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DOCUMENTATION

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GPM Ground Validation Dual-frequency Dual-polarized Doppler Radar (D3R)
Field Campaigns: GCPEx, IFloodS

Table of Contents

Introduction
Citation
     GCPEx
     IFloodS
Campaign
     GCPEx
     IFloodS
Instrument Description
Investigators
File Naming Convention
     GCPEx
     IFloodS
Data Format
References
Contact Information

Introduction

The GPM Ground Validation Dual-frequency Dual-polarized Doppler Radar (D3R) GCPEx and IFloodS data sets contain radar reflectivity and doppler velocity measurements. The D3R was developed by a government-industry-academic consortium with funding from NASA's Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Project. It operates at the ku (13.91 GHz ± 25 MHz) and ku (35.56 GHz ± 25 MHz) frequencies covering a fixed range from 450 m to 39.75 km. The D3R was first deployed in the Mid-Latitude Continental Convective Clouds Experiment (MC3E) field campaign during April and May of 2011. The instrument's data is available in .nc netCDF file format.

Citation

The following example shows how to cite the use of this data set in a publication. For more information, please see our Citing GHRC DAAC and Data page.

GCPEx

Chandrasekar, V. GPM Ground Validation Dual-frequency Dual-polarized Doppler Radar (D3R) GCPEx [indicate subset used]. Data set available online [http://ghrc.nsstc.nasa.gov/] from the NASA EOSDIS Global Hydrology Resource Center Distributed Active Archive Center Huntsville, Alabama, U.S.A. doi: 10.5067/GPMGV/GCPEX/D3R/DATA101

IFloodS

Chandrasekar, V. GPM Ground Validation Dual-frequency Dual-polarized Doppler Radar (D3R) IFloodS [indicate subset used]. Data set available online [http://ghrc.nsstc.nasa.gov/] from the NASA EOSDIS Global Hydrology Resource Center Distributed Active Archive Center Huntsville, Alabama, U.S.A. doi: 10.5067/GPMGV/IFLOODS/D3R/DATA101

Campaign

GCPEx

The GPM Cold-season Precipitation Experiment (GCPEx) occurred in Ontario, Canada during the winter season of 2011-2012. GCPEx addressed shortcomings in the GPM snowfall retrieval algorithm by collecting microphysical properties, associated remote sensing observations, and coordinated model simulations of precipitating snow. These data sets were collected to aid in the achievement of the over arching goal of GCPEx which is to characterize the ability of multi-frequency active and passive microwave sensors to detect and estimate falling snow.

During GCPEx, the Dual-frequency Dual-polarized Doppler Radar was located at the CARE site in Ontario, Canada. The coordinates of the d3r's location are: Lat: 44°13'57.4"N, Lon: 79°46'54.1"W.

Data was collected from January 13, 2012 to February 29, 2012. Further details on GCPEx are available at http://gpm.nsstc.nasa.gov/gcpex.

IFloodS

The Iowa Flood Studies (IFloodS) campaign was a ground measurement campaign that took place in eastern Iowa from May 1 to June 15, 2013. The goals of the campaign were to collect detailed measurements of precipitation at the Earth's surface using ground instruments and advanced weather radars and, simultaneously, collect data from satellites passing overhead. The ground instruments characterized precipitation -- the size and shape of raindrops, the physics of ice and liquid particles throughout the cloud and below as it falls, temperature, air moisture, and distribution of different size droplets -- to improve rainfall estimates from the satellites, and in particular the algorithms that interpret raw data for the upcoming Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission's Core Observatory satellite, which launches in 2014.

During IFloodS, the Dual-frequency Dual-polarized Doppler Radar was located near Traer, Iowa (Lat: 42°16'5.0"N, Lon: -92°30'34.0"W).

Data was collected from May 9, 2013 to June 13, 2013. Further details on the IFloodS campaign are available at http://gpm.nsstc.nasa.gov/ifloods. Additional information about the Iowa Flood Center can be found at http://iowafloodcenter.org.

