D3R

NASA Begins IPHEx Field Campaign
Rain, ice, hail, severe winds, thunderstorms, and heavy fog – the Appalachian Mountains in the southeast United States have it all. On May 1, NASA begins a campaign in western North Carolina to better understand the difficult-to-predict weather patterns of mountain regions. The field campaign serves as ground truth for measurements made by the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission's Core Observatory. GPM is an international satellite mission to observe rain and snow around the world. The advanced instruments on the GPM Core Observatory satellite, launched Feb. 27, provide the next...

D3R Radar Arrives at Wallops

NASA's D3R radar at Wallops Flight Facility. Shown, NASA engineer Manuel Vega NASA's Dual-frequency, Dual-polarization, Doppler Radar (D3R) was transferred from Goddard Space Flight Center to Wallops Flight Facility this week. D3R's dual frequencies match those of the GPM Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar ( DPR ). Some work to the D3R computing infrastructure will be performed at Wallops, and then the radar will be collocated with NASA's NPOL radar in Newark, MD. Ku (large) and Ka (small) antennas being readied for installation on radar pedestal. NASA technicians preparing for installation of

D3R Radar Arrives at Wallops

D3R Radar Arrives at Wallops
Image Caption
NASA's Dual-frequency, Dual-polarization, Doppler Radar (D3R) was transferred from GSFC to Wallops the week of 10/28/13.

D3R's dual frequencies match those of the GPM DPR radar.  Some work to the D3R computing infrastructure will be performed at Wallops, and then the radar will be collocated with NASA's NPOL radar in Newark, MD.  

PMM Article iFloods Banner
By Ellen Gray, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Original www.nasa.gov Feature (published 4/30/13) Ground data now being collected in northeastern Iowa by the Iowa Flood Studies experiment will evaluate how well NASA's Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission satellite rainfall data can be used for flood forecasting. GPM is an international satellite mission that will set a new standard for precipitation measurements from space, providing worldwide estimates of precipitation approximately every three hours. The GPM Core Observatory, provided by NASA and mission partner the Japan Aerospace...

Waiting for Snow

In the CARE operations trailer monitoring weather conditions during the DC-8 flights on 6 February 2012 at approximately 9pm EST. Gail Skofronick-Jackson is the Deputy Project Scientist for GPM at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. She specializes in the remote sensing of snow, and is currently the mission scientist for the campaign at the CARE ground site in Ontario, Canada. She writes to us about a night flight on February 6 and the snow that didn't show. Models showed quickly developing snow from 9-10pm EST tonight (6 Feb 2012). We are at 9:22 and we don't yet see snow in the

GCPEx Ground Instruments

Multiple GCPEx ground instruments at the CARE site.
Image Caption
Three GCPEx precipitation sensors with the Environment Canada building in the background, taken 7 February 2012.

Note the low snow amounts on the ground. Sensors left to right are: ADMIRARI (radiometer; U. Bonn), D3R (radar; NASA), DPR (radar; U. Koln). [This dual-precipitation radar (DRR) is not the same as to be on the GPM spacecraft.] 

Learn more about GCPEx

Three Days, Two Snowstorms

Joe Munchak is a scientist at Goddard Space Flight Center who specializes in remote sensing of snow. This week he is at the CARE site in Ontario as one of the operations scientists for the GCPEx ground validation. It’s been a relatively eventful few days here in Barrie, Ontario, with two coordinated air-ground campaigns over the past three days. I was actually driving to Barrie from my home in Maryland during the first event (January 28th), and got to experience some lake effect snow bands first-hand in northern Pennsylvania on my way up. These were very narrow, only a few miles wide, but