The GPM Ground Validation Oklahoma Climatological Survey Mesonet MC3E data were collected during the Midlatitude Continental Convective Clouds Experiment (MC3E) 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 parameterizations and space-based rainfall retrieval algorithms over land that had never before been available. Collected by a network of weather stations, this dataset is composed of 15 minute and 5 minute files with one file per site per day in mts format. Data can be read as ASCII text. Multiple parameters found in this dataset include relative humidity, air temperature, wind speed and direction, precipitation and calibrated soil moisture. More information on the contents and data format can be found at http://www.mesonet.org/index.php/site/about/mdf_mts_files.

The GPM Ground Validation NOAA Surface Meteorological Station MC3E dataset was collected at the NOAA Southern Great Plains Facility for the Midlatitude Continental Convective Clouds Experiment (MC3E) and includes measurements of wind speed, wind direction, temperature, humidity and precipitation. 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 parameterizations and space-based rainfall retrieval algorithms over land that had never before been available. The instruments gathering this data were respectively a propeller wind monitor located 10 meters above the ground, a temperature and humidity sensor at the ground, and a tipping rain gauge at the ground. These data were collected from April 5, 2011 to June 7, 2011.

The GPM Ground Validation NOAA Parsivel MC3E dataset was collected in central Oklahoma during the Midlatitude Continental Convective Clouds Experiment (MC3E) from April 5, 2011 through June 6, 2011. The NOAA Parsivel dataset includes processed data consisting of either moment data (e.g., reflectivity and rain rate estimates) or raindrop number concentration estimates; the data provided a reference reflectivity to calibrate the S-band profiler during the experiment. The moment data includes 1-minute resolution estimates of rain rate, reflectivity, and other parameters related to the health of the Parsivel instrument. The raindrop number concentration data are also at 1-minute resolution and are the result of converting the observed raindrop passing the sensor into the number of raindrops expected in a unit volume per diameter interval. Both the moment data and the number concentration data were saved in daily files in ASCII format. Daily images were also generated from the Parsivel observations and contain the 1-minute reflectivity, rain rate, and number concentration N(D); browse images are saved in TIF format.

The GPM Ground Validation Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Images MC3E dataset consists of browse only images showing radar reflectivity, radar echo top, convective available potential energy (CAPE), temperature, geopotential height, wind speed, relative humidity, rain water, snow, cloud water, cloud ice, and graupel. These data were simulated by the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) for the period of the GPM Ground Validation Mid-latitude Continental Convective Cloud Experiment (MC3E) field campaign. The overarching goal of the MC3E field campaign was to provide the most complete characterization of convective cloud systems, precipitation, and the environment ever obtained and to provide new constraints for model cumulus parameterizations and space-based rainfall retrieval algorithms over land. Browse imagery files in PNG and GIF formats are available for April 19, 2011 through June 6, 2011.

The GPM Ground Validation Albert Head (AHD) Ground Meteorological Station (MET) OLYMPEX dataset consists of precipitation rate, reflectivity, pressure, temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, and wind direction data which were measured by the MET station instruments operated by the Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) and located in Albert Head, B.C., Canada. The MET station was comprised of a Vaisala FD12P Visibility Sensor, an OTT Parsivel2 Present Weather Sensor, an OTT Pluvio2 Precipitation Gauge, and a Vaisala WXT520 Weather Transmitter. The MET Station was also co-located with a CAX-1 radar to compare measurements from the MET station with the radar scans. These MET Station data files are available from November 13, 2015 through January 17, 2016 in ASCII-CSV and XML formats, with daily browse images of precipitation rate plots in PNG format.

The GPM Ground Validation NASA ER-2 Navigation Data MC3E dataset contains information recorded by an on board navigation recorder (NavRec). In addition to typical navigation data (e.g. date, time, lat/lon and altitude) it contains outside meteorological parameters such as wind speed, wind direction, and temperature. These ASCII text files were recorded every second for the length of the flight. The Flight Summaries and Flight Track Imagery dataset which includes sonde maps, radar animation, and 5-minute KICT track snapshots is distributed with this dataset.

GPM GV Parsivel UConn

The GPM Ground Validation Upper Air Radiosonde OLYMPEX dataset was collected from October 28, 2015 through January 16, 2016 during the GPM Ground Validation Olympic Mountain Experiment (OLYMPEX) held on the Olympic Peninsula in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. Radiosondes were released from 5 locations: 3 in US - KSLE, KUIL, and NPOL site; and 2 in Canada - ECCC instrument site and CYZT. A total of 651 radiosondes were launched and collected during OLYMPEX from these sites. In addition, Level 4 dropsonde data were reprocessed to match the Level-4 data format and content of the radiosonde files and is also provided here. The dropsondes were released from the NASA DC-8 aircraft during specific flights in December 2015 and are published as the AVAPS dataset. This Upper Air Radiosonde dataset contains Level 0 through Level 4 data containing dew point temperature, pressure, air temperature, relative humidity, horizontal wind speed, vertical wind speed, wind direction, rise or drop rate, and geopotential height measurements. The data files are available in ASCII, ASCII-EOL, and netCDF-3 formats, as well as Skew-T and time series plots in PNG format. The lower level datasets (Level 0 raw data through Level 2 data) are only available upon request from the NASA GHRC DAAC.

The GPM Ground Validation UNCA Upper Air Radiosonde IPHEx dataset was collected from April 29, 2014 through June 12, 2014 during the GPM Ground Validation Integrated Precipitation and Hydrology Experiment (IPHEx) held in North Carolina. The goal of IPHEx was to characterize warm season orographic precipitation regimes and the relationship between precipitation regimes and hydrologic processes in regions of complex terrain. These radiosonde data files include pressure, geometric height, temperature, relative humidity, dew point temperature, wind direction, and wind speed measurements at various levels of the troposphere. The data are available in ASCII-tsv format files, and browse imagery are available as Portable Network Graphics (PNG) format files.

The GPM Ground Validation NOAA UHF 449 Profiler MC3E dataset was collected during the NASA supported Midlatitude Continental Convective Clouds Experiment (MC3E). 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 parameterizations and space-based rainfall retrieval algorithms over land that had never before been available. The Ultra High Frequency 449 MHz profiler was one of three NOAA deployed instruments which also included a Parsivel and a 2.8 GHz profiler (S-Band). The 449 MHz profiler raw data files provide estimates of the vertical air motion during precipitation from near the surface to just below the freezing level. Used together with the S-band profiler, vertical profiles of raindrop size distributions can be retrieved. The raw 449MGx profiler data consists of uncalibrated Doppler velocity spectra data in units of relative power return.