The algorithm for the Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for GPM (IMERG) has now been upgraded to Version 06. The transition to V05 for the IMERG Final Run began 13 March 2019 at PPS and the new data started flowing down to the GES DISC as well. However, on 15 March 2019 an error was discovered in processing the initial batches of V06 IMERG Final Run months. A design choice in the code ended up retaining microwave precipitation estimates in the latitude band 60°N-S when there is snow/ice on the surface, rather than masking out the estimates due to low performance in such cases.

Users have requested a “simple” quality index (QI) to give some guidance on when they should most trust the Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for GPM (IMERG). While the goal is reasonable, there is no agreement about how this quantity should be defined. After some discussion within the team, two distinctly different quality indices were chosen for the half-hourly and monthly data fields (QIh and QIm, respectively) for implementation in Version 05 and continued in V06.

NASA produces a GIS translation of IMERG for various accumulation periods. The GIS translation maintains the 0.1-degree spatial resolution of the original HDF5 data product. In July 2023, Version 7 IMERG was released in both HDF5 and GIS formats. In April 2019, Version 6 of IMERG had been released, covering June 2000 to 2019. The long- duration archive for all versions starting with Version 6 is a boon to scientific research and provides a training set for near real-time applications such as disaster monitoring.