Dr. Sara Graves and Ken Keiser represented GHRC at the Earth Cube Real-time Workshop in Boulder, CO, June 17-18. The workshop was held at UCAR and sponsored by NSF. GHRC presentations covered data management, visualization and collaboration activities for GPM Ground Validation; data provenance tools developed for the AMSR-E SIPS at GHRC; and new data search and analysis technologies being developed in the GHRC Innovations Laboratory.
GHRC has published 4 satellite simulated orbit datasets for GPM Ground Validation research as part of the Global Precipitation Measurement mission. The GPM Ground Validation Satellite Simulator Orbits Database datasets are available for several campaigns: Light Precipitation Evaluation Experiment (LPVEX), Midlatitude Continental Convective Clouds Experiment (MC3E) , Canadian Cloudsat/Calipso Validation Project (C3VP), and Tropical Warm Pool - International Cloud Experiment (TWP-ICE). This orbital database takes account for the atmospheric profiles, the cloud/rain profiles, and the detailed surface/terrain information from the Cloud-Resolving Model (CRM) database. Unique geometry and antenna gain patters of each sensor (GMI imager, GMI sounder, DPR Ku, DPR Ka_MA, DPR Ka_HS) are considered. The Orbital database consists of satellite orbit parameters, geolocation of IFOV/EFOV and satellite location, and simulated L1B/L2-like parameters in satellite orbital grid. Orbital data covers a portion of sampling right over the Cloud-resolving model (CRM) domain. All orbital data format is NetCDF3, and contains dimensions, parameter descriptions, and parameter units. Each project's data is distributed as a separate dataset. MC3E occurred in Oklahoma, USA in 2011; LPVEX took place in Finland in 2010; C3VP experiment was held in Canada in 2007; and TWP-ICE took place in Australia in 2006.
Michael Goodman (NASA/MSFC; GHRC DAAC Manager) and Helen Conover (UAH/ITSC; GHRC Operations Manager) represented GHRC at the ESIP Federation Assembly, held in Chapel Hill, NC, July 9-12. As always, the meeting offered opportunities for valuable interactions with colleagues from NASA and other data systems. Mr. Goodman participated in sessions concerned with Earth science applications, information systems and computing, and natural disaster response. Ms. Conover participated in sessions addressing current issues in data stewardship, data discovery and metadata standards. She presented a poster entitled “GPM Ground Validation Field Campaigns: Collaboration and Data Management Tools.” GHRC-affiliated researchers Manil Maskey and Ajinkya Kulkarni (both UAH/ITSC) presented in the Disaster Response and Drupal Lab sessions, respectively. Mr. Maskey’s poster was “Coastal Hazards Event Drive Automated Data Aggregation, Processing and Delivery.” The GHRC team also attended an off-site, after-hours side meeting with NASA HQ at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park. Additional GHRC team members attended selected sessions remotely.
GHRC has published another GPM Cold-season Precipitation Experiment (GCPEx) dataset: GPM Ground Validation NASA Micro Rain Radar (MRR) GCPEx. This second generation MRR is a vertically pointing Doppler radar providing measurements of vertical velocity, drop size distribution, rainfall rate, attenuation, liquid water content, and reflectivity factor. The NASA MRR data was collected in Canada from late October 2011 through March 2013.
GHRC has completed publication of two GCPEX (Global precipitation mission Cold-season Precipitation EXperiment) datasets, GPM Ground Validation Autonomous Parsivel Unit (APU) GCPEx and GPM Ground Validation Pluvio Precipitation Gauge GCPEx. The GPM Ground Validation Autonomous Parsivel Unit (APU) GCPEx dataset collects data by an optical disdrometer based on single particle extinction that measures particle size and fall velocity. This APU consists of the Parsivel, which was developed by Ott Hydomet in Kempton, Germany, and its support systems, which were designed and built by the University of Alabama in Huntsville. The APU dataset for the GCPEX provides precipitation data including raindrop size and counts, precipitation drop size, rate and amount and snowflake size, counts and distribution. The GCPEx APU data was collected from several sites in Canada during the Winter 2011-2012 period.
GHRC has published the GPM Ground Validation Pluvio Precipitation Gauge GCPEx. The Pluvio rain gauge dataset contains both one minute measurement and a cumulative record of the accumulation and intensity for liquid, solid, and mixed precipitation collected during the GPM Cold-season Precipitation Experiment (GCPEx). GCPEx took place in Ontario, Canada during the Winter season December 2011- February 2012 where data was collected at five sites: Environment Centre for Atmospheric Research Experiments (CARE), Huronia, Steamshow, Skydive and Morton. The new generation Pluvio was designed by Ott Hydromet in Kempten, Germany.
GHRC added the GPM Ground Validation Two-Dimensional Video Disdrometer (2DVD) GCPEx dataset to its GPM GCPEX dataset collection. Collected from six sites in Ontario, Canada, the data contains daily ASCII files with information on individual snowflakes and hydrometeors, and also binary files preprocessed from raw camera data. Overall data dates range from 27 October 2011 through 27 February 2012 depending on the specific site. GHRC also has related 2DVD datasets for data from the LPVEX and MC3E experiments and data collected at the National Space Science and Technology Center (NSSTC).
GHRC has released the GPM Ground Validation Meteorological Tower Environment Canada GCPEx dataset as part of the GPM Cold-season Precipitation Experiment (GCPEx) where data was gathered over the Ontario region of Canada in 2012 from Jan 15 through March 1. This dataset provides temperature, relative humidity, 10m winds, pressure and solar radiation data collected by a suite of standard meteorological instruments attached to a 10m met tower. The observation station was assembled by Automated Transportable Meteorological Observation Station (ATMOS). Browse images are available on-line.
The initial phase of the Iowa Flood Studies field campaign has begun. IFloodS is the first of several hydrology-oriented field efforts that the GPM Ground Validation (GV) program is conducting. GHRC is providing a collaboration portal for the field campaign team to exchange data and information including instrument status, mission science reports, weather forecasts and preliminary science data. We have already begun collecting instrument data and model output for the region. More instruments will come online throughout April in preparation for the official start of the campaign on May 1. During the field campaign, access to the collaboration portal and quicklook data is restricted to team members. We expect to begin receiving and publishing quality controlled data products from the mission in approximately six months.
GHRC published four guides for instruments participating in GPM Cold-season Precipitation Experiment (GCPEx): GPM Ground Validation Airborne Second Generation Precipitation Radar (APR-2) GCPEx,GPM Ground Validation Conical Scanning Millimeter-wave Imaging Radiometer (CoSMIR) GCPEx, GPM Ground Validation UND Citation Navigation Data GCPEX and GPM Ground Validation DC-8 Camera Nadir GCPEx. The APR-2 is a a dual-frequency (13 GHz and 35 GHz), Doppler, dual-polarization radar system measuring doppler velocity, precipitation rate, radar backscatter and reflectivity. As an airborne high-frequency simulator emulating the GPM Microwave Imager (GMI), CoSMIR measures brightness temperature and microwave radiance. GCPEX occurred in Ontario, Canada during January-February 2012. The UND Citation Navigation dataset documents the navigation data for the cloud microphysics instruments that it carried. The DC -8 Camera Nadir dataset contains geo-located visible-wavelength imagery of the ground obtained from the nadir camera aboard the NASA DC-8 for the clear-air flight day February 20, 2012; these images may be useful for determining snow cover and lake ice cover for emissivity studies in conjunction with CoSMIR data.
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