Overview of GPM Missions's Ground Validation Program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, Eric A.; Mugnai, Alberto; Nakamura, Kenji

2004-01-01

An important element of the internationally structured Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission will be its ground validation research program. Within the last year, the initial architecture of this program has taken shape. This talk will describe that architecture, both in terms of the international program and in terms of the separate regional programs of the principle participating space agencies, i.e., ESA, JAXA, and NASA. There are three overriding goals being addressed in the planning of this program; (1) establishing various new, challenging and important scientific research goals vis-a-vis current ground validation programs supporting satellite retrieval of precipitation; (2) designing the program as an international partnership which operates, out of necessity, heterogeneous sites in terms of their respective observational foci and science thrusts, but anneals itself in terms of achieving a few overarching scientific objectives; and (3) developing a well-designed protocol that allows specific sites or site networks, at their choosing, to operate in a 'supersite' mode - defined as the capability to routinely transmit GV information at low latency to GPM's Precipitation Processing System (PPS). (The PPS is being designed as GPM's data information system, a distributed data system with main centers at the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) within NASA, the Earth Observation Research Center (EORC) within JAXA, and a TBD facility to be identified by the ESA s ESTEC facility in Noordwijk.)

Definition of International GPM GV Research Program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, Eric A.

2003-01-01

The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission will consist of a constellation of rain-measuring satellites, the main member of which (the core satellite) will serve as the measurement reference to the other members of the constellation. The core satellite is being developed jointly by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the newly-named Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA -- previously NASDA) along with its government partner, the Communications Research Laboratory (CRL). The GPM mission was proposed as a follow-up mission to the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) by both NASA and NASDA based on the unparalleled scientific success of TRMM, and has recently been joined by the European Space Agency (ESA) via its formulation of the European GPM mission (i.e., EGPM). GPM is an ambitious mission designed to produce accurate and frequent global observations of precipitation (both rain and snow) made possible by replacing the TRMM satellite with the new core satellite carrying an advanced radar-radiometer system, and serving as the centerpiece for the constellation of some eight (8) additional satellites being provided through international cooperation. The core satellite is to be flown up to high latitudes (inclined some 65-70 degrees), and will carry a Ku/Ka-band, nadir-scanning, dual-frequency precipitation radar (DPR) that is being developed by JAXA and CRL, along with a large aperture, extended frequency-range, conically-scanning passive microwave radiometer being developed by NASA and its industrial partners. Each constellation satellite will also carry some type of multi-channel passive microwave radiometer (as well as a multi-beam Ka-band radar in the case of EGPM) whose rain estimates will be calibrated and referenced to those made by the core satellite, producing for the first time fully-global, continuous, and bias-free precipitation datasets. GPM data will be delivered in near-realtime, taking a major step toward the operational use of precipitation information for model initialization and data assimilation in a number of application areas such as hazardous weather forecasting, flood warning, fresh water resource assessment, and crop growth prediction. In addition, GPM data will complement the now-existing global temperature record, allowing for improved assessments of climate change, particularly those processes in which the global water cycle both forces and responds to climatic drifts in global temperature conditions. A foremost element of this international constellation mission is a parallel international ground validation (GV) network. This GV network is needed to determine uncertainties in the rain retrievals, critical for application of the retrieval information in weather and hydrometeorological modeling and climate diagnostics, as well as assurances that the satellite retrievals of surface rainfall are consistent with those actually measured at the surface. The key aspects of this network is that it must be worldwide and created through the GPM partnership process. Therefore the network will consist of a confederation of government agencies, academic organizations, private institutions, and individual scientists from a collection of nations who have initiated the process by gathering in Abingdon to develop the fundamentals of the international GPM GV research programme. Therefore in keeping with our responsibilities as the front-runners of the programme, the main objectives of this workshop are: (1) to present and share opinions on interests, perspectives, and concerns about GPM GV research; (2) to examine the conceptual and/or planned GPM GV site templates from NASA, NASDA, ESA, and other partners; (3) to define the main scientific objectives of the international GPM GV research programme; (4) to formulate a preliminary set of international GPM GV science and measurement requirements; and (5) to convene a Steering Committee to aid the organization of the GPM GV program, to document its science implementation plans, and to aid planning for follow-up GPM GV meetings.

Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission: Overview and Status

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hou, Arthur Y.

2012-01-01

The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission is an international satellite mission specifically designed to unify and advance precipitation measurements from a constellation of research and operational microwave sensors. NASA and JAXA will deploy a Core Observatory in 2014 to serve as a reference satellite to unify precipitation measurements from the constellation of sensors. The GPM Core Observatory will carry a Ku/Ka-band Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) and a conical-scanning multi-channel (10-183 GHz) GPM Microwave Radiometer (GMI). The DPR will be the first dual-frequency radar in space to provide not only measurements of 3-D precipitation structures but also quantitative information on microphysical properties of precipitating particles. The DPR and GMI measurements will together provide a database that relates vertical hydrometeor profiles to multi-frequency microwave radiances over a variety of environmental conditions across the globe. This combined database will be used as a common transfer standard for improving the accuracy and consistency of precipitation retrievals from all constellation radiometers. For global coverage, GPM relies on existing satellite programs and new mission opportunities from a consortium of partners through bilateral agreements with either NASA or JAXA. Each constellation member may have its unique scientific or operational objectives but contributes microwave observations to GPM for the generation and dissemination of unified global precipitation data products. In addition to the DPR and GMI on the Core Observatory, the baseline GPM constellation consists of the following sensors: (1) Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder (SSMIS) instruments on the U.S. Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) satellites, (2) the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer-2 (AMSR-2) on the GCOM-W1 satellite of JAXA, (3) the Multi-Frequency Microwave Scanning Radiometer (MADRAS) and the multi-channel microwave humidity sounder (SAPHIR) on the French-Indian MeghaTropiques satellite, (4) the Microwave Humidity Sounder (MHS) on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)-19, (5) MHS instruments on MetOp satellites launched by the European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT), (6) the Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS) on the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) Preparatory Project (NPP), and (7) ATMS instruments on the NOAA-NASA Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) satellites. Data from Chinese and Russian microwave radiometers may also become available through international collaboration under the auspices of the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) and Group on Earth Observations (GEO). The current generation of global rainfall products combines observations from a network of uncoordinated satellite missions using a variety of merging techniques. GPM will provide "next-generation" precipitation products characterized by: (1) more accurate instantaneous precipitation estimate (especially for light rain and cold-season solid precipitation), (2) intercalibrated microwave brightness temperatures from constellation radiometers within a consistent framework, and (3) unified precipitation retrievals from constellation radiometers using a common a priori hydrometeor database constrained by combined radar/radiometer measurements provided by the GPM Core Observatory. GPM is a science mission with integrated applications goals. GPM will provide a key measurement to improve understanding of global water cycle variability and freshwater availability in a changing climate. The DPR and GMI measurements will offer insights into 3-dimensional structures of hurricanes and midlatitude storms, microphysical properties of precipitating particles, and latent heat associated with precipitation processes. The GPM mission will also make data available in near realtime (within 3 hours of observations) forocietal applications ranging from position fixes of storm centers, numerical weather prediction, flood forecasting, freshwater management, landslide warning, crop prediction, to tracking of water-borne diseases. An overview of the GPM mission design, retrieval strategy, ground validation activities, and international science collaboration will be presented.

Science Formulation of Global Precipitation Mission (gpm)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smith, Eric A.

In late 2001, the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission was approved as a new start by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The new mission, which is now in its formulation phase, is motivated by a number of scientific questions that are posed over a range of space and time scales that generally fall within the discipline of the global water and energy cycle (GWEC), although not restricted to that branch of research. Recognizing that satellite rainfall datasets are now a foremost tool for understanding global climate variability out to decadal scales and beyond, for improving weather forecasting, and for producing better predictions of hydrometeorological processes including short-term hazardous flooding and seasonal fresh water resources assessment, a comprehensive and internationally-sanctioned global measuring strategy has led to the GPM mission. The GPM mission plans to expand the scope of rainfall measurement through use of a multi-member satellite constellation that will be contributed by a number of world nations. This talk overviews the GPM scientific research program that has been fostered within NASA, then focuses on scientific progress that is being made in various areas in the course of the mission formulation phase that are of interest to the Natural Hazards scientific community. This latter part of the talk addresses research issues that have become central to the GPM science implementation plan concerning the rate of the global water cycling, cloud macrophysical-microphysical processes of flood-producing storms, and the general improvement in measuring precipitation at the fundamental microphysical level.

Science Formulation of Global Precipitation Mission (GPM)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, Eric A.; Mehta, Amita; Shepherd, Marshall; Starr, David O. (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

In late 2001, the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission was approved as a new start by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The new mission, which is now in its formulation phase, is motivated by a number of scientific questions that are posed over a range of space and time scales that generally fall within the discipline of the global water and energy cycle (GWEC), although not restricted to that branch of research. Recognizing that satellite rainfall datasets are now a foremost tool for understanding global climate variability out to decadal scales and beyond, for improving weather forecasting, and for producing better predictions of hydrometeorological processes including short-term hazardous flooding and seasonal fresh water resources assessment, a comprehensive and internationally sanctioned global measuring strategy has led to the GPM mission. The GPM mission plans to expand the scope of rainfall measurement through use of a multi-member satellite constellation that will be contributed by a number of world nations. This talk overviews the GPM scientific research program that has been fostered within NASA, then focuses on scientific progress that is being made in various areas in the course of the mission formulation phase that are of interest to the Natural Hazards scientific community. This latter part of the talk addresses research issues that have become central to the GPM science implementation plan concerning the rate of the global water cycling, cloud macrophysical-microphysical processes of flood-producing storms, and the general improvement in measuring precipitation at the fundamental microphysical level.

Towards the Development of a Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission Concept

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shepherd, Marshall; Starr, David OC. (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

The scientific success of the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) and additional satellite-focused precipitation retrieval projects have paved the way for a more advanced global precipitation mission. A comprehensive global measuring strategy is currently under study - Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM). The GPM study could ultimately lead to the development of the Global Precipitation Mission. The intent of GPM is to address looming scientific questions arising in the context of global climate-water cycle interactions, hydrometeorology, weather prediction and prediction of freshwater resources, the global carbon cycle, and biogeochemical cycles. This talk overviews the status and scientific agenda of this proposed mission currently planned for launch in the 2007-2008 time frame. GPM is planning to expand the scope of precipitation measurement through the use of a constellation of 6-10 satellites, one of which will be an advanced TRMM-like "core" satellite carry dual-frequency Ku-Ka band radar and a microwave radiometer (e.g. TMI-like). The other constellation members will likely include new lightweight satellites and co-existing operational/research satellites carrying passive microwave radiometers. The goal behind the constellation is to achieve no worse than 3-hour sampling at any spot on the globe. The constellation's orbit architecture will consist of a mix of sun-synchronous and non-su n -synchronous satellites with the "core" satellite providing measurement of cloud-precipitation microphysical processes plus "training calibrating" information to be used with the retrieval algorithms for the constellation satellite measurements. The GPM is organized internationally, currently involving a partnership between NASA in the US, NASDA in Japan, and ESA in Europe (representing the European community). The program is expected to involve additional international partners, other federal agencies, and a diverse collection of scientists from academia, government, and the private sector.

Applications and Outreach for the Global Precipitation Measurement mission

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Janney, D. W.; Kirschbaum, D.

2017-12-01

Too much or too little rain can serve as a tipping point for triggering catastrophic flooding and landslides or widespread drought. Knowing when, where and how much rain is falling globally is vital to understanding how people may be more or less impacted by disasters, the spread of water or vector-borne disease, or crop shortages. The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission provides near real-time precipitation data worldwide that is used by a broad range of end users, from tropical cyclone forecasters to agricultural modelers to researchers evaluating the spread of diseases. The GPM mission has an active applications and outreach program designed to engage and work closely with user communities across a broad spectrum of societal benefit areas with the goal of extending the application of GPM and other NASA data to support decision making. This presentation will outline some examples of how GPM has been engaging with the user community, highlighting some past and planned initiatives with specific organizations and across several thematic areas.

Precipitation Estimation Using Combined Radar/Radiometer Measurements Within the GPM Framework

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hou, Arthur

2012-01-01

The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission is an international satellite mission specifically designed to unify and advance precipitation measurements from a constellation of research and operational microwave sensors. The GPM mission centers upon the deployment of a Core Observatory in a 65o non-Sun-synchronous orbit to serve as a physics observatory and a transfer standard for intersatellite calibration of constellation radiometers. The GPM Core Observatory will carry a Ku/Ka-band Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) and a conical-scanning multi-channel (10-183 GHz) GPM Microwave Radiometer (GMI). The DPR will be the first dual-frequency radar in space to provide not only measurements of 3-D precipitation structures but also quantitative information on microphysical properties of precipitating particles needed for improving precipitation retrievals from microwave sensors. The DPR and GMI measurements will together provide a database that relates vertical hydrometeor profiles to multi-frequency microwave radiances over a variety of environmental conditions across the globe. This combined database will be used as a common transfer standard for improving the accuracy and consistency of precipitation retrievals from all constellation radiometers. For global coverage, GPM relies on existing satellite programs and new mission opportunities from a consortium of partners through bilateral agreements with either NASA or JAXA. Each constellation member may have its unique scientific or operational objectives but contributes microwave observations to GPM for the generation and dissemination of unified global precipitation data products. In addition to the DPR and GMI on the Core Observatory, the baseline GPM constellation consists of the following sensors: (1) Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder (SSMIS) instruments on the U.S. Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) satellites, (2) the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer-2 (AMSR-2) on the GCOM-W1 satellite of JAXA, (3) the Multi-Frequency Microwave Scanning Radiometer (MADRAS) and the multi-channel microwave humidity sounder (SAPHIR) on the French-Indian Megha- Tropiques satellite, (4) the Microwave Humidity Sounder (MHS) on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)-19, (5) MHS instruments on MetOp satellites launched by the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT), (6) the Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS) on the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) Preparatory Project (NPP), and (7) ATMS instruments on the NOAA-NASA Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) satellites. Data from Chinese and Russian microwave radiometers may also become available through international collaboration under the auspices of the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) and Group on Earth Observations (GEO). The current generation of global rainfall products combines observations from a network of uncoordinated satellite missions using a variety of merging techniques. GPM will provide next-generation precipitation products characterized by: (1) more accurate instantaneous precipitation estimate (especially for light rain and cold-season solid precipitation), (2) intercalibrated microwave brightness temperatures from constellation radiometers within a consistent framework, and (3) unified precipitation retrievals from constellation radiometers using a common a priori hydrometeor database constrained by combined radar/radiometer measurements provided by the GPM Core Observatory.

Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) and International Space Station (ISS) Coordination for CubeSat Deployments to Minimize Collision Risk

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pawloski, James H.; Aviles, Jorge; Myers, Ralph; Parris, Joshua; Corley, Bryan; Hehn, Garrett; Pascucci, Joseph

2016-01-01

The Global Precipitation Measurement Mission (GPM) is a joint U.S. and Japan mission to observe global precipitation, extending the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), which was launched by H-IIA from Tanegashima in Japan on February 28TH, 2014 directly into its 407km operational orbit. The International Space Station (ISS) is an international human research facility operated jointly by Russia and the USA from NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston Texas. Mission priorities lowered the operating altitude of ISS from 415km to 400km in early 2105, effectively placing both vehicles into the same orbital regime. The ISS has begun a program of deployments of cost effective CubeSats from the ISS that allow testing and validation of new technologies. With a major new asset flying at the same effective altitude as the ISS, CubeSat deployments became a serious threat to GPM and therefore a significant indirect threat to the ISS. This paper describes the specific problem of collision threat to GPM and risk to ISS CubeSat deployment and the process that was implemented to keep both missions safe from collision and maximize their project goals.

Towards the Development of a Global Precipitation Measurement Mission Concept

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shepherd, J. M.

2001-12-01

The scientific success of the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) and additional satellite-focused precipitation retrieval projects have paved the way for a more advanced global precipitation mission. A comprehensive global measuring strategy is currently under study-Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM). The GPM study could ultimately lead to the development of the Global Precipitation Mission. The intent of GPM is to address looming scientific questions arising in the context of global climate-water cycle interactions, hydrometeorology, weather prediction and prediction of freshwater resources, the global carbon cycle, and biogeochemical cycles. This talk overviews the status and scientific agenda of this proposed mission currently planned for launch in the 2007-20008 time frame. GPM is planning to expand the scope of precipitation measurement through the use of a constellation of 6-10 satellites, one of which will be an advanced TRMM-like "core" satellite carry dual-frequency Ku-Ka band radar and a microwave radiometer (e.g. TMI-like). The other constellation members will likely include new lightweight satellites and co-existing operational/research satellites carrying passive microwave radiometers. The goal behind the constellation is to achieve no worse than 3-hour sampling at any spot on the globe. The constellation's orbit architecture will consist of a mix of sun-synchronous and non-sun-synchronous satellites with the "core" satellite providing measurement of cloud-precipitation microphysical processes plus "training calibrating" information to be used with the retrieval algorithms for the constellation satellite measurements. The GPM is organized internationally, currently involving a partnership between NASA in the US, NASDA in Japan, and ESA in Europe (representing the European community). The program is expected to involve additional international partners, other federal agencies, and a diverse collection of scientists from academia, government, and the private sector.

Supporting Hydrometeorological Research and Applications with Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Products and Services

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Liu, Zhong; Ostrenga, D.; Vollmer, B.; Deshong, B.; MacRitchie, K.; Greene, M.; Kempler, S.

2016-01-01

Precipitation is an important dataset in hydrometeorological research and applications such as flood modeling, drought monitoring, etc. On February 27, 2014, the NASA Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission was launched to provide the next-generation global observations of rain and snow (http:pmm.nasa.govGPM). The GPM mission consists of an international network of satellites in which a GPM Core Observatory satellite carries both active and passive microwave instruments to measure precipitation and serve as a reference standard, to unify precipitation measurements from a constellation of other research and operational satellites. The NASA Goddard Earth Sciences (GES) Data and Information Services Center (DISC) hosts and distributes GPM data. The GES DISC is home to the data archive for the GPM predecessor, the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM). GPM products currently available include the following:1. Level-1 GPM Microwave Imager (GMI) and partner radiometer products2. Goddard Profiling Algorithm (GPROF) GMI and partner products (Level-2 and Level-3)3. GPM dual-frequency precipitation radar and their combined products (Level-2 and Level-3)4. Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for GPM (IMERG) products (early, late, and final run)GPM data can be accessed through a number of data services (e.g., Simple Subset Wizard, OPeNDAP, WMS, WCS, ftp, etc.). A newly released Unified User Interface or UUI is a single interface to provide users seamless access to data, information and services. For example, a search for precipitation products will not only return TRMM and GPM products, but also other global precipitation products such as MERRA (Modern Era Retrospective-Analysis for Research and Applications), GLDAS (Global Land Data Assimilation Systems), etc.New features and capabilities have been recently added in GIOVANNI to allow exploring and inter-comparing GPM IMERG (Integrated Multi-satelliE Retrievals for GPM) half-hourly and monthly precipitation products as well as other precipitation products such as TRMM, MERRA, NLDAS, GLDAS, etc. GIOVANNI is a web-based tool developed by the GES DISC, to visualize and analyze Earth science data without having to download data and software. During the GPM era, the GES DISC will continue to develop and provide data services for supporting applications. We will update and enhance existing TRMM applications (Current Conditions, the USDA Crop Explorer, etc.) with higher spatial resolution IMERG products. In this presentation, we will present GPM data products and services with examples.

Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-02-22

NASA GPM Safety Quality and Assurance, Shirley Dion, and, NASA GPM Quality and Assurance, Larry Morgan, monitor the all-day launch simulation for the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory at the Spacecraft Test and Assembly Building 2 (STA2), Saturday, Feb. 22, 2014, Tanegashima Space Center (TNSC), Tanegashima Island, Japan. Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) plans to launch an H-IIA rocket carrying the GPM Core Observatory on Feb. 28, 2014. The NASA-JAXA GPM spacecraft will collect information that unifies data from an international network of existing and future satellites to map global rainfall and snowfall every three hours. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Comparison of satellite precipitation products with Q3 over the CONUS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, J.; Petersen, W. A.; Wolff, D. B.; Kirstetter, P. E.

2016-12-01

The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) is an international satellite mission that provides a new-generation of global precipitation observations. A wealth of precipitation products have been generated since the launch of the GPM Core Observatory in February of 2014. However, the accuracy of the satellite-based precipitation products is affected by discrete temporal sampling and remote spaceborne retrieval algorithms. The GPM Ground Validation (GV) program is currently underway to independently verify the satellite precipitation products, which can be carried out by comparing satellite products with ground measurements. This study compares four Day-1 GPM surface precipitation products derived from the GPM Microwave Imager (GMI), Ku-band Precipitation Radar (KU), Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) and DPR-GMI CoMBined (CMB) algorithms, as well as the near-real-time Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for GPM (IMERG) Late Run product and precipitation retrievals from Microwave Humidity Sounders (MHS) flown on NOAA and METOPS satellites, with the NOAA Multi-Radar Multi-Sensor suite (MRMS; now called "Q3"). The comparisons are conducted over the conterminous United States (CONUS) at various spatial and temporal scales with respect to different precipitation intensities, and filtered with radar quality index (RQI) thresholds and precipitation types. Various versions of GPM products are evaluated against Q3. The latest Version-04A GPM products are in reasonably good overall agreement with Q3. Based on the mission-to-date (March 2014 - May 2016) data from all GPM overpasses, the biases relative to Q3 for GMI and DPR precipitation estimates at 0.5o resolution are negative, whereas the biases for CMB and KU precipitation estimates are positive. Based on all available data (March 2015 - April 2016 at this writing), the CONUS-averaged near-real-time IMERG Late Run hourly precipitation estimate is about 46% higher than Q3. Preliminary comparison of 1-year (2015) MHS precipitation estimates with Q3 shows the MHS is bout 30% lower than Q3. Detailed comparison results are available at http://wallops-prf.gsfc.nasa.gov/NMQ/.

GPM Ground Validation: Pre to Post-Launch Era

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Petersen, Walt; Skofronick-Jackson, Gail; Huffman, George

2015-04-01

NASA GPM Ground Validation (GV) activities have transitioned from the pre to post-launch era. Prior to launch direct validation networks and associated partner institutions were identified world-wide, covering a plethora of precipitation regimes. In the U.S. direct GV efforts focused on use of new operational products such as the NOAA Multi-Radar Multi-Sensor suite (MRMS) for TRMM validation and GPM radiometer algorithm database development. In the post-launch, MRMS products including precipitation rate, accumulation, types and data quality are being routinely generated to facilitate statistical GV of instantaneous (e.g., Level II orbit) and merged (e.g., IMERG) GPM products. Toward assessing precipitation column impacts on product uncertainties, range-gate to pixel-level validation of both Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) and GPM microwave imager data are performed using GPM Validation Network (VN) ground radar and satellite data processing software. VN software ingests quality-controlled volumetric radar datasets and geo-matches those data to coincident DPR and radiometer level-II data. When combined MRMS and VN datasets enable more comprehensive interpretation of both ground and satellite-based estimation uncertainties. To support physical validation efforts eight (one) field campaigns have been conducted in the pre (post) launch era. The campaigns span regimes from northern latitude cold-season snow to warm tropical rain. Most recently the Integrated Precipitation and Hydrology Experiment (IPHEx) took place in the mountains of North Carolina and involved combined airborne and ground-based measurements of orographic precipitation and hydrologic processes underneath the GPM Core satellite. One more U.S. GV field campaign (OLYMPEX) is planned for late 2015 and will address cold-season precipitation estimation, process and hydrology in the orographic and oceanic domains of western Washington State. Finally, continuous direct and physical validation measurements are also being conducted at the NASA Wallops Flight Facility multi-radar, gauge and disdrometer facility located in coastal Virginia. This presentation will summarize the evolution of the NASA GPM GV program from pre to post-launch eras and place focus on evaluation of year-1 post-launch GPM satellite datasets including Level II GPROF, DPR and Combined algorithms, and Level III IMERG products.

Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission Products and Services at the NASA Goddard Earth Sciences (GES) Data and Information Services Center (DISC)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ostrenga, D.; Liu, Z.; Vollmer, B.; Teng, W. L.; Kempler, S. J.

2014-12-01

On February 27, 2014, the NASA Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission was launched to provide the next-generation global observations of rain and snow (http://pmm.nasa.gov/GPM). The GPM mission consists of an international network of satellites in which a GPM "Core Observatory" satellite carries both active and passive microwave instruments to measure precipitation and serve as a reference standard, to unify precipitation measurements from a constellation of other research and operational satellites. The NASA Goddard Earth Sciences (GES) Data and Information Services Center (DISC) hosts and distributes GPM data within the NASA Earth Observation System Data Information System (EOSDIS). The GES DISC is home to the data archive for the GPM predecessor, the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM). Over the past 16 years, the GES DISC has served the scientific as well as other communities with TRMM data and user-friendly services. During the GPM era, the GES DISC will continue to provide user-friendly data services and customer support to users around the world. GPM products currently and to-be available include the following: Level-1 GPM Microwave Imager (GMI) and partner radiometer products Goddard Profiling Algorithm (GPROF) GMI and partner products Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for GPM (IMERG) products (early, late, and final) A dedicated Web portal (including user guides, etc.) has been developed for GPM data (http://disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/gpm). Data services that are currently and to-be available include Google-like Mirador (http://mirador.gsfc.nasa.gov/) for data search and access; data access through various Web services (e.g., OPeNDAP, GDS, WMS, WCS); conversion into various formats (e.g., netCDF, HDF, KML (for Google Earth), ASCII); exploration, visualization, and statistical online analysis through Giovanni (http://giovanni.gsfc.nasa.gov); generation of value-added products; parameter and spatial subsetting; time aggregation; regridding; data version control and provenance; documentation; science support for proper data usage, FAQ, help desk; monitoring services (e.g. Current Conditions) for applications. In this presentation, we will present GPM data products and services with examples.

Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-02-23

A NASA Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission shirt is seen drying in the mid-day sun outside the Sun Pearl Hotel where many of the NASA GPM team are staying, Sunday, Feb. 23, 2014, Tanegashima Island, Japan. A Japanese H-IIA rocket carrying the NASA-Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory is planned for launch from the space center on Feb. 28, 2014. Once launched, the GPM spacecraft will collect information that unifies data from an international network of existing and future satellites to map global rainfall and snowfall every three hours. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

The Global Precipitation Mission

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Braun, Scott; Kummerow, Christian

2000-01-01

The Global Precipitation Mission (GPM), expected to begin around 2006, is a follow-up to the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM). Unlike TRMM, which primarily samples the tropics, GPM will sample both the tropics and mid-latitudes. The primary, or core, satellite will be a single, enhanced TRMM satellite that can quantify the 3-D spatial distributions of precipitation and its associated latent heat release. The core satellite will be complemented by a constellation of very small and inexpensive drones with passive microwave instruments that will sample the rainfall with sufficient frequency to be not only of climate interest, but also have local, short-term impacts by providing global rainfall coverage at approx. 3 h intervals. The data is expected to have substantial impact upon quantitative precipitation estimation/forecasting and data assimilation into global and mesoscale numerical models. Based upon previous studies of rainfall data assimilation, GPM is expected to lead to significant improvements in forecasts of extratropical and tropical cyclones. For example, GPM rainfall data can provide improved initialization of frontal systems over the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. The purpose of this talk is to provide information about GPM to the USWRP (U.S. Weather Research Program) community and to discuss impacts on quantitative precipitation estimation/forecasting and data assimilation.

The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission: Overview and U.S. Science Status

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hou, Arthur Y.; Skofronick-Jackson, Gail; Stocker, Erich F.

2013-04-01

The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission is a satellite mission specifically designed to unify and advance precipitation measurements from a constellation of research and operational microwave sensors provided by a consortium of international partners. NASA and JAXA will deploy a Core Observatory in 2014 to serve as a reference satellite for precipitation measurements by the constellation sensors. The GPM Core Observatory will carry a Ku/Ka-band Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) and a conical-scanning multi-channel (10-183 GHz) GPM Microwave Radiometer (GMI). The DPR, the first dual-frequency radar in space, will provide not only measurements of 3-D precipitation structures but also quantitative information on microphysical properties of precipitating particles. The DPR and GMI measurements will together provide a database that relates vertical hydrometeor profiles to multi-frequency microwave radiances over a variety of environmental conditions across the globe. This combined database will serve as a common transfer standard for improving the accuracy and consistency of precipitation retrievals from all constellation radiometers. In addition to the Core Observatory, the GPM constellation consists of (1) Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder (SSMIS) instruments on the U.S. Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) satellites, (2) the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer-2 (AMSR-2) on the GCOM-W1 satellite of JAXA, (3) the Multi-Frequency Microwave Scanning Radiometer (MADRAS) and the multi-channel microwave humidity sounder (SAPHIR) on the French-Indian Megha-Tropiques satellite, (4) the Microwave Humidity Sounder (MHS) on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellites (POES), (5) MHS instruments on MetOp satellites launched by the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT), (6) the Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS) on the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) Preparatory Project (NPP), and (7) ATMS instruments on the NOAA-NASA Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) satellites. Each constellation member may have its unique scientific or operational objectives but contributes microwave observations to GPM for the generation and dissemination of unified global precipitation data products. Currently global rainfall products combine observations from a network of uncoordinated satellite missions using a variety of merging techniques. GPM is designed to provide the next-generation of precipitation products characterized by: (1) more accurate instantaneous precipitation estimate (especially for light rain and cold-season solid precipitation), (2) intercalibrated microwave brightness temperatures from constellation radiometers within a consistent framework, and (3) unified precipitation retrievals from constellation radiometers using a common a priori hydrometeor database consistent with combined radar/radiometer measurements by the GPM Core Observatory. As a science mission with integrated applications goals, GPM will advance the understanding of global water cycle variability in a changing climate by offering insights into 3-dimensional structures of hurricanes and midlatitude storms, microphysical properties of precipitating particles, and latent heat associated with precipitation processes. The GPM Mission will also make data available in near realtime (within 3 hours of observations) for societal applications ranging from position fixes of storm centers, numerical weather prediction, flood forecasting, freshwater management, landslide warning, crop prediction, to tracking of water-borne diseases. This presentation will give an overview of the GPM mission and its development status approximately one-year prior to launch.

Evaluation of GPM candidate algorithms on hurricane observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Le, M.; Chandrasekar, C. V.

2012-12-01

The observation of precipitation on a global scale by the Tropical Rain Measuring Mission (TRMM) precipitation radar (PR) and has enabled a large scale study of precipitation over ocean, especially tropical storms. The three-dimensional downward-looking observation characteristic of the TRMM-PR makes it possible to study the vertical structure of tropical storms. The global precipitation measuring mission (GPM) will be the second mission following the success of TRMM. The GPM Mission extends tropical storm tracking and forecasting capabilities into the middle and high latitudes, covering the area from 65° S to 65°N. This orbit will provide new insight into how and why some tropical storm intensify and others weaken as they move from tropical to mid-latitude systems. The GPM core satellite will be equipped with a dual-frequency precipitation radar (DPR) operating at K_u (13.6 GHz) and K_a (35.5 GHz) band. DPR on aboard the GPM core satellite is expected to improve our knowledge of precipitation processes relative to the single-frequency (K_u band) radar used in TRMM by providing greater dynamic range, more detailed information on microphysics, and better accuracies in rainfall retrievals. New K_a band channel observation of DPR will help to improve the detection thresholds for light rain and snow relative to TRMM PR [1]. The dual-frequency signals will allow us to better distinguish regions of liquid, frozen, and mixed-phase precipitation. In the GPM era, storms could be better tracked and characterized. In support the NASA GPM mission, NASA JPL (Jet Propulsion Lab) developed the 2nd generation Airborne Precipitation Radar (APR-2) as a prototype of advanced dual-frequency space radar which emulates DPR on board the GPM core satellite before it is launched. GRIP (Genesis and Rapid Intensification Processes) is the most recent campaign of APR-2 conducted in the year 2010 located in Golf of Mexico and Caribbean sea with the major goal to better understand tropical storms and hurricanes. In this paper, the performance of GPM candidate algorithms [2][3] to perform profile classification, melting region detection as well as drop size distribution retrieval for hurricane Earl will be presented. This analysis will be compared with other storm observations that are not tropical storms. The philosophy of the algorithm is based on the vertical characteristic of measured dual-frequency ratio (DFRm), defined as the difference in measured radar reflectivities at the two frequencies. It helps our understanding of how hurricanes such as Earl form and intensify rapidly. Reference [1] T. Iguchi, R. Oki, A. Eric and Y. Furuhama, "Global precipitation measurement program and the development of dual-frequency precipitation radar," J. Commun. Res. Lab. (Japan), 49, 37-45.2002. [2] M. Le and V. Chandrasekar, Recent updates on precipitation classification and hydrometeor identification algorithm for GPM-DPR, Geoscience science and remote sensing symposium, IGARSS'2012, IEEE International, Munich, Germany. [3] M. Le ,V. Chandrasekar and S. Lim, Microphysical retrieval from dual-frequency precipitation radar board GPM, Geoscience science and remote sensing symposium, IGARSS'2010, IEEE International, Honolulu, USA.

Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission Products and Services at the NASA Goddard Earth Sciences (GES) Data and Information Services Center (DISC)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Liu, Zhong; Ostrenga, D.; Vollmer, B.; Deshong, B.; Greene, M.; Teng, W.; Kempler, S. J.

2015-01-01

On February 27, 2014, the NASA Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission was launched to provide the next-generation global observations of rain and snow (http:pmm.nasa.govGPM). The GPM mission consists of an international network of satellites in which a GPM Core Observatory satellite carries both active and passive microwave instruments to measure precipitation and serve as a reference standard, to unify precipitation measurements from a constellation of other research and operational satellites. The NASA Goddard Earth Sciences (GES) Data and Information Services Center (DISC) hosts and distributes GPM data within the NASA Earth Observation System Data Information System (EOSDIS). The GES DISC is home to the data archive for the GPM predecessor, the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM). Over the past 16 years, the GES DISC has served the scientific as well as other communities with TRMM data and user-friendly services. During the GPM era, the GES DISC will continue to provide user-friendly data services and customer support to users around the world. GPM products currently and to-be available include the following: 1. Level-1 GPM Microwave Imager (GMI) and partner radiometer products. 2. Goddard Profiling Algorithm (GPROF) GMI and partner products. 3. Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for GPM (IMERG) products. (early, late, and final)A dedicated Web portal (including user guides, etc.) has been developed for GPM data (http:disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.govgpm). Data services that are currently and to-be available include Google-like Mirador (http:mirador.gsfc.nasa.gov) for data search and access; data access through various Web services (e.g., OPeNDAP, GDS, WMS, WCS); conversion into various formats (e.g., netCDF, HDF, KML (for Google Earth), ASCII); exploration, visualization, and statistical online analysis through Giovanni (http:giovanni.gsfc.nasa.gov); generation of value-added products; parameter and spatial subsetting; time aggregation; regridding; data version control and provenance; documentation; science support for proper data usage, FAQ, help desk; monitoring services (e.g. Current Conditions) for applications.In this presentation, we will present GPM data products and services with examples.

Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-02-22

The NASA Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory team is seen during an all-day launch simulation for GPM at the Spacecraft Test and Assembly Building 2 (STA2), Saturday, Feb. 22, 2014, Tanegashima Space Center (TNSC), Tanegashima Island, Japan. Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) plans to launch an H-IIA rocket carrying the GPM Core Observatory on Feb. 28, 2014. The NASA-JAXA GPM spacecraft will collect information that unifies data from an international network of existing and future satellites to map global rainfall and snowfall every three hours. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-12-08

Art Azarbarzin, NASA Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) project manager talks during a technical briefing for the launch of the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory aboard an H-IIA rocket, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2014, Tanegashima Space Center, Japan. Launch is scheduled for early in the morning of Feb. 28 Japan time. Once launched, the GPM spacecraft will collect information that unifies data from an international network of existing and future satellites to map global rainfall and snowfall every three hours. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission: Overview and Status

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hou, Arthur

2008-01-01

The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission is an international satellite mission to unify and advance global precipitation measurements from a constellation of dedicated and operational microwave sensors. The GPM concept centers on the deployment of a Core Spacecraft in a non-Sun-synchronous orbit at 65 degrees inclination carrying a dual-frequency precipitation radar (DPR) and a multi-frequency passive microwave radiometer (GMI) with high-frequency capabilities to serve as a precipitation physics observatory and calibration standard for the constellation radiometers. The baseline GPM constellation is envisioned to comprise conical-scanning microwave imagers (e.g., GMI, SSMIS, AMSR, MIS, MADRAS, GPM-Brazil) augmented with cross-track microwave temperature/humidity sounders (e.g., MHS, ATMS) over land. In addition to the Core Satellite, the GPM Mission will contribute a second GMI to be flown in a low-inclination (approximately 40 deg.) non-Sun-synchronous orbit to improve near real-time monitoring of hurricanes. GPM is a science mission with integrated applications goals aimed at (1) advancing the knowledge of the global water/energy cycle variability and freshwater availability and (2) improving weather, climate, and hydrological prediction capabilities through more accurate and frequent measurements of global precipitation. The GPM Mission is currently a partnership between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), with opportunities for additional partners in satellite constellation and ground validation activities. Within the framework of the inter-governmental Group ob Earth Observations (GEO) and Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), GPM has been identified as a cornerstone for the Precipitation Constellation (PC) being developed under the auspices of Committee of Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS). The GPM Core Observatory is scheduled for launch in 2013, followed by the launch of the GPM Low-Inclination Observatory in 2014. An overview of the GPM mission status, instrument capabilities, ground validation plans, and anticipated scientific and societal benefits will be presented.

Consistent Measurement and Physical Character of the DSD: Disdrometer to Satellite

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Petersen, Walt; Thurai, Merhala; Gatlin, Patrick; Tokay, Ali; Morris, Bob; Wolff, David; Pippitt, Jason; Marks, David; Berendes, Todd

2017-01-01

Objective: Validate GPM (Global Precipitation Measurement) Drop Size Distribution Retrievals: Drop size distributions (DSD) are critical to GPM DPR (Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar)-based rainfall retrievals; NASA GPM Science Requirements stipulate that the GPM Core observatory radar estimation of D (sub m) (mean diameter) shall be within plus or minus 0.5 millimeters of GV (Ground Validation); GV translates disdrometer measurements to polarimetric radar-based DSD and precipitation type retrievals (e.g., convective vs. stratiform (C/S)) for coincident match-up to GPM core overpasses; How well do we meet the requirement across product versions, rain types (e.g., C/S partitioning), and rain rates (heavy, light) and is behavior physically and internally consistent?

Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission Products and Services at the NASA Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ostrenga, D.; Liu, Z.; Vollmer, B.; Teng, W.; Kempler, S.

2014-01-01

On February 27, 2014, the NASA Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission was launched to provide the next-generation global observations of rain and snow (http:pmm.nasa.govGPM). The GPM mission consists of an international network of satellites in which a GPM Core Observatory satellite carries both active and passive microwave instruments to measure precipitation and serve as a reference standard, to unify precipitation measurements from a constellation of other research and operational satellites. The NASA Goddard Earth Sciences (GES) Data and Information Services Center (DISC) hosts and distributes GPM data within the NASA Earth Observation System Data Information System (EOSDIS). The GES DISC is home to the data archive for the GPM predecessor, the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM). Over the past 16 years, the GES DISC has served the scientific as well as other communities with TRMM data and user-friendly services. During the GPM era, the GES DISC will continue to provide user-friendly data services and customer support to users around the world. GPM products currently and to-be available include the following:Level-1 GPM Microwave Imager (GMI) and partner radiometer productsLevel-2 Goddard Profiling Algorithm (GPROF) GMI and partner productsLevel-3 daily and monthly productsIntegrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for GPM (IMERG) products (early, late, and final) A dedicated Web portal (including user guides, etc.) has been developed for GPM data (http:disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.govgpm). Data services that are currently and to-be available include Google-like Mirador (http:mirador.gsfc.nasa.gov) for data search and access; data access through various Web services (e.g., OPeNDAP, GDS, WMS, WCS); conversion into various formats (e.g., netCDF, HDF, KML (for Google Earth), ASCII); exploration, visualization, and statistical online analysis through Giovanni (http:giovanni.gsfc.nasa.gov); generation of value-added products; parameter and spatial subsetting; time aggregation; regridding; data version control and provenance; documentation; science support for proper data usage, FAQ, help desk; monitoring services (e.g. Current Conditions) for applications.

