GPM Ground Validation Conical Scanning Millimeter-wave Imaging Radiometer (CoSMIR) MC3E

Table of Contents

Introduction

The Conical Scanning Millimeter-wave Imaging Radiometer (CoSMIR) data set for the Mid latitude Continental Convective Clouds Experiment (MC3E) plays the role as an airborne high-frequency simulator for the GPM Microwave Imager (GMI), which will launch in 2014. The CoSMIR was modified with a new scan mode to acquire both conical and cross-track scan data simultaneously in a given flight satisfying the requirements of the Precipitation Measurement Mission (PMM) algorithm development team. The data set provides well-calibrated radiometric data from 9 channels between 50-183GHz.

The Mid latitude Continental Convective Clouds Experiment (MC3E) took place in central Oklahoma during the April-June 2011 period. The experiment was a collaborative effort between the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Climate Research Facility and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission Ground Validation (GV) program. The field campaign leveraged the unprecedented observing infrastructure currently available in the central United States, combined with an extensive sounding array, remote sensing and in situ aircraft observations, NASA GPM ground validation remote sensors, and new ARM instrumentation purchased with American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding. The over arching goal was to provide the most complete characterization of convective cloud systems, precipitation, and the environment that has ever been obtained, providing constraints for model cumulus parameterization and space-based rainfall retrieval algorithms over land that had never before been available.

Further details on GPM MC3E are available at http://gpm.nsstc.nasa.gov/mc3e/. Information on MC3E ARM is available at http://campaign.arm.gov/mc3e/.

The airborne Conical Scanning Millimeter-wave Imaging Radiometer (CoSMIR) has 9 channels at the following frequencies: 50.3, 52.6, 89, 165.5, 183.3+-1, 183.3+-3 and 183.3+-7 GHz. All channels are horizontally polarized except 89 and 165.5 which are horizontal and vertical. The channel signals are sampled at 0.01 second intervals. There are two calibration targets: at ambient temperature and at ~328 degrees K. The scan modes available are a conical scan at angles from 0 to 53.6 degrees, across scan or a combination. The radiometric data has an accuracy on the order of +-1K. Further details on CoSMIR are available at http://atmospheres.gsfc.nasa.gov/meso/index.php?section=121.

Gail Skofronick-Jackson
Deputy Project Scientist for GPM
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, MD 20771

Bryan Monosmith
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, MD 20771

James R. Wang
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/
SSAI (Science Systems and Applications, Inc.)
Lanham, Maryland 20706

Data files are of the form:

MC3E_CoSMIR_yyyymmdd_[scan_mode].txt

where

MC3E = Mid latitude Continental Convective Clouds Experiment
CoSMIR = Conical Scanning Millimeter-wave Imaging Radiometer
yyyymmdd = year, month and day
scan_mode = conical forward (CONFWD), conical aft (CONAFT), or cross-track (CROSSTRCK)
txt = ASCII text

The GPM Ground Validation Conical Scanning Millimeter-wave Imaging Radiometer (CoSMIR) MC3E data set consists of daily ASCII files containing 10 second scans in both cross-track and conical scan modes. Each file includes a header to identify the columns of data.

Our data sets are provided through the NASA Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS) Project and the Global Hydrology Resource Center (GHRC) Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC). GHRC DAAC is one of NASA's Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) data centers that are part of the ESDIS project. ESDIS data are not copyrighted; however, in the event that you publish our data or results derived by using our data, we request that you include an acknowledgment within the text of the article and a citation on your reference list. Examples for general acknowledgments, data set citation in a reference listing, and crediting online web images and information can be found at: http://ghrc.nsstc.nasa.gov/uso/citation.html

References

J. R. Wang, P. E. Racette, J. E. Piepmeier, B. Monosmith, and W. Manning, "Airborne CoSMIR Observations Between 50 and 183 GHz over Snow-Covered Sierra Mountains," IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens., 45(1), 55-61, 2007.

J. R. Wang, P. E. Racette, and J. R. Piepmeier, "A comparison of Near Concurrent Measurements from the SSMIS and CoSMIR for some Selected Channels over the Frequency Range of 50-183 GHz," IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens., 46(4), 923-933, 2008.

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: ghrcdaac@itsc.uah.edu
Web: http://ghrc.nsstc.nasa.gov/