Instrument Description

The Dual-frequency Dual-polarized Doppler Radar (D3R), developed with funding from NASA's Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Project, is a fully polarimetric, scanning weather radar system which provides estimations of hydrometeor classification and drop size distribution retrievals. The first generation D3R design comprises of two separate co- aligned single-frequency antenna units mounted on a common pedestal with a dual-frequency dual-polarized solid- state transmitter. The D3R operates at the ku (13.91 GHz ± 25 MHz) and ka (35.56 GHz ± 25 MHz) frequencies covering a fixed range from 450 m to 39.75 km. These frequencies where selected for close compatibility with the GPM Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) instrument onboard the GPM Core Observatory satellite.

More detailed information on the Dual-frequency Dual-polarized Doppler Radar is available at http://ghrc.nsstc.nasa.gov/uso/ds_docs/gpmgv/d3r/PMM_D3R.pdf, http://ghrc.nsstc.nasa.gov/uso/ds_docs/gpmgv/d3r/Chandra_D3R_igarss_2010.pdf, and http://ghrc.nsstc.nasa.gov/uso/ds_docs/gpmgv/d3r/Vega_D3R_igarss_2010.pdf. The requirements document for Mobile Ka-/Ku-band Radar is available at http://ghrc.nsstc.nasa.gov/uso/ds_docs/gpmgv/d3r/GVS_KaKu_Radar_dex.pdf.

Investigators

V. Chandrasekar
Colorado State University
Fort Collins, CO 80523

Rob Beauchamp
Colorado State University
Fort Collins, CO 80523

File Naming Convention

GCPEx

The GPM Ground Validation Dual-frequency Dual-polarized Doppler Radar (D3R) GCPEx data set consists of .nc netCDF files. The files are named with the following convention:

gcpex_d3r_ku_YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS_##.nc
gcpex_d3r_ka_YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS_##.nc

where,

gcpex = GPM Cold-season Precipitation Experiment
d3r = Dual-frequency Dual-polarized Doppler Radar
ku, ka = the frequencies 13.91 GHz ± 25 MHz and 35.56 GHz ± 25 MHz, respectively
YYYYMMDD = the year, month and day of the data (e.g., 20120209)
HHMMSS = the time of day (UTC)
nc = netCDF file

IFloodS

The GPM Ground Validation Dual-frequency Dual-polarized Doppler Radar (D3R) IFloodS data set consists of .nc netCDF files. The files are named with the following convention:

ifloods_d3r_ku_YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS_##.nc
ifloods_d3r_ka_YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS_##.nc

where,

ifloods = Iowa Flood Studies
d3r = Dual-frequency Dual-polarized Doppler Radar
ku, ka = the frequencies 13.91 GHz ± 25 MHz and 35.56 GHz ± 25 MHz, respectively
YYYYMMDD = the year, month and day of the data (e.g., 20130509)
HHMMSS = the time of day (UTC)
nc = netCDF file

These files contain radar reflectivity and Doppler velocity measurements throughout the study period.

Data Format

The GPM Ground Validation Dual-frequency Dual-polarized Doppler Radar (D3R) GCPEx and IFloodS data sets are available in netCDF format.

References

Chandrasekar, V., Schwaller, Mathew R., Vega, Manuel, Carswell, James R., Mishra, Kumar Vijay, Meneghini, Robert and Nguyen, Cuong . "Scientific and engineering overview of the NASA Dual-Frequency Dual-Polarized Doppler Radar (D3R) system for GPM Ground Validation." Paper presented at the meeting of the IGARSS, 2010. doi: 10.1109/IGARSS.2010.5649440

Vega, Manuel, Carswell, James R., Chandrasekar, V., Schwaller, Mathew R. and Mishra, Kumar Vijay. "Realization of the NASA Dual-Frequency Dual-Polarized Doppler Radar (D3R)." Paper presented at the meeting of the IGARSS, 2010. doi: 10.1109/IGARSS.2010.5653929

Contact Information

To order these data or for further information, please contact:

Global Hydrology Resource Center
User Services
320 Sparkman Drive
Huntsville, AL 35805
Phone: 256-961-7932
E-mail: support-ghrc@earthdata.nasa.gov
Web: http://ghrc.nsstc.nasa.gov/

 

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