Advances In Understanding Global Water Cycle With Advent of GPM Mission

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, Eric A.

2002-01-01

During the coming decade, the internationally organized Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission will take an important step in creating a global precipitation observing system from space based on an international fleet of satellites operated as a constellation. One perspective for understanding the nature of GPM is that it will be a hierarchical system of datastreams beginning with very high caliber combined dual frequency radar/passive microwave (PMW) rain-radiometer retrievals, to high caliber PMW rain-radiometer only retrievals, and then on to blends of the former datastreams with additional lower-caliber PMW-based and IR-based rain retrievals. Within the context of the now emerging global water & energy cycle (GWEC) programs of a number of research agencies throughout the world, GPM serves as a centerpiece space mission for improving our understanding of the Earth's water cycle from a global measurement perspective and on down to regional scales and below. One of the salient problems within our current understanding of the global water and energy cycle is determining whether a change in the rate of the water cycle is accompanying changes in climate, e.g., climate warming. As there are a number of ways in which to define a rate-change of the global water cycle, it is not entirely clear as to what constitutes such a determination. This paper first presents an overview of the GPM Mission and how its overriding scientific objectives for climate, weather, and hydrology flow from the anticipated improvements that are being planned for the constellation-based measuring system. Next, the paper shows how the GPM observations can be used within the framework of the oceanic and continental water budget equations to determine whether a given perturbation in precipitation is indicative of an actual rate change in the water cycle, consistent with required responses in water storage and/or water flux transport processes, or whether it is simply part of the natural variability of a fixed rate cycle.

Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) launch, commissioning, and early operations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Neeck, Steven P.; Kakar, Ramesh K.; Azarbarzin, Ardeshir A.; Hou, Arthur Y.

2014-10-01

The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission is an international partnership co-led by NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The mission centers on the GPM Core Observatory and consists of an international network, or constellation, of additional satellites that together will provide next-generation global observations of precipitation from space. The GPM constellation will provide measurements of the intensity and variability of precipitation, three-dimensional structure of cloud and storm systems, the microphysics of ice and liquid particles within clouds, and the amount of water falling to Earth's surface. Observations from the GPM constellation, combined with land surface data, will improve weather forecast models; climate models; integrated hydrologic models of watersheds; and forecasts of hurricanes/typhoons/cylcones, landslides, floods and droughts. The GPM Core Observatory carries an advanced radar/radiometer system and serves as a reference standard to unify precipitation measurements from all satellites that fly within the constellation. The GPM Core Observatory improves upon the capabilities of its predecessor, the NASA-JAXA Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), with advanced science instruments and expanded coverage of Earth's surface. The GPM Core Observatory carries two instruments, the NASA-supplied GPM Microwave Imager (GMI) and the JAXA-supplied Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR). The GMI measures the amount, size, intensity and type of precipitation, from heavy-tomoderate rain to light rain and snowfall. The DPR provides three-dimensional profiles and intensities of liquid and solid precipitation. The French Centre National d'Études Spatiales (CNES), the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT), and the U.S. Department of Defense are partners with NASA and JAXA. The GPM Core Observatory was launched from JAXA's Tanegashima Space Center on an H-IIA launch vehicle on February 28, 2014 Japan Standard Time (JST). The mission has completed its checkout and commissioning phase and is in Operations Phase. The current status and early results will be discussed.

Global Precipitation Measurement Mission Products and Services at the NASA GES DISC

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Liu, Z.; Ostrenga, D.; Vollmer, B.; Deshong, B.; MacRitchie, K.; Greene, M.; Kempler, S.

2017-01-01

This article describes NASA/JAXA Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission products and services at the NASA Goddard Earth Sciences (GES) Data and Information Services Center (DISC). Built on the success of the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), the next-generation GPM mission consists of new precipitation measurement instruments and a constellation of international research and operational satellites to provide improved measurements of precipitation globally. To facilitate data access, research, applications, and scientific discovery, the GES DISC has developed a variety of data services for GPM. This article is intended to guide users in choosing GPM datasets and services at the GES DISC.

Anticipated Improvements in Precipitation Physics and Understanding of Water Cycle from GPM Mission

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, Eric A.

2003-01-01

The GPM mission is currently planned for start in the late-2007 to early-2008 time frame. Its main scientific goal is to help answer pressing scientific problems arising within the context of global and regional water cycles. These problems cut across a hierarchy of scales and include climate-water cycle interactions, techniques for improving weather and climate predictions, and better methods for combining observed precipitation with hydrometeorological prediction models for applications to hazardous flood-producing storms, seasonal flood/draught conditions, and fresh water resource assessments. The GPM mission will expand the scope of precipitation measurement through the use of a constellation of some 9 satellites, one of which will be an advanced TRMM-like core satellite carrying a dual-frequency Ku-Ka band precipitation radar and an advanced, multifrequency passive microwave radiometer with vertical-horizontal polarization discrimination. The other constellation members will include new dedicated satellites and co-existing operational/research satellites carrying similar (but not identical) passive microwave radiometers. The goal of the constellation is to achieve approximately 3-hour sampling at any spot on the globe -- continuously. The constellation s orbit architecture will consist of a mix of sun-synchronous and non-sun-synchronous satellites with the core satellite providing measurements of cloud-precipitation microphysical processes plus calibration-quality rainrate retrievals to be used with the other retrieval information to ensure bias-free constellation coverage. GPM is organized internationally, involving existing, pending, projected, and under-study partnerships which will link NASA and NOAA in the US, NASDA in Japan, ESA in Europe, ISRO in India, CNES in France, and possibly AS1 in Italy, KARI in South Korea, CSA in Canada, and AEB in Brazil. Additionally, the program is actively pursuing agreements with other international collaborators and domestic scientific agencies and institutions, as well as participation by individual scientists from academia, government, and the private sector to fulfill mission goals and to pave the way for what is expected to become an internationally-organized operational global precipitation observing system. Notably, the broad societal applications of GPM are reflected in the United Nation s identification of GPM as a foremost candidate for its Peaceful Uses of Space Program. An overview of the GPM mission design is given, followed by an explanation of its scientific agenda as an outgrowth of making improvements in rain retrieval accuracy, microphysics dexterity, sampling frequency, and global coverage. All of these improvements offer new means to observe variability in precipitation and water cycle fluxes and to achieve improved predictability of weather, climate, and hydrometeorology. Specifically, the scientific agenda of GPM has been designed to leverage the measurement improvements to improve prognostic model performance, particularly quantitative precipitation forecasting and its linked phenomena at short, intermediate, and extended time scales. The talk addresses how GPM measurements will enable better detection of accelerations and decelerations in regional and global water cycle processes and their relationship to climate variability, better impacts of precipitation data assimilation on numerical weather prediction and global climate reanalysis, and better performance from basin scale hydrometeorological models for short and long term flood-drought forecasting and seasonal fresh water resource assessment. These improvements become possible by using more accurate, more microphysically-centric, more frequent, and fully global precipitation observations to achieve better water budget closure and to provide more realistic forcing and assessment of prediction models.

Precipitation Education: Connecting Students and Teachers with the Science of NASA's GPM Mission

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weaver, K. L. K.

2015-12-01

The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission education and communication team is involved in variety of efforts to share the science of GPM via hands-on activities for formal and informal audiences and engaging students in authentic citizen science data collection, as well as connecting students and teachers with scientists and other subject matter experts. This presentation will discuss the various forms of those efforts in relation to best practices as well as lessons learned and evaluation data. Examples include: GPM partnered with the Global Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) Program to conduct a student precipitation field campaign in early 2015. Students from around the world collected precipitation data and entered it into the GLOBE database, then were invited to develop scientific questions to be answered using ground observations and satellite data available from NASA. Webinars and blogs by scientists and educators throughout the campaign extended students' and teachers' knowledge of ground validation, data analysis, and applications of precipitation data. To prepare teachers to implement the new Next Generation Science Standards, the NASA Goddard Earth science education and outreach group, led by GPM Education Specialists, held the inaugural Summer Watershed Institute in July 2015 for 30 Maryland teachers of 3rd-5th grades. Participants in the week-long in-person workshop met with scientists and engineers at Goddard, learned about NASA Earth science missions, and were trained in seven protocols of the GLOBE program. Teachers worked collaboratively to make connections to their own curricula and plan for how to implement GLOBE with their students. Adding the arts to STEM, GPM is producing a comic book story featuring the winners of an anime character contest held by the mission during 2013. Readers learn content related to the science and technology of the mission as well as applications of the data. The choice of anime/manga as the style for the comic book reflects the international and cross-cultural aspect of the GPM as a joint mission between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. A limited run print version of the initial comic book is planned for Fall 2015, with an online version and supplemental resources such as a teacher guide available on the GPM education website.

Prime mission results of the dual-frequency precipitation radar on the global precipitation measurement core spacecraft and the version 5 GPM standard products

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Furukawa, K.; Nio, T.; Oki, R.; Kubota, T.; Iguchi, T.

2017-09-01

The Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) on the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) core satellite was developed by Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT). The objective of the GPM mission is to observe global precipitation more frequently and accurately. The GPM core satellite is a joint product of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), JAXA and NICT. NASA developed the satellite bus and the GPM Microwave Imager (GMI), and JAXA and NICT developed the DPR. The inclination of the GPM core satellite is 65 degrees, and the nominal flight altitude is 407 km. The non-sunsynchronous circular orbit is necessary for measuring the diurnal change of rainfall. The DPR consists of two radars, which are Ku-band precipitation radar (KuPR) and Ka-band precipitation radar (KaPR). GPM core observatory was successfully launched by H2A launch vehicle on Feb. 28, 2014. DPR orbital check out was completed in May 2014. DPR products were released to the public on Sep. 2, 2014 and Normal Observation Operation period was started. JAXA is continuing DPR trend monitoring, calibration and validation operations to confirm that DPR keeps its function and performance on orbit. The results of DPR trend monitoring, calibration and validation show that DPR kept its function and performance on orbit during the 3 years and 2 months prime mission period. The DPR Prime mission period was completed in May 2017. The version 5 GPM products were released to the public in 2017. JAXA confirmed that GPM/DPR total system performance and the GPM version 5 products achieved the success criteria and the performance indicators that were defined for the JAXA GPM/DPR mission.

Controlling Charging and Arcing on a Solar Powered Auroral Orbiting Spacecraft

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ferguson, Dale C.; Rhee, Michael S.

2008-01-01

The Global Precipitation Measurement satellite (GPM) will be launched into a high inclination (65 degree) orbit to monitor rainfall on a global scale. Satellites in high inclination orbits have been shown to charge to high negative potentials, with the possibility of arcing on the solar arrays, when three conditions are met: a drop in plasma density below approximately 10,000 cm(exp -3), an injection of energetic electrons of energy more that 7-10 keV, and passage through darkness. Since all of these conditions are expected to obtain for some of the GPM orbits, charging calculations were done using first the Space Environment and Effects (SEE) Program Interactive Spacecraft Charging Handbook, and secondly the NASA Air-force Spacecraft Charging Analyzer Program (NASCAP-2k). The object of the calculations was to determine if charging was likely for the GPM configuration and materials, and specifically to see if choosing a particular type of thermal white paint would help minimize charging. A detailed NASCAP-2k geometrical model of the GPM spacecraft was built, with such a large number of nodes that it challenged the capability of NASCAP-2k to do the calculations. The results of the calculations were that for worst-case auroral charging conditions, charging to levels on the order of -120 to -230 volts could occur on GPM during night-time, with differential voltages on the solar arrays that might lead to solar array arcing. In sunlit conditions, charging did not exceed -20 V under any conditions. The night-time results were sensitive to the spacecraft surface materials chosen. For non-conducting white paints, the charging was severe, and could continue unabated throughout the passage of GPM through the auroral zone. Somewhat conductive (dissipative) white paints minimized the night-time charging to levels of -120 V or less, and thus were recommended for GPM thermal control. It is shown that the choice of thermal control paints is important to prevent arcing on high inclination orbiting spacecraft solar arrays as well as for GEO satellites, even for solar array designs chosen to minimize arcing.

Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-02-22

A daruma doll is seen amongst the NASA GPM Mission launch team in the Spacecraft Test and Assembly Building 2 (STA2) during the all-day launch simulation for the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory, Saturday, Feb. 22, 2014, Tanegashima Space Center (TNSC), Tanegashima Island, Japan. One eye of the daruma doll is colored in when a goal is set, in this case a successful launch of GPM, and the second eye is colored in at the completion of the goal. Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) plans to launch an H-IIA rocket carrying the GPM Core Observatory on Feb. 28, 2014. The NASA-JAXA GPM spacecraft will collect information that unifies data from an international network of existing and future satellites to map global rainfall and snowfall every three hours. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Advances in Understanding Global Water Cycle with Advent of Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, Eric A.; Starr, David (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

Within this decade the internationally organized Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission will take an important step in creating a global precipitation observing system from space. One perspective for understanding the nature of GPM is that it will be a hierarchical system of datastreams beginning with very high caliber combined dual frequency radar/passive microwave (PMW) rain-radiometer retrievals, to high caliber PMW rain-radiometer only retrievals, and then on to blends of the former datastreams with additional lower-caliber PMW-based and IR-based rain retrievals. Within the context of the now emerging global water & energy cycle (GWEC) programs of a number of research agencies throughout the world, GPM serves as a centerpiece space mission for improving our understanding of the global water cycle from a global measurement perspective. One of the salient problems within our current understanding of the global water and energy cycle is determining whether a change in the rate of the water cycle is accompanying changes in climate, e.g., climate warming. As there are a number of ways in which to define a rate-change of the global water cycle, it is not entirely clear as to what constitutes such a determination. This paper presents an overview of the GPM Mission and how its observations can be used within the framework of the oceanic and continental water budget equations to determine whether a given perturbation in precipitation is indicative of an actual rate change in the global water cycle, consistent with required responses in water storage and/or water flux transport processes, or whether it is the natural variability of a fixed rate cycle.

A Space-Based Perspective of the 2017 Hurricane Season from the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Skofronick Jackson, G.; Petersen, W. A.; Huffman, G. J.; Kirschbaum, D.; Wolff, D. B.; Tan, J.; Zavodsky, B.

2017-12-01

The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission collected unique, near real time 3-D satellite-based views of hurricanes in 2017 together with estimated precipitation accumulation using merged satellite data for scientific studies and societal applications. Central to GPM is the NASA-JAXA GPM Core Observatory (CO). The GPM-CO carries an advanced dual-frequency precipitation radar (DPR) and a well-calibrated, multi-frequency passive microwave radiometer that together serve as an on orbit reference for precipitation measurements made by the international GPM satellite constellation. GPM-CO overpasses of major Hurricanes such as Harvey, Irma, Maria, and Ophelia revealed intense convective structures in DPR radar reflectivity together with deep ice-phase microphysics in both the eyewalls and outer rain bands. Of considerable scientific interest, and yet to be determined, will be DPR-diagnosed characteristics of the rain drop size distribution as a function of convective structure, intensity and microphysics. The GPM-CO active/passive suite also provided important decision support information. For example, the National Hurricane Center used GPM-CO observations as a tool to inform track and intensity estimates in their forecast briefings. Near-real-time rainfall accumulation from the Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for GPM (IMERG) was also provided via the NASA SPoRT team to Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria when ground-based radar systems on the island failed. Comparisons between IMERG, NOAA Multi-Radar Multi-Sensor data, and rain gauge rainfall accumulations near Houston, Texas during Hurricane Harvey revealed spatial biases between ground and IMERG satellite estimates, and a general underestimation of IMERG rain accumulations associated with infrared observations, collectively illustrating the difficulty of measuring rainfall in hurricanes.GPM data continue to advance scientific research on tropical cyclone intensification and structure, and contribute to societal and operational applications for improving storm forecasting. Precipitation accumulations from the multi-satellite product IMERG also contribute to a better understanding of rainfall accumulation, inland flooding, and landslide susceptibility during the passage of these major events.

GPM Avionics Module Heat Pipes Design and Performance Test Results

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ottenstein, Laura; DeChristopher, Mike

2012-01-01

GPM is a satellite constellation to study precipitation formed from a partnership between NASA and the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The GPM Core Observatory, being developed and tested at GSFC, serves as a reference standard to unify precipitation measurements from the GPM satellite constellation. The Core Observatory carries an advanced radar/radiometer system to measure precipitation from space. The scientific data gained from GPM will benefit both NASA and JAXA by advancing our understanding of Earth's water and energy cycle, improving forecasts of extreme weather events, and extending our current capabilities in using accurate and timely precipitation information to benefit society.

Prototype of NASA's Global Precipitation Measurement Mission Ground Validation System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schwaller, M. R.; Morris, K. R.; Petersen, W. A.

2007-01-01

NASA is developing a Ground Validation System (GVS) as one of its contributions to the Global Precipitation Mission (GPM). The GPM GVS provides an independent means for evaluation, diagnosis, and ultimately improvement of GPM spaceborne measurements and precipitation products. NASA's GPM GVS consists of three elements: field campaigns/physical validation, direct network validation, and modeling and simulation. The GVS prototype of direct network validation compares Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite-borne radar data to similar measurements from the U.S. national network of operational weather radars. A prototype field campaign has also been conducted; modeling and simulation prototypes are under consideration.

Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-12-08

Gail Skofronick-Jackson, NASA GPM Project Scientist, talks during a science briefing for the launch of the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory aboard an H-IIA rocket, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2014, Tanegashima Space Center, Japan. Launch is scheduled for early in the morning of Feb. 28 Japan time. Once launched, the GPM spacecraft will collect information that unifies data from an international network of existing and future satellites to map global rainfall and snowfall every three hours. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Leveraging Improvements in Precipitation Measuring from GPM Mission to Achieve Prediction Improvements in Climate, Weather and Hydrometeorology

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, Eric A.

2002-01-01

The main scientific goal of the GPM mission, currently planned for start in the 2007 time frame, is to investigate important scientific problems arising within the context of global and regional water cycles. These problems cut across a hierarchy of scales and include climate-water cycle interactions, techniques for improving weather and climate predictions, and better methods for combining observed precipitation with hydrometeorological prediction models for applications to hazardous flood-producing storms, seasonal flood/draught conditions, and fresh water resource assessments. The GPM mission will expand the scope of precipitation measurement through the use of a constellation of some 9 satellites, one of which will be an advanced TRMM-like "core" satellite carrying a dual-frequency Ku-Ka band precipitation radar and an advanced, multifrequency passive microwave radiometer with vertical-horizontal polarization discrimination. The other constellation members will include new dedicated satellites and co-existing Operational/research satellites carrying similar (but not identical) passive microwave radiometers. The goal of the constellation is to achieve approximately 3-hour sampling at any spot on the globe. The constellation's orbit architecture will consist of a mix of sun-synchronous and non-sun-synchronous satellites with the core satellite providing measurements of cloud-precipitation microphysical processes plus calibration-quality rainrate retrievals to be used with the other retrieval information to ensure bias-free constellation coverage. GPM is organized internationally, currently involving a partnership between NASA in the US and the National Space Development Agency in Japan. Additionally, the program is actively pursuing agreements with other international partners and domestic scientific agencies and institutions, as well as participation by individual scientists from academia, government, and the private sector to fulfill mission goals and to pave the way for what ultimately is expected to become an internationally-organized operational global precipitation observing system. Notably, the broad societal applications of GPM are reflected in the United Nation s identification of this mission as a foremost candidate for its Peaceful Uses of Space Program. In this presentation, an overview of the GPM mission design will be presented, followed by an explanation of its scientific agenda as an outgrowth of making improvements in rain retrieval accuracy, microphysics dexterity, sampling frequency, and global coverage. All of these improvements offer new means to observe variability in precipitation and water cycle fluxes and to achieve improved predictability of weather, climate, and hydrometeorology. Specifically, the scientific agenda of GPM has been designed to leverage the measurement improvements to improve prognostic model performance, particularly quantitative precipitation forecasting and its linked phenomena at short, intermediate, and extended time scales. The talk will address how GPM measurements will enable better detection of accelerations and decelerations in regional and global water cycle processes and their relationship to climate variability, better impacts of precipitation data assimilation on numerical weather prediction and global climate reanalysis, and better performance from basin scale hydrometeorological models for short and long term flood-drought forecasting and seasonal fresh water resource assessment. Improved hydrometeorological forecasting will be possible by using continuous global precipitation observations to obtain better closure in water budgets and to generate more realistic forcing of the models themselves to achieve more accurate estimates of interception, infiltration, evaporation/transpiration fluxes, storage, and runoff.

Water Cycling &the GPM Mission

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smith, E. A.

2003-04-01

The GPM mission is currently planned for start in the late'07 - early'08 time frame. Its main scientific goal is to help answer pressing scientific problems arising within the context of global and regional water cycles. These problems cut across a hierarchy of scales and include climate-water cycle interactions, techniques for improving weather and climate predictions, and better methods for combining observed precipitation with hydrometeorological prediction models for applications to hazardous flood-producing storms, seasonal flood/draught conditions, and fresh water resource assessments. The GPM mission will expand the scope of precipitation measurement through the use of a constellation of some 9 satellites, one of which will be an advanced TRMM-like "core" satellite carrying a dual-frequency Ku-Ka band precipitation radar and an advanced, multifrequency passive microwave radiometer with vertical-horizontal polarization discrimination. The other constellation members will include new dedicated satellites and co-existing operational/research satellites carrying similar (but not identical) passive microwave radiometers. The goal of the constellation is to achieve 3-hour sampling at any spot on the globe - continuously. The constellation's orbit architecture will consist of a mix of sun-synchronous and non-sun-synchronous satellites with the "core" satellite providing measurements of cloud-precipitation microphysical processes plus calibration-quality rainrates to be used with the other retrieval information to ensure bias-free constellation coverage. GPM is organized internationally, involving existing, pending, projected, and under-study partnerships which will link NASA and NOAA in the US, NASDA in Japan, ESA in Europe, ISRO in India, CNES in France, and possibly ASI in Italy, KARI in South Korea, CSA in Canada, and AEB in Brazil. Additionally, the program is actively pursuing agreements with other international collaborators and domestic scientific agencies and institutions, as well as participation by individual scientists from academia, government, and the private sector to fulfill mission goals and to pave the way for what ultimately is expected to become an internationally-organized operational global precipitation observing system. Notably, the broad societal applications of GPM are reflected in the United Nation's identification of this mission as a foremost candidate for its Peaceful Uses of Space Program. An overview of the GPM mission design is given, followed by an explanation of its scientific agenda as an outgrowth of making improvements in rain retrieval accuracy, microphysics dexterity, sampling frequency, and global coverage. All of these improvements offer new means to observe variability in precipitation and water cycle fluxes, to improve water budget closure at regional and global scales, and to leverage these improvements in achieving improved predictability of weather, climate, and hydrometeorology. Specifically, the scientific agenda of GPM has been designed to leverage the measurement improvements to improve prognostic model performance, particularly quantitative precipitation forecasting and its linked phenomena at short, intermediate, and extended time scales. The talk addresses how GPM measurements will enable more accurate satellite-based calculations of the water cycle relative to where things stand today (two examples will be provided), and how such measurements can be used to evaluate accelerations and decelerations in regional and global water cycle processes and thus improve our understanding of water-driven climatic shifts. These improvements become possible by using more accurate, more microphysically-centric, more frequent, and fully global precipitation observations to achieve better water budget closure and to provide more realistic forcing and assessment of prediction models.

The Status of NASA's Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission 26 Months After Launch

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jackson, Gail; Huffman, George

2016-04-01

Water is essential to our planet Earth. Knowing when, where and how precipitation falls is crucial for understanding the linkages between the Earth's water and energy cycles and is extraordinarily important for sustaining life on our planet during climate change. The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory spacecraft launched February 27, 2014, is the anchor to the GPM international satellite mission to unify and advance precipitation measurements from a constellation of research and operational sensors to provide "next-generation" precipitation products [1-2]. GPM is currently a partnership between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The unique 65o non-Sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 407 km for the GPM Core Observatory allows for highly sophisticated observations of precipitation in the mid-latitudes where a majority of the population lives. Indeed, the GOM Core Observatory serves as the cornerstone, as a physics observatory and a calibration reference to improve precipitation measurements by a constellation of 8 or more dedicated and operational, U.S. and international passive microwave sensors. GPM's requirements are to measure rain rates from 0.2 to 110 mm/hr and to detect and estimate falling snow. GPM has several retrieval product levels ranging from raw instrument data to Core and partner swath precipitation estimates to gridded and accumulated products and finally to multi-satellite merged products. The latter merged product, called IMERG, is available with a 5-hour latency with temporal resolution of 30 minutes and spatial resolution of 0.1o x 0.1o (~10km x 10km) grid box. Some products have a 1-hour latency for societal applications such as floods, landslides, hurricanes, blizzards, and typhoons and all have late-latency high-quality science products. The GPM mission is well on its way to providing essential data on precipitation (rain and snow) from micro to local to global scales via providing precipitation particle size distributions internal to the cloud, 5-15 km estimates of regional precipitation and merged global precipitation. Once TRMM data is recalibrated to the high quality standards of GPM (and as GPM continues to operate), TRMM and GPM together, with partner data) can provide a 25-30+ year record of global precipitation. Scientists and hazard decision makers all over the world value GPM's data. Status and successes in terms of spacecraft, instruments, retrieval products, validation, and impacts for science and society will be presented.

A Detailed Examination of the GPM Core Satellite Gridded Text Product

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stocker, Erich Franz; Kelley, Owen A.; Kummerow, C.; Huffman, George; Olson, William S.; Kwiatowski, John M.

2015-01-01

The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission quarter-degree gridded-text product has a similar file format and a similar purpose as the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) 3G68 quarter-degree product. The GPM text-grid format is an hourly summary of surface precipitation retrievals from various GPM instruments and combinations of GPM instruments. The GMI Goddard Profiling (GPROF) retrieval provides the widest swath (800 km) and does the retrieval using the GPM Microwave Imager (GMI). The Ku radar provides the widest radar swath (250 km swath) and also provides continuity with the TRMM Ku Precipitation Radar. GPM's Ku+Ka band matched swath (125 km swath) provides a dual-frequency precipitation retrieval. The "combined" retrieval (125 km swath) provides a multi-instrument precipitation retrieval based on the GMI, the DPR Ku radar, and the DPR Ka radar. While the data are reported in hourly grids, all hours for a day are packaged into a single text file that is g-zipped to reduce file size and to speed up downloading. The data are reported on a 0.25deg x 0.25 deg grid.

