ADMIRARI

Snow - Must be Saturday! JacobAdmin Tue, 02/21/2012
Chris Kidd is a hydrologist at Goddard Space Flight Center. This week he is at the CARE site in Ontario and writes to us about this week's flights. Isn’t it strange how the best snow tends to occur on the same day of the week; when I was little it was always a Thursday. Last Saturday we had a good lake effect snowfall over Barrie (Ontario), this Saturday we had another 6 inches of snow. The forecast proved to accurate in terms of the timing; a 3:15 am start from the hotel to drive out to the field site and prepare for the days operations; the first flakes of snow started to fall as I arrived
Ground Radar and Citation at GCPEx
Radar on the ground with Citation in the sky
JacobAdmin Tue, 02/21/2012
Image Caption
The dual-frequency radar at the CARE site Friday, February 17th. The little spec in the sky is the Citation aircraft flying overhead.

More Snow Photos

NASA scientist Chris Kidd shared some of his photos from the last several days at GCPEx: The ADMIRARI instrument at the CARE site with blowing light snow (11 Feb 2012) Credit: NASA / Chris Kidd The radar at the CARE site with blowing light snow (11 Feb 2012) Credit: NASA / Chris Kidd The ADMIRARI instrument operating at the CARE site (11 Feb 2012) The lights on the instrument allows remote operators to keep and eye on any snow build up on the sensors that would affect the measurements. Credit: NASA / Chris Kidd Mission operations inside the CARE trailer – which can be very cold at times! (11

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.] 

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Laying the Groundwork - First Photos from the Field!

GPM's ground validation scientist, Walt Petersen sent us our first photos from the CARE site in Ontario, Canada. Snow's already on the ground, now we're just waiting for more to fall! The University of Bonn ADMIRARI Radiometer deployed at the CARE site. It measures microwaves that are naturally emitted from Earth's surface to determine water vapor and cloud and liquid water in the air column. Credit: NASA / Walt Petersen The NASA D3R radar deployed at the CARE site. This radar scans the air column for snow falling from the clouds to the ground. It uses two frequencies that together can