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GPM Ground Validation Pluvio Precipitation Gauge Field Campaign: LPVEx Table of Contents
The Pluvio Precipitation gauge does continuous, automatic measurement of liquid and solid precipitation using a high resolution electronic weighing system. This dataset contains both one minute measurement and a cumulative record of the accumulation and intensity for liquid, solid, and mixed precipitation. The new generation Pluvio was designed by OTT Hydromet in Kempten, Germany. Pluvio data is gathered from multiple field experiments as part of the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission Ground Validation campaign.. The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission Ground Validation (GV) campaign will use a variety of methods for validation of GPM satellite constellation measurements prior to launch of the GPM Core Satellite, which is currently scheduled for July 2013. The validation effort will entail numerous GPM-specific and joint-agency/international external field campaigns, using state of the art cloud and precipitation observational infrastructure (polarimetric radars, profilers, rain gauges, disdrometers). Surface rainfall will be measured by very dense rain gauge and disdrometer networks at various field campaign sites. These field campaigns will account for the majority of the effort and resources expended by Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission Ground Validation (GV). LPVEx The Light Precipitation Evaluation Experiment (LPVEx) took place in September and October 2010 in the Gulf of Finland to characterize the ability of CloudSat, the Global Precipitation Mission (GPM) Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR), and existing/planned passive microwave (PMW) sensors such as the GPM microwave imager (GMI) to detect light rain and evaluate their estimates of rainfall intensity in high latitude, shallow freezing level environments. The experiment leveraged in situ microphysical property measurements, coordinated remote sensing observations, and cloud resolving model simulations of high latitude precipitation systems to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of precipitation algorithms for current and future satellite platforms. The campaign will use these measurements to better understand the process of light rainfall formation at high latitudes and augment the currently limited database of light rainfall microphysical properties that form the critical assumptions at the root of satellite retrieval algorithm.The Pluvio data files provide 1 minute measurements of rainfall, total rainfall for a continuous period of precipitation, and total liquid water equivalent measured from snowfall observations. Information concerning coordinates and related instrumentation can be found in the LPVEx_Dataset_summary document. The Pluvio instruments were located at 3 sites in Finland: Harmaja, Emasalo, and Jarvenpaa. The coordinates of these sites are:
The Pluvio Precipitation Gauge is a high resolution electronic weighing system, which does continuous, automatic measurement of liquid and solid precipitation. The weight of precipitation in the collecting container is measured by an electronic weighting load cell, using the balance principle. Liquid or solid precipitation is measured immediately with no time delay for melting of solid precipitation. The new OTT Pluvio² reliably and accurately measures both the amount and the intensity of liquid, solid, and mixed precipitation. There are filter algorithms to compensate for influences of wind, temperature,and evaporation. This instrument has a very robust design which resists adverse environmental conditions and protects the load cell from impacts Data are available in 3 types of files: 1 minute measurements from Pluvio, raintable and snowtable. The one-minute data are raw measurement files and are level 1A; the raintable and snowtable files are level 3. The naming conventions respectively are
where,
All pluvio files are available in ASCII format . The 1 minute files are level 1A and the raintable and snowtable files are level 3. These levels are defined further on NASA's EOSDIS data processing levels web page. Specific information about the Pluvio precipitation gauge (as listed below) can be found in the following PI supplied document: The 1 minute raw data measurements have the following format with comma separated fields:
Raintable file contain the total amount of rainfall measured for a continuous period of precipitation, and the snowfall table files measure the total liquid water equivalent from snowfall observations. These files have a similar format.
The data producers are:
To order these data or for further information, please contact:
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