An Open-Book Modular Watershed Modeling Framework for Rapid Prototyping of GPM- based Flood Forecasting in International River Basins

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Katiyar, N.; Hossain, F.

2006-05-01

Floods have always been disastrous for human life. It accounts for about 15 % of the total death related to natural disasters. There are around 263 transboundary river basins listed by UNESCO, wherein at least 30 countries have more than 95% of their territory locked in one or more such transboundary basins. For flood forecasting in the lower riparian nations of these International River Basins (IRBs), real-time rainfall data from upstream nations is naturally the most critical factor governing the forecasting effectiveness. However, many upstream nations fail to provide data to the lower riparian nations due to a lack of in-situ rainfall measurement infrastructure or a lack of a treaty for real-time sharing of rainfall data. A potential solution is therefore to use satellites that inherently measure rainfall across political boundaries. NASA's proposed Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission appears very promising in providing this vital rainfall information under the data- limited scenario that will continue to prevail in most IRBs. However, satellite rainfall is associated with uncertainty and hence, proper characterization of the satellite rainfall error propagation in hydrologic models for flood forecasting is a critical priority that should be resolved in the coming years in anticipation of GPM. In this study, we assess an open book modular watershed modeling approach for estimating the expected error in flood forecasting related to GPM rainfall data. Our motivation stems from the critical challenge in identifying the specific IRBs that would benefit from a pre-programmed satellite-based forecasting system in anticipation of GPM. As the number of flood-prone IRBs is large, conventional data-intensive implementation of existing physically-based distributed hydrologic models on case-by-case IRBs is considered time-consuming for completing such a global assessment. A more parsimonious approach is justified at the expense of a tolerable loss of detail and accuracy. Through assessment of our proposed modular modeling framework, we present our initial understanding in resolving the fundamental question - Can a parsimonious open-book watershed modeling framework be a physically consistent proxy for rapid and global identification of IRBs in greater need of a GPM-based flood forecasting system?

Integration of Energy/Sustainable Practices into Standard Army MILCON Designs: Energy and Sustainability Study

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-11-30

approved climate zones) ► Dual flush toilets ► 1.5 GPM flow shower heads ► 0.5 GPM flow faucets ► Rainwater harvesting ► Permeable asphalt, permeable...for system with indirect evaporative pre-cooling Sustainability Measures ► Dual flush toilets ► 1.5 GPM flow shower heads, 0.5 GPM flow faucets...daylighting controls with 500 lux setpoint ► Dual flush toilets ►Waterless urinals ► 0.5 GPM flow faucets ► Rainwater harvesting ► Enhanced Commissioning

Successes with the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Skofronick-Jackson, Gail; Huffman, George; Stocker, Erich; Petersen, Walter

2016-01-01

Water is essential to our planet Earth. Knowing when, where and how precipitation falls is crucial for understanding the linkages between the Earth's water and energy cycles and is extraordinarily important for sustaining life on our planet during climate change. The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory spacecraft launched February 27, 2014, is the anchor to the GPM international satellite mission to unify and advance precipitation measurements from a constellation of research and operational sensors to provide "next-generation" precipitation products. GPM is currently a partnership between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). Status and successes in terms of spacecraft, instruments, retrieval products, validation, and impacts for science and society will be presented. Precipitation, microwave, satellite

Three Years of the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Skofronick-Jackson, Gail; Huffman, George; Petersen, Walter

2017-01-01

Water is essential to our planet Earth. Knowing when, where and how precipitation falls is crucial for understanding the linkages between the Earth's water and energy cycles and is extraordinarily important for sustaining life on our planet during climate change. The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory spacecraft launched February 27, 2014, is the anchor to the GPM international satellite mission to unify and advance precipitation measurements from a constellation of research and operational sensors to provide "next-generation" precipitation products. GPM is currently a partnership between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). Status and successes in terms of spacecraft, instruments, retrieval products, validation, and impacts for science and society will be presented.

Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-02-28

Caroline Kennedy, U.S. Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Japan, congratulated both NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory teams and noted it was an example of over 40 years of strong U.S. and Japan relations, Friday Feb. 28, 2014, Tanegashima Space Center (TNSC) Tanegashima, Japan. The Ambassador witnessed the launch of a Japanese H-IIA rocket carrying the NASA-JAXA, GPM Core Observatory. The GPM spacecraft will collect information that unifies data from an international network of existing and future satellites to map global rainfall and snowfall every three hours. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Early Results from the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission in Japan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kachi, Misako; Kubota, Takuji; Masaki, Takeshi; Kaneko, Yuki; Kanemaru, Kaya; Oki, Riko; Iguchi, Toshio; Nakamura, Kenji; Takayabu, Yukari N.

2015-04-01

The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission is an international collaboration to achieve highly accurate and highly frequent global precipitation observations. The GPM mission consists of the GPM Core Observatory jointly developed by U.S. and Japan and Constellation Satellites that carry microwave radiometers and provided by the GPM partner agencies. The Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) was developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT), and installed on the GPM Core Observatory. The GPM Core Observatory chooses a non-sun-synchronous orbit to carry on diurnal cycle observations of rainfall from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite and was successfully launched at 3:37 a.m. on February 28, 2014 (JST), while the Constellation Satellites, including JAXA's Global Change Observation Mission (GCOM) - Water (GCOM-W1) or "SHIZUKU," are launched by each partner agency sometime around 2014 and contribute to expand observation coverage and increase observation frequency JAXA develops the DPR Level 1 algorithm, and the NASA-JAXA Joint Algorithm Team develops the DPR Level 2 and DPR-GMI combined Level2 algorithms. JAXA also develops the Global Rainfall Map (GPM-GSMaP) algorithm, which is a latest version of the Global Satellite Mapping of Precipitation (GSMaP), as national product to distribute hourly and 0.1-degree horizontal resolution rainfall map. Major improvements in the GPM-GSMaP algorithm is; 1) improvements in microwave imager algorithm based on AMSR2 precipitation standard algorithm, including new land algorithm, new coast detection scheme; 2) Development of orographic rainfall correction method for warm rainfall in coastal area (Taniguchi et al., 2012); 3) Update of database, including rainfall detection over land and land surface emission database; 4) Development of microwave sounder algorithm over land (Kida et al., 2012); and 5) Development of gauge-calibrated GSMaP algorithm (Ushio et al., 2013). In addition to those improvements in the algorithms number of passive microwave imagers and/or sounders used in the GPM-GSMaP was increased compared to the previous version. After the early calibration and validation of the products and evaluation that all products achieved the release criteria, all GPM standard products and the GPM-GSMaP product has been released to the public since September 2014. The GPM products can be downloaded via the internet through the JAXA G-Portal (https://www.gportal.jaxa.jp).

A Vertical Census of Precipitation Characteristics using Ground-based Dual-polarimetric Radar Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wolff, D. B.; Petersen, W. A.; Marks, D. A.; Pippitt, J. L.; Tokay, A.; Gatlin, P. N.

2017-12-01

Characterization of the vertical structure/variability of precipitation and resultant microphysics is critical in providing physical validation of space-based precipitation retrievals. In support of NASAs Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission Ground Validation (GV) program, NASA has invested in a state-of-art dual-polarimetric radar known as NPOL. NPOL is routinely deployed on the Delmarva Peninsula in support of NASAs GPM Precipitation Research Facility (PRF). NPOL has also served as the backbone of several GPM field campaigns in Oklahoma, Iowa, South Carolina and most recently in the Olympic Mountains in Washington state. When precipitation is present, NPOL obtains very high-resolution vertical profiles of radar observations (e.g. reflectivity (ZH) and differential reflectivity (ZDR)), from which important particle size distribution parameters are retrieved such as the mass-weight mean diameter (Dm) and the intercept parameter (Nw). These data are then averaged horizontally to match the nadir resolution of the dual-frequency radar (DPR; 5 km) on board the GPM satellite. The GPM DPR, Combined, and radiometer algorithms (such as GPROF) rely on functional relationships built from assumed parametric relationships and/or retrieved parameter profiles and spatial distributions of particle size (PSD), water content, and hydrometeor phase within a given sample volume. Thus, the NPOL-retrieved profiles provide an excellent tool for characterization of the vertical profile structure and variability during GPM overpasses. In this study, we will use many such overpass comparisons to quantify an estimate of the true sub-IFOV variability as a function of hydrometeor and rain type (convective or stratiform). This presentation will discuss the development of a relational database to help provide a census of the vertical structure of precipitation via analysis and correlation of reflectivity, differential reflectivity, mean-weight drop diameter and the normalized intercept parameter of the gamma drop size distribution.

GPM Timeline Inhibits For IT Processing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dion, Shirley K.

2014-01-01

The Safety Inhibit Timeline Tool was created as one approach to capturing and understanding inhibits and controls from IT through launch. Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission, which launched from Japan in March 2014, was a joint mission under a partnership between the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). GPM was one of the first NASA Goddard in-house programs that extensively used software controls. Using this tool during the GPM buildup allowed a thorough review of inhibit and safety critical software design for hazardous subsystems such as the high gain antenna boom, solar array, and instrument deployments, transmitter turn-on, propulsion system release, and instrument radar turn-on. The GPM safety team developed a methodology to document software safety as part of the standard hazard report. As a result of this process, a new tool safety inhibit timeline was created for management of inhibits and their controls during spacecraft buildup and testing during IT at GSFC and at the launch range in Japan. The Safety Inhibit Timeline Tool was a pathfinder approach for reviewing software that controls the electrical inhibits. The Safety Inhibit Timeline Tool strengthens the Safety Analysts understanding of the removal of inhibits during the IT process with safety critical software. With this tool, the Safety Analyst can confirm proper safe configuration of a spacecraft during each IT test, track inhibit and software configuration changes, and assess software criticality. In addition to understanding inhibits and controls during IT, the tool allows the Safety Analyst to better communicate to engineers and management the changes in inhibit states with each phase of hardware and software testing and the impact of safety risks. Lessons learned from participating in the GPM campaign at NASA and JAXA will be discussed during this session.

Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-02-27

A Japanese H-IIA rocket with the NASA-Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory onboard, is seen on launch pad 1 of the Tanegashima Space Center, Friday, Feb. 28, 2014, Tanegashima, Japan. Once launched, the GPM spacecraft will collect information that unifies data from an international network of existing and future satellites to map global rainfall and snowfall every three hours. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-02-28

A Japanese H-IIA rocket with the NASA-Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory onboard, is seen on launch pad 1 of the Tanegashima Space Center, Friday, Feb. 28, 2014, Tanegashima, Japan. Once launched, the GPM spacecraft will collect information that unifies data from an international network of existing and future satellites to map global rainfall and snowfall every three hours. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-02-27

A Japanese H-IIA rocket carrying the NASA-Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory is seen as it rolls out to launch pad 1 of the Tanegashima Space Center, Thursday, Feb. 27, 2014, Tanegashima, Japan. Once launched, the GPM spacecraft will collect information that unifies data from an international network of existing and future satellites to map global rainfall and snowfall every three hours. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-02-27

A Japanese H-IIA rocket with the NASA-Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory onboard is seen on launch pad 1 of the Tanegashima Space Center, Thursday, Feb. 27, 2014, Tanegashima, Japan. Once launched, the GPM spacecraft will collect information that unifies data from an international network of existing and future satellites to map global rainfall and snowfall every three hours. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Project

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Azarbarzin, Ardeshir; Carlisle, Candace

2010-01-01

The Global Precipitation Measurement (GP!v1) mission is an international cooperative effort to advance the understanding of the physics of the Earth's water and energy cycle. Accurate and timely knowledge of global precipitation is essential for understanding the weather/climate/ecological system, for improving our ability to manage freshwater resources, and for predicting high-impact natural hazard events including floods, droughts, extreme weather events, and landslides. The GPM Core Observatory will be a reference standard to uniformly calibrate data from a constellation of spacecraft with passive microwave sensors. GPM is being developed under a partnership between the United States (US) National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Japanese Aerospace and Exploration Agency (JAXA). NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), in Greenbelt, MD is developing the Core Observatory, two GPM Microwave Imager (GMI) instruments, Ground Validation System and Precipitation Processing System for the GPM mission. JAXA will provide a Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) for installation on the Core satellite and launch services for the Core Observatory. The second GMI instrument will be flown on a partner-provided spacecraft. Other US agencies and international partners contribute to the GPM mission by providing precipitation measurements obtained from their own spacecraft and/or providing ground-based precipitation measurements to support ground validation activities. The Precipitation Processing System will provide standard data products for the mission.

The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Microwave Imager (GMI): Instrument Overview and Early On-Orbit Performance

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Draper, David W.; Newell, David A.; Wentz, Frank J.; Krimchansky, Sergey; Jackson, Gail

2015-01-01

The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission is an international satellite mission that uses measurements from an advanced radar/radiometer system on a core observatory as reference standards to unify and advance precipitation estimates made by a constellation of research and operational microwave sensors. The GPM core observatory was launched on February 27, 2014 at 18:37 UT in a 65? inclination nonsun-synchronous orbit. GPM focuses on precipitation as a key component of the Earth's water and energy cycle, and has the capability to provide near-real-time observations for tracking severe weather events, monitoring freshwater resources, and other societal applications. The GPM microwave imager (GMI) on the core observatory provides the direct link to the constellation radiometer sensors, which fly mainly in polar orbits. The GMI sensitivity, accuracy, and stability play a crucial role in unifying the measurements from the GPM constellation of satellites. The instrument has exhibited highly stable operations through the duration of the calibration/validation period. This paper provides an overview of the GMI instrument and a report of early on-orbit commissioning activities. It discusses the on-orbit radiometric sensitivity, absolute calibration accuracy, and stability for each radiometric channel. Index Terms-Calibration accuracy, passive microwave remote sensing, radiometric sensitivity.

