Ground Validation

This document provides a basic set of documentation for the data products available from the GPM Ground Validation System (GVS) Validation Network (VN). In the GPM era the VN performs a direct match-up of GPM’s space-based Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) data with ground radar data from the U.S. network of NOAA Weather Surveillance Radar-1988 Doppler (WSR-88D, or “NEXRAD”). Ground radar networks from international partners are also part of the VN.

This excerpt from the NASA Earth Observer publication provides and in-depth summary of the Midlatitude Continental Convective Clouds Experiment (MC3E), which took place from April 22nd - June 6th 2011 in central Oklahoma. The overarching goals of the field effort were to provide a complete three-dimensional characterization of precipitation microphysics in the context of improving the reliability of GPM precipitation retrievals over land, and to advance understanding of the primary physical components that form the basis for models that simulate convection and clouds.

During the GPM pre-launch period physically-based snowfall retrieval algorithms are in an active phase of development. Further refinement and testing of these emerging algorithms requires the collection of targeted ground-validation datasets in snowing environments. This document describes a field campaign effort designed to provide both new datasets and physical insights related to the snowfall process- especially as they relate to the incorporation of appropriate physics into GPM snowfall retrieval algorithms.

Presentation of CSU's 2-Dimensional Video Disdrometer for the Canadian CloudSat/CALIPSO Validation Programme

Report of the 1st International GPM GV Requirements Workshop.

To improve the fidelity of radiometer-based rainfall estimates over land at short temporal and spatial scales, the Global Precipitation Measurement mission (GPM) requires development of physically-based passive microwave (PMW) precipitation retrieval algorithms anchored by dual-frequency precipitation radar (DPR) drop size distribution (DSD), hydrometeor profile and rain rate retrievals.

A complete understanding of the Earth’s hydrologic cycle necessarily dictates an ability to accurately quantify the global range of precipitation rates and types (rain, snow etc.). In turn, global observations of precipitation are most efficiently made from space. Great strides in the measurement of global tropical rainfall have occurred recently as a result of the NASA Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission (TRMM).

n all, 9 snowfall events were observed during IOP-3. All of these events were observed by the King City radars, 8 of the events were observed by the University of Massachusetts 3-frequency (W-, Ka, and Ku-band) Advanced Multi-Frequency Radar (AMFR), and 3 of the events were also observed with Convar-580 overflights.

This document is a case summary of the dates, times, snowfall types, and instruments used during these 9 IOP-3 snowfall events.

Parsivel Distrometer Results presented at the American Geophysical Union, Spring 2007.

A series of measurements at the CARE site from the 2DVD instrument.