On 17 June 2020, Aeolus will activate a new range bin setting, QBO2020 that will support the investigation of the Quasi-Biennial Oscillation (QBO) over the Tropical belt.

Aeolus is uniquely equipped to monitor a significant disruption to the QBO that has been steadily intensifying since late 2019. The disruption is characterised by a thin easterly layer developing in the lower stratosphere coupled with an overlying westerly jet moving gradually upwards, countering the expected downward propagation of the current easterly QBO phase. To capture this unusual feature and track its evolution, the vertical range bin settings will be modified to increase sampling in the tropics up to 25 km.

QBO2020 will be activated once a week for 24 hours only, from Wednesday, 01:00 am UTC to Thursday, 01:15 am UTC. This time period was chosen to best cover the Aeolus overpass for the Singapore Cal/Val ground station.

The new range bin setting will support the research into the QBO disruption conducted by a team of scientists from the UK Met Office, NASA, the University of Oxford, the University of Bath and Environment Canada, led by Scott Osprey from the National Centre for Atmospheric Science (NCAS) and Tim Banyard from the University of Bath.