The Global Precipitation Measurement Mission

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jackson, Gail

2014-05-01

The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission's Core satellite, scheduled for launch at the end of February 2014, is well designed estimate precipitation from 0.2 to 110 mm/hr and to detect falling snow. Knowing where and how much rain and snow falls globally is vital to understanding how weather and climate impact both our environment and Earth's water and energy cycles, including effects on agriculture, fresh water availability, and responses to natural disasters. The design of the GPM Core Observatory is an advancement of the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM)'s highly successful rain-sensing package [3]. The cornerstone of the GPM mission is the deployment of a Core Observatory in a unique 65o non-Sun-synchronous orbit to serve as a physics observatory and a calibration reference to improve precipitation measurements by a constellation of 8 or more dedicated and operational, U.S. and international passive microwave sensors. The Core Observatory will carry a Ku/Ka-band Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) and a multi-channel (10-183 GHz) GPM Microwave Radiometer (GMI). The DPR will provide measurements of 3-D precipitation structures and microphysical properties, which are key to achieving a better understanding of precipitation processes and improving retrieval algorithms for passive microwave radiometers. The combined use of DPR and GMI measurements will place greater constraints on possible solutions to radiometer retrievals to improve the accuracy and consistency of precipitation retrievals from all constellation radiometers. Furthermore, since light rain and falling snow account for a significant fraction of precipitation occurrence in middle and high latitudes, the GPM instruments extend the capabilities of the TRMM sensors to detect falling snow, measure light rain, and provide, for the first time, quantitative estimates of microphysical properties of precipitation particles. The GPM Core Observatory was developed and tested at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. It was shipped to Japan in November 2012 for launch on a Japanese H-IIA rocket from Tanegashima Island, Japan. The launch has been officially scheduled for 1:07 p.m. to 3:07 p.m. EST Thursday, February 27, 2014 (3:07 a.m. to 5:07 a.m. JST Friday, February 28). The day that the GPM Core was shipped to Japan was the day that GPM's Project Scientist, Dr. Arthur Hou passed away after a year-long battle with cancer. Dr. Hou truly made GPM a global effort with a global team. He excelled in providing scientific oversight for achieving GPM's many science objectives and application goals, including delivering high-resolution precipitation data in near real time for better understanding, monitoring and prediction of global precipitation systems and high-impact weather events such as hurricanes. Dr. Hou successfully forged international partnerships to collect and validate space-borne measurements of precipitation around the globe. He served as a professional mentor to numerous junior and mid-level scientists. His presence, leadership, generous personality, and the example he set for all of us as a true "team-player" will be greatly missed. The GPM mission will be described, Arthur's role as Project Scientist for GPM, and early imagery of GPM's retrievals of precipitation will be presented if available at the end of April 2014 (2 months after launch).

Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-02-21

The sun sets just outside the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) Tanegashima Space Center (TNSC) a week ahead of the planned launch of an H-IIA rocket carrying the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory, Friday, Feb. 21, 2014, Tanegashima Island, Japan. The NASA-JAXA GPM spacecraft will collect information that unifies data from an international network of existing and future satellites to map global rainfall and snowfall every three hours. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-02-21

The entrance sign to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) Tanegashima Space Center (TNSC) is seen a week ahead of the planned launch of an H-IIA rocket carrying the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory, Friday, Feb. 21, 2014, Tanegashima Island, Japan. The NASA-JAXA GPM spacecraft will collect information that unifies data from an international network of existing and future satellites to map global rainfall and snowfall every three hours. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-02-21

The launch pads at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) Tanegashima Space Center are seen a week ahead of the planned launch of an H-IIA rocket carrying the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory, Friday, Feb. 21, 2014, Tanegashima Island, Japan. The NASA-JAXA GPM spacecraft will collect information that unifies data from an international network of existing and future satellites to map global rainfall and snowfall every three hours. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Assimilation of GPM GMI Rainfall Product with WRF GSI

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Li, Xuanli; Mecikalski, John; Zavodsky, Bradley

2015-01-01

The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) is an international mission to provide next-generation observations of rain and snow worldwide. The GPM built on Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) legacy, while the core observatory will extend the observations to higher latitudes. The GPM observations can help advance our understanding of precipitation microphysics and storm structures. Launched on February 27th, 2014, the GPM core observatory is carrying advanced instruments that can be used to quantify when, where, and how much it rains or snows around the world. Therefore, the use of GPM data in numerical modeling work is a new area and will have a broad impact in both research and operational communities. The goal of this research is to examine the methodology of assimilation of the GPM retrieved products. The data assimilation system used in this study is the community Gridpoint Statistical Interpolation (GSI) system for the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model developed by the Development Testbed Center (DTC). The community GSI system runs in independently environment, yet works functionally equivalent to operational centers. With collaboration with the NASA Short-term Prediction Research and Transition (SPoRT) Center, this research explores regional assimilation of the GPM products with case studies. Our presentation will highlight our recent effort on the assimilation of the GPM product 2AGPROFGMI, the retrieved Microwave Imager (GMI) rainfall rate data for initializing a real convective storm. WRF model simulations and storm scale data assimilation experiments will be examined, emphasizing both model initialization and short-term forecast of precipitation fields and processes. In addition, discussion will be provided on the development of enhanced assimilation procedures in the GSI system with respect to other GPM products. Further details of the methodology of data assimilation, preliminary result and test on the impact of GPM data and the influence on precipitation forecast will be presented at the conference.

Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission Applications: Activities, Challenges, and Vision

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kirschbaum, Dalia; Hou, Arthur

2012-01-01

Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) is an international satellite mission to provide nextgeneration observations of rain and snow worldwide every three hours. NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) will launch a "Core" satellite carrying advanced instruments that will set a new standard for precipitation measurements from space. The data they provide will be used to unify precipitation measurements made by an international network of partner satellites to quantify when, where, and how much it rains or snows around the world. The GPM mission will help advance our understanding of Earth's water and energy cycles, improve the forecasting of extreme events that cause natural disasters, and extend current capabilities of using satellite precipitation information to directly benefit society. Building upon the successful legacy of the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), GPM's next-generation global precipitation data will lead to scientific advances and societal benefits within a range of hydrologic fields including natural hazards, ecology, public health and water resources. This talk will highlight some examples from TRMM's IS-year history within these applications areas as well as discuss some existing challenges and present a look forward for GPM's contribution to applications in hydrology.

Validation for the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission: Lessons Learned and Future Plans

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wolff, David B.; Amitai, E.; Marks, D. A.; Silberstein, D.; Lawrence, R. J.

2005-01-01

The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) was launched in November 1997 and is a highly regarded and successful mission. A major component of the TRMM program was its Ground Validation (GV) program. Through dedicated research and hard work by many groups, both the GV and satellite-retrieved rain estimates have shown a convergence at key GV sites, lending credibility to the global TRMM estimates. To be sure, there are some regional differences between the various satellite estimates themselves, which still need to be addressed; however, it can be said with some certainty that TRMM has provided a high-quality, long-term climatological data set for researchers that provides errors on the order of 10-20%, rather than pre-TRMM era error estimates on the order of 50-100%. The TRMM GV program's main operational task is to provide rainfall products for four sites: Darwin, Australia (DARW); Houston, Texas (HSTN); Kwajalein, Republic of the Marshall Islands (KWAJ); and, Melbourne, Florida (MELB). A comparison between TRMM Ground Validation (Version 5) and Satellite (Version 6) rain intensity estimates is presented. The gridded satellite product (3668) will be compared to GV Level II rain-intensity and -type maps (2A53 and 2A54, respectively). The 3G68 product represents a 0.5 deg x 0.5 deg data grid providing estimates of rain intensities from the TRMM Precipitation Radar (PR), Microwave Imager (TMI) and Combined (COM) algorithms. The comparisons will be sub-setted according to geographical type (land, coast and ocean). The convergence of the GV and satellite estimates bodes well for expectations for the proposed Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) program and this study and others are being leveraged towards planning GV goals for GPM. A discussion of lessons learned and future plans for TRMM GV in planning for GPM will also be provided.

New Products and Perspectives from the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kummerow, C. D.; Randel, D.; Petkovic, V.

2016-12-01

The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission was launched in February 2014 as a joint mission between JAXA from Japan and NASA from the United States. GPM carries a state of the art dual-frequency precipitation radar and a multi-channel passive microwave radiometer that acts not only to enhance the radar's retrieval capability, but also as a reference for a constellation of existing satellites carrying passive microwave sensors. In March of 2016, GPM released Version 4 of its precipitation products that consists of radar, radiometer, and combined radar/radiometer products. The radiometer algorithm in Version 4 is the first time a fully parametric algorithm has been implemented. This talk will focus on the consistency among the constellation radiometers, and what these inconsistencies can tell us about the fundamental uncertainties within the rainfall products. This analysis will be used to then drive a bigger picture of how GPM's latest results inform the Global Water and Energy budgets.

Impact of GPM Rainrate Data Assimilation on Simulation of Hurricane Harvey (2017)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Li, Xuanli; Srikishen, Jayanthi; Zavodsky, Bradley; Mecikalski, John

2018-01-01

Built upon Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) legacy for next-generation global observation of rain and snow. The GPM was launched in February 2014 with Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) and GPM Microwave Imager (GMI) onboard. The GPM has a broad global coverage approximately 70deg S -70deg N with a swath of 245/125-km for the Ka (35.5 GHz)/Ku (13.6 GHz) band radar, and 850-km for the 13-channel GMI. GPM also features better retrievals for heavy, moderate, and light rain and snowfall To develop methodology to assimilate GPM surface precipitation data with Grid-point Statistical Interpolation (GSI) data assimilation system and WRF ARW model To investigate the potential and the value of utilizing GPM observation into NWP for operational environment The GPM rain rate data has been successfully assimilated using the GSI rain data assimilation package. Impacts of rain rate data have been found in temperature and moisture fields of initial conditions. 2.Assimilation of either GPM IMERG or GPROF rain product produces significant improvement in precipitation amount and structure for Hurricane Harvey (2017) forecast. Since IMERG data is available half-hourly, further forecast improvement is expected with continuous assimilation of IMERG data

Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-02-22

A sign guides travelers to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) Tanegashima Space Center (TNSC), Saturday, Feb. 22, 2014, Tanegashima Island, Japan. A launch of an H-IIA rocket carrying the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory is planned for Feb. 28, 2014 from the space center. The NASA-JAXA GPM spacecraft will collect information that unifies data from an international network of existing and future satellites to map global rainfall and snowfall every three hours. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-02-23

The Tanegashima Space Center (TNSC) lighthouse is seen on Sunday, Feb. 23, 2014, Tanegashima Island, Japan. A Japanese H-IIA rocket carrying the NASA-Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory is planned for launch from the space center on Feb. 28, 2014. Once launched, the GPM spacecraft will collect information that unifies data from an international network of existing and future satellites to map global rainfall and snowfall every three hours. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-02-21

The Takesaki Observation Center is seen at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) Tanegashima Space Center (TNSC) a week ahead of the planned launch of an H-IIA rocket carrying the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory, Friday, Feb. 21, 2014, Tanegashima Island, Japan. The NASA-JAXA GPM spacecraft will collect information that unifies data from an international network of existing and future satellites to map global rainfall and snowfall every three hours. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-02-21

A light house and weather station is seen at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) Tanegashima Space Center (TNSC) a week ahead of the planned launch of an H-IIA rocket carrying the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory, Friday, Feb. 21, 2014, Tanegashima Island, Japan. The NASA-JAXA GPM spacecraft will collect information that unifies data from an international network of existing and future satellites to map global rainfall and snowfall every three hours. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-02-27

A Japanese H-IIA rocket carrying the NASA-Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory is seen in this 10 second exposure as it rolls out to launch pad 1 of the Tanegashima Space Center, Thursday, Feb. 27, 2014, Tanegashima, Japan. Once launched, the GPM spacecraft will collect information that unifies data from an international network of existing and future satellites to map global rainfall and snowfall every three hours. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-02-21

Topiary shaped into the logo of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is seen at the Tanegashima Space Center (TNSC) a week ahead of the planned launch of an H-IIA rocket carrying the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory, Friday, Feb. 21, 2014, Tanegashima Island, Japan. The NASA-JAXA GPM spacecraft will collect information that unifies data from an international network of existing and future satellites to map global rainfall and snowfall every three hours. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Using Observations from GPM and CloudSat to Produce a Climatology of Precipitation over the Ocean

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hayden, L.; Liu, C.

