITAL I and VITAL II.

The VITAL I campaign took place in August 2024 at the Jülich Observatory for Cloud Evolution (JOYCE). It generated vertical profiling data sets in the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) to assess instruments and methods for the next-generation DWD observational network, including Uncrewed Aerial Systems (UAS), water vapor lidar and microwave radiometer. The observations were compared against satellite data, Doppler lidar, radiosondes and data from a 120m meteorological tower. VITAL I also participated in the core phase of the 2024 world-wide WMO UAS Demonstration campaign with two small UAS applying a novel, improved wind and turbulence estimation technique. During VITAL I, an international summer school was held at JOYCE to educate students from the Bachelor to PhD level in Modern Methods in Atmospheric Profiling. For more information see the  VITAL Website.

Goals of VITAL I (2024, Jülich):

• Acquisition of a comprehensive data set of vertical profile measurements using state-of-the-art methods
• Application of new evaluation algorithms for remote sensing data
• Testing of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) for vertical profiling and combination with ground and satellite-based measurements
• Providing data for improving the DWD observation system
• Training of young researchers in state-of-the-art measurement methods as part of the HErZ Summer School 2024 (more information here and there)

Measuring instruments:

• Raman Lidar and Differential Absorption Lidar (DIAL)
• Doppler lidar profiling of winds and turbulence
• Passive remote sensing from the ground (microwave radiometer)
• Regular UAS profiling of winds, turbulence, water vapor and temperature
• Regular radiosonde ascents
• more

Data access: The data collected will be linked here as soon as it is available. If you are interested in preliminary data sets from VITAL I, please contact the HIRES-APP Team.