The GPM Ground Validation NCAR Cloud Microphysics Particle Probes GCPEx data was collected during the GPM Cold-season Precipitation Experiment (GCPEx), which occurred in Ontario, Canada during the winter season of 2011 through 2012. GCPEx addressed shortcomings in the GPM snowfall retrieval algorithm by collecting microphysical properties, associated remote sensing observations, and coordinated model simulations of precipitating snow. The GPM Ground Validation NCAR Cloud Microphysics Particle Probes GCPEx dataset was obtained from three instruments carried aboard the University of North Dakota (UND) Cessna Citation aircraft. These probes, the 2D-C, Cloud Imaging Probe (CIP) and High Volume Precipitation Spectrometer (HVPS-3), collected particle size distributions and particle images which were processed by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). Data were collected January 16, 2012 through February 25, 2012. A related cloud microphysics dataset, GPM Ground Validation UND Citation Cloud Microphysics GCPEx is also available.

The GPM Ground Validation NCAR Cloud Microphysics Particle Probes MC3E dataset was collected during the Midlatitude Continental Convective Clouds Experiment (MC3E), which took place in central Oklahoma during the April-June 2011 period. The overarching 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. The GPM Ground Validation NCAR Cloud Microphysics Particle Probes MC3E dataset was obtained from three instruments carried aboard the University of North Dakota (UND) Cessna Citation aircraft. These probes, the 2D-C, Cloud Imaging Probe (CIP) and High Volume Precipitation Spectrometer (HVPS-3), collected particle size distributions and particle images which were processed by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). Data were collected April 22, 2011 through June 2, 2011.

The GPM Ground Validation Cloud Spectrometer and Impactor (CIP) LPVEx dataset provides particle size spectra for the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Misson Ground Validation Experiment. Data was collected by the Cloud spectrometer and impactor (CIP) and 2D-S (2-dimensional stereo probe) aboard the University of Wyoming King Air flown in Finland during the Light Precipitation Validation Experiment (LPVEx) from August to October 2010. Lat, lon, altitude, pressure, and temperature are provided with the total concentration of particles with diameter greater than 100 microns.

The GPM Ground Validation NASA EPFL-LTE Parsivel DSD Data Lausanne, Switzerland dataset consists of a network of 16 Parsivel disdrometers deployed on the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) campus in Lausanne, Switzerland for about 16 months from March 2009 to July 2010. The distribution of the disdrometers was to cover a typical operational radar pixel (about 1x1 km2). Since all the stations were not deployed at the same time, additional data are available from November 2008 to September 2010. The dataset also consists of a list of precipitation events that occurred throughout the study period. There are two types of data, raw data and filtered volumic drop size distribution data. These data are in ASCII (.dat, .txt) format that are compressed into .gz files.

The GPM Ground Validation Cloud Physics Lidar (CPL) OLYMPEX dataset consists of extinction profiles, layer optical depth, layer lidar ratio, and aircraft parameter measurements measured by the CPL flown on the NASA ER-2 aircraft during the Global Precipitation Mission (GPM) Olympic Mountains Experiment (OLYMPEX) campaign. The CPL instrument is a multi-wavelength backscatter lidar that provides multi-wavelength measurements of cirrus and aerosols with high temporal and spatial. Data files are available from November 9, 2015 through December 15, 2015 in HDF-5 format with layer information in ASCII text files. Browse imagery files in GIF format contain optical depth and flight path images.