GPM Ground Validation MC3E Field Campaign Data Collection

The Global Precipitation Measurement mission Ground Validation (GPM GV) campaign used a variety of methods for validation of GPM satellite constellation measurements prior to and after launch of the GPM Core Satellite, which launched on February 27, 2014. The instrument validation effort included 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, and disdrometers). These field campaigns accounted for the majority of the effort and resources expended by GPM GV. More information about the GPM mission is at https://pmm.nasa.gov/GPM/.

The Midlatitude Continental Convective Clouds Experiment (MC3E) was a GPM GV field campaign which took place in central Oklahoma during April-June 2011. MC3E used a multi-scale observing strategy with the participation of a network of distributed sensors (both passive and active). The objective was to document and monitor in 3D not only precipitation, but also clouds, winds, and moisture in an attempt to provide a holistic view of convective clouds, their environment, and any associated feedbacks. 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) GPM GV program and consisted of measurements from the observing infrastructure currently available in the central United States, an extensive set of sounding array, remote sensing, and in situ aircraft observations, data from the NASA GPM GV remote sensors, and a new ARM instrumentation purchased with American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding. The measurements have provided newly available constraints for model cumulus parameterizations and space-based rainfall retrieval algorithms over land. Table 1 shows AMPR MC3E flight times. Further details on GPM MC3E are available at https://ghrc.nsstc.nasa.gov/home/field-campaigns/mc3e and http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/rain-campaign.html.