EUMETNET's E-PROFILE network for thermodynamic profiling and the detection of airborne hazards

EUMETNET's E-PROFILE programme aims to gather, centrally process and deliver profiles of wind, temperature, humidity and aerosols including volcanic ash in near real-time. It consists of a data hub to collect process and distribute data while the instruments are owned and operated by EUMETNET members as well as partners from academia and industry. As of today, E-PROFILE integrates operationally 30 radar wind profilers and more than 400 automatic lidars and ceilometers (ALC) producing profiles of wind speed and direction and attenuated backscatter coefficient, respectively. Most radar wind profilers are assimilated into ECMWF's Integrated Forecasting System (IFS) and an extensive analysis of Forecast Sensitivity to Observation (FSO) data from ECMWF confirms the positive impact of those data on the forecast quality.  ALC data are calibrated centrally by E-PROFILE using natural atmospheric targets and provide a basic yet quantitative information of aerosols including volcanic ash and durst, which are considered airborne hazards for aviation. With more than 400 operational sites, E-PROFILE's ALC network is a valuable complement to satellite observations and surface based research lidar networks. In the current programme phase (2019 - 2023) we are working on an advanced processing chain to retrieve aerosol extinction coefficients and aerosol mass concentration from ALCs to better meet the user requirements. Finally, E-PROFILE has been tasked to integrate microwave radiometers and Doppler lidars and to collect, process and distribute temperature, humidity and wind measurements from these instruments. This new component of the E-PROFILE programme aims at filling the observational gap in the atmospheric boundary layer.  We present briefly the operational components of E-PROFILE, give a detailed update on the ongoing developments and highlight how E-PROFILE serves NWP and informs about airborne hazards.