Ellen Gray

GPM Completes First Dry Run

By Ellen Gray , NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Original www.nasa.gov Press Release (published 10/17/12) NASA's Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory satellite went through its first complete comprehensive performance test (CPT), beginning on Oct. 4, 2012 at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. The testing ran twenty-four hours, seven days a week and lasted ten days as the entire spacecraft was put through its paces. "This is the first time we've gotten to see the observatory all put together, running the way it's supposed to be running in flight," said CPT
Engineers working on the GPM Core Observatory
By Ellen Gray , NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Original www.nasa.gov Article (published 10/17/12) NASA's Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory satellite went through its first complete comprehensive performance test (CPT), beginning on Oct. 4, 2012 at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. The testing ran twenty-four hours, seven days a week and lasted ten days as the entire spacecraft was put through its paces. "This is the first time we've gotten to see the observatory all put together, running the way it's supposed to be running in flight," said CPT Test...
The NPOL radar and a Summer Tanger
By Ellen Gray , NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Original www.nasa.gov Press Release (published 6/7/12) NASA and Nature Conservancy Agreement Supports [no-glossary]Precipitation[/no-glossary] and Migratory Bird Research The NASA NPOL radar is a research grade S-band, scanning dual-polarimetric radar. It underwent a complete antenna system upgrade in 2010 and is one of two fully transportable research-grade S-band systems in the world. It is used to make accurate volumetric measurements of precipitation including rainfall rate, particle size distributions, water contents and precipitation type...
JAXA Launches GCOM-W1 Satellite JacobAdmin Fri, 05/18/2012
Congratulations to our partner, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), for the successful launch yesterday of the Global Change Observation Mission 1st - Water (GCOM-W1). GCOM-W1 carries the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 (AMSR2) which successfully deployed its antenna on orbit. AMSR2 will detect microwave radiation to measure sea surface temperature, sea surface wind speed, sea ice concentration, snow depth, soil moisture, water vapor, cloud liquid water, and precipitation. GCOM-W1 will be a part of the GPM constellation, contributing its measurements to the GPM global data

Handover of Japan-built Radar to NASA

By Ellen Gray, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Original www.nasa.gov Press Release (published 4/3/12) On March 30, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) officially handed off a new satellite instrument to NASA at Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. The Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) was designed and built by JAXA and Japan's National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NTSpace). JAXA DPR Project Manager Masahiro Kojima (seated left) formally signed over the DPR to GPM Project Manager Art Azarbarzin (seated right). Behind from left to right: Minoru
NASA and JAXA officials at the DPR signing event
By Ellen Gray, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Original www.nasa.gov Press Release (published 4/3/12) On March 30, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) officially handed off a new satellite instrument to NASA at Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. The Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) was designed and built by JAXA and Japan's National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT). JAXA DPR Project Manager Masahiro Kojima (seated left) formally signed over the DPR to GPM Project Manager Art Azarbarzin (seated right). Behind from left to right: Minoru...
Document Description

This excerpt from the March-April 2012 edition of The Earth Observer provides a summary of the activities at the PMM Science Team Meeting which took place from November 7 - 10 2011. The meeting brought together over 150 participants from 10 countries, and included representatives from NASA, JAXA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), universities, industry, and other international partner agencies.

Six Week GCPEx Campaign Concludes

February 29 marked the last day of the GPM Cold Season Experiment. After six weeks of no snow, light snow, rain, and some nice heavy snowstorms, the GCPEx team is heading home. The ADMIRARI instrument at the CARE site with blowing light snow (11 Feb 2012) Credit: NASA / Chris Kidd The campaign ended with a big storm last Friday, February 24th, that put all three planes in the air over an eight hour period. They captured a wide array of different types of snow and rain from Eastern New York as the DC-8 flew in from Maine to north of the CARE site in Huronia and Georgian Bay, off of Lake Huron
GPM Instruments Undergo Pre-Ship Review JacobAdmin Wed, 02/22/2012
GMI Pre-Ship Review On January 30th and 31st, 2012, the GPM Microwave Imager (GMI) underwent its Pre-Shipment Review at Ball Aerospace in Boulder, Colorado. The GMI has successfully completed acoustic testing, vibration testing, and electromagnetic and thermal vacuum testing at the Ball facility. The instrument will be delivered to Goddard Space Flight Center on February 29th and will be integrated onto the GPM Core Observatory satellite over the coming year. This multi-channel, conical-scanning, microwave radiometer will provide an integrated view of precipitation over 13 different microwave

Lake Effect Parking

Over the weekend, GCPEx had its first large lake effect snow, which put 2 inches down at the CARE site. Chris Kidd, Operations Scientist for GCPEx this week, said in an email, "We were feeling rather poorly done-by at CARE due to the lack of snow there. However, we cheered up as we got back to Barrie [12 miles up the road where the GCPEx team is staying]. About 12+ inches here!" Parking lot at the GCPEx team's hotel in Barrie, Ontario. They were very excited to be buried in a foot of snow. Credit: NASA / Chris Kidd Lake effect snow forms when cold winds pick up moisture and energy as they pass