2017-12-01

Satellite based instruments are essential to the observation of precipitation at a global scale, especially over remote oceanic regions. Each instrument has its own strengths and limitations when it comes to accurately determining the rate of precipitation occurring at the surface. By using the complementary strengths of two satellite based instruments, we attempt to produce a more complete climatology of global oceanic precipitation. The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Osbervatory's Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) is capable of measuring precipitation producing radar reflectivity above 12 dBZ [Hamada and Takayabu 2016]. The CloudSat satellite's Cloud Profiling Radar (CPR) uses higher frequency C band (94 GHz) radiation, and is therefore capable of measuring precipitation occurring at low precipitation rates which are not detected by the GPM DPR. The precipitation estimates derived by the two satellites are combined and the results are examined. CloudSat data from July 2006 to December 2010 are used. GPM data from March 2014 through May 2016 are used. Since the two datasets do not temporally overlap, this study is conducted from a climatological standpoint. The average occurrence for different precipitation rates is calculated for both satellites. To produce the combined dataset, the precipitation from CloudSat are used for the low precipitation rates while CloudSat precipitation amount is greater than that from GPM DPR, until GPM DPR precipitation amount is higher than that from CloudSat, at which precipitation rate data from the GPM are used. By combining the two datasets, we discuss the seasonal and geo-graphical distribution of weak precipitation detected by CloudSat that is beyond the sensitivity of GPM DPR. We also hope to gain a more complete picture of the precipitation that occurs over oceanic regions.

Calibration Plans for the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bidwell, S. W.; Flaming, G. M.; Adams, W. J.; Everett, D. F.; Mendelsohn, C. R.; Smith, E. A.; Turk, J.

2002-01-01

The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) is an international effort led by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of the U.S.A. and the National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA) for the purpose of improving research into the global water and energy cycle. GPM will improve climate, weather, and hydrological forecasts through more frequent and more accurate measurement of precipitation world-wide. Comprised of U.S. domestic and international partners, GPM will incorporate and assimilate data streams from many spacecraft with varied orbital characteristics and instrument capabilities. Two of the satellites will be provided directly by GPM, the core satellite and a constellation member. The core satellite, at the heart of GPM, is scheduled for launch in November 2007. The core will carry a conical scanning microwave radiometer, the GPM Microwave Imager (GMI), and a two-frequency cross-track-scanning radar, the Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR). The passive microwave channels and the two radar frequencies of the core are carefully chosen for investigating the varying character of precipitation over ocean and land, and from the tropics to the high-latitudes. The DPR will enable microphysical characterization and three-dimensional profiling of precipitation. The GPM-provided constellation spacecraft will carry a GMI radiometer identical to that on the core spacecraft. This paper presents calibration plans for the GPM, including on-board instrument calibration, external calibration methods, and the role of ground validation. Particular emphasis is on plans for inter-satellite calibration of the GPM constellation. With its Unique instrument capabilities, the core spacecraft will serve as a calibration transfer standard to the GPM constellation. In particular the Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar aboard the core will check the accuracy of retrievals from the GMI radiometer and will enable improvement of the radiometer retrievals. Observational intersections of the core with the constellation spacecraft are essential in applying this technique to the member satellites. Information from core spacecraft retrievals during intersection events will be transferred to the constellation radiometer instruments in the form of improved calibration and, with experience, improved radiometric algorithms. In preparation for the transfer standard technique, comparisons using the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) with sun-synchronous radiometers have been conducted. Ongoing research involves study of critical variables in the inter-comparison, such as correlation with spatial-temporal separation of intersection events, frequency of intersection events, variable azimuth look angles, and variable resolution cells for the various sensors.

Global precipitation measurement (GPM) preliminary design

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Neeck, Steven P.; Kakar, Ramesh K.; Azarbarzin, Ardeshir A.; Hou, Arthur Y.

2008-10-01

The overarching Earth science mission objective of the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission is to develop a scientific understanding of the Earth system and its response to natural and human-induced changes. This will enable improved prediction of climate, weather, and natural hazards for present and future generations. The specific scientific objectives of GPM are advancing: Precipitation Measurement through combined use of active and passive remote-sensing techniques, Water/Energy Cycle Variability through improved knowledge of the global water/energy cycle and fresh water availability, Climate Prediction through better understanding of surface water fluxes, soil moisture storage, cloud/precipitation microphysics and latent heat release, Weather Prediction through improved numerical weather prediction (NWP) skills from more accurate and frequent measurements of instantaneous rain rates with better error characterizations and improved assimilation methods, Hydrometeorological Prediction through better temporal sampling and spatial coverage of highresolution precipitation measurements and innovative hydro-meteorological modeling. GPM is a joint initiative with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and other international partners and is the backbone of the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) Precipitation Constellation. It will unify and improve global precipitation measurements from a constellation of dedicated and operational active/passive microwave sensors. GPM is completing the Preliminary Design Phase and is advancing towards launch in 2013 and 2014.

Evaluation of topographical and seasonal feature using GPM IMERG and TRMM 3B42 over Far-East Asia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Kiyoung; Park, Jongmin; Baik, Jongjin; Choi, Minha

2017-05-01

The acquisition of accurate precipitation data is essential for analyzing various hydrological phenomena and climate change. Recently, the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) satellites were launched as a next-generation rainfall mission for observing global precipitation characteristics. The main objective in this study is to assess precipitation products from GPM, especially the Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals (GPM-3IMERGHH) and the Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission (TRMM) Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA), using gauge-based precipitation data from Far-East Asia during the pre-monsoon and monsoon seasons. Evaluation was performed by focusing on three different factors: geographical aspects, seasonal factors, and spatial distributions. In both mountainous and coastal regions, the GPM-3IMERGHH product showed better performance than the TRMM 3B42 V7, although both rainfall products showed uncertainties caused by orographic convection and the land-ocean classification algorithm. GPM-3IMERGHH performed about 8% better than TRMM 3B42 V7 during the pre-monsoon and monsoon seasons due to the improvement of loaded sensor and reinforcement in capturing convective rainfall, respectively. In depicting the spatial distribution of precipitation, GPM-3IMERGHH was more accurate than TRMM 3B42 V7 because of its enhanced spatial and temporal resolutions of 10 km and 30 min, respectively. Based on these results, GPM-3IMERGHH would be helpful for not only understanding the characteristics of precipitation with high spatial and temporal resolution, but also for estimating near-real-time runoff patterns.

The 5000 GPM firefighting module evaluation test

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Burns, Ralph A.

1986-01-01

The 5000 GPM Firefighting Module development was sponsored and shared by the Navy Facilities Engineering Command. It is a lightweight, compact, self-contained, helicopter-transportable unit for fighting harbor and other specialty fires as well as for use in emergency and shipboard water pumping applications. This unit is a more advanced model of the original 1500 GPM module developed for the U.S. Coast Guard. The module and an evaluation test program conducted at the North Island Naval Air Station, San Diego, California, by NASA and the U.S. Navy, are described.

Surge Pressure Mitigation in the Global Precipitation Measurement Mission Core Propulsion System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Scroggins, Ashley R.; Fiebig, Mark D.

2014-01-01

The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission is an international partnership between NASA and JAXA whose Core spacecraft performs cutting-edge measurements of rainfall and snowfall worldwide and unifies data gathered by a network of precipitation measurement satellites. The Core spacecraft's propulsion system is a blowdown monopropellant system with an initial hydrazine load of 545 kg in a single composite overwrapped propellant tank. At launch, the propulsion system contained propellant in the tank and manifold tubes upstream of the latch valves, with low-pressure helium gas in the manifold tubes downstream of the latch valves. The system had a relatively high beginning-of- life pressure and long downstream manifold lines; these factors created conditions that were conducive to high surge pressures. This paper discusses the GPM project's approach to surge mitigation in the propulsion system design. The paper describes the surge testing program and results, with discussions of specific difficulties encountered. Based on the results of surge testing and pressure drop analyses, a unique configuration of cavitating venturis was chosen to mitigate surge while minimizing pressure losses during thruster maneuvers. This paper concludes with a discussion of overall lessons learned with surge pressure testing for NASA Goddard spacecraft programs.

Signatures of Hydrometeor Species from Airborne Passive Microwave Data for Frequencies 10-183 GHz

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cecil, Daniel J.; Leppert, Kenneth, II

2014-01-01

There are 2 basic precipitation retrieval methods using passive microwave measurements: (1) Emission-based: Based on the tendency of liquid precipitation to cause an increase in brightness temperature (BT) primarily at frequencies below 22 GHz over a radiometrically cold background, often an ocean background (e.g., Spencer et al. 1989; Adler et al. 1991; McGaughey et al. 1996); and (2) Scattering-based: Based on the tendency of precipitation-sized ice to scatter upwelling radiation, thereby reducing the measured BT over a relatively warmer (usually land) background at frequencies generally 37 GHz (e.g., Spencer et al. 1989; Smith et al. 1992; Ferraro and Marks 1995). Passive microwave measurements have also been used to detect intense convection (e.g., Spencer and Santek 1985) and for the detection of hail (e.g., Cecil 2009; Cecil and Blankenship 2012; Ferraro et al. 2014). The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission expands upon the successful Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission program to provide global rainfall and snowfall observations every 3 hours (Hou et al. 2014). One of the instruments on board the GPM Core Observatory is the GPM Microwave Imager (GMI) which is a conically-scanning microwave radiometer with 13 channels ranging from 10-183 GHz. Goal of this study: Determine the signatures of various hydrometeor species in terms of BTs measured at frequencies used by GMI by using data collected on 3 case days (all having intense/severe convection) during the Mid-latitude Continental Convective Clouds Experiment conducted over Oklahoma in 2011.

Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-02-21

A full size model of an H-II rocket is seen at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) Tanegashima Space Center (TNSC) visitors center a week ahead of the planned launch of an H-IIA rocket carrying the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory, Friday, Feb. 21, 2014, Tanegashima Island, Japan. The NASA-JAXA GPM spacecraft will collect information that unifies data from an international network of existing and future satellites to map global rainfall and snowfall every three hours. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-02-23

A surfer navigates the waters in front of the Tanegashima Space Center (TNSC) launch pads on Sunday, Feb. 23, 2014, Tanegashima Island, Japan. A Japanese H-IIA rocket carrying the NASA-Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory is planned for launch from the space center on Feb. 28, 2014. Once launched, the GPM spacecraft will collect information that unifies data from an international network of existing and future satellites to map global rainfall and snowfall every three hours. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-02-23

A rocket is seen at the entrance to the visitor's center of the Tanegashima Space Center (TNSC), Sunday, Feb. 23, 2014, Tanegashima Island, Japan. A Japanese H-IIA rocket carrying the NASA-Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory is planned for launch from the space center on Feb. 28, 2014. Once launched, the GPM spacecraft will collect information that unifies data from an international network of existing and future satellites to map global rainfall and snowfall every three hours. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-02-22

A roadside sign announces the upcoming launch of an H-IIA rocket carrying the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory, Saturday, Feb. 22, 2014, Minamitane Town, Tanegashima Island, Japan. Once launched from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) Tanegashima Space Center (TNSC) the NASA-JAXA GPM spacecraft will collect information that unifies data from an international network of existing and future satellites to map global rainfall and snowfall every three hours. The launch is planned for Feb. 28, 2014. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-02-23

A jogger runs past a sign welcoming NASA and other visitors to Minamitane Town on Sunday, Feb. 23, 2014, Tanegashima Island, Japan. A Japanese H-IIA rocket carrying the NASA-Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory is planned for launch from the space center on Feb. 28, 2014. Once launched, the GPM spacecraft will collect information that unifies data from an international network of existing and future satellites to map global rainfall and snowfall every three hours. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-02-22

Space themed signs are seen along the roads to and from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) Tanegashima Space Center (TNSC), Saturday, Feb. 22, 2014, Tanegashima Island, Japan. A launch of an H-IIA rocket carrying the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory is planned for Feb. 28, 2014 from the space center. The NASA-JAXA GPM spacecraft will collect information that unifies data from an international network of existing and future satellites to map global rainfall and snowfall every three hours. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory Falling Snow Estimates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Skofronick Jackson, G.; Kulie, M.; Milani, L.; Munchak, S. J.; Wood, N.; Levizzani, V.

2017-12-01

Retrievals of falling snow from space represent an important data set for understanding and linking the Earth's atmospheric, hydrological, and energy cycles. Estimates of falling snow must be captured to obtain the true global precipitation water cycle, snowfall accumulations are required for hydrological studies, and without knowledge of the frozen particles in clouds one cannot adequately understand the energy and radiation budgets. This work focuses on comparing the first stable falling snow retrieval products (released May 2017) for the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory (GPM-CO), which was launched February 2014, and carries both an active dual frequency (Ku- and Ka-band) precipitation radar (DPR) and a passive microwave radiometer (GPM Microwave Imager-GMI). Five separate GPM-CO falling snow retrieval algorithm products are analyzed including those from DPR Matched (Ka+Ku) Scan, DPR Normal Scan (Ku), DPR High Sensitivity Scan (Ka), combined DPR+GMI, and GMI. While satellite-based remote sensing provides global coverage of falling snow events, the science is relatively new, the different on-orbit instruments don't capture all snow rates equally, and retrieval algorithms differ. Thus a detailed comparison among the GPM-CO products elucidates advantages and disadvantages of the retrievals. GPM and CloudSat global snowfall evaluation exercises are natural investigative pathways to explore, but caution must be undertaken when analyzing these datasets for comparative purposes. This work includes outlining the challenges associated with comparing GPM-CO to CloudSat satellite snow estimates due to the different sampling, algorithms, and instrument capabilities. We will highlight some factors and assumptions that can be altered or statistically normalized and applied in an effort to make comparisons between GPM and CloudSat global satellite falling snow products as equitable as possible.

Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-02-26

A daruma doll is seen on the desk of Masahiro Kojima, GPM Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar project manager, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), at the Tanegashima Space Cener's Range Control Center (RCC), Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2014, Tanegashima, Japan. One eye of the daruma doll is colored in when a goal is set and the second eye is colored in at the completion of the goal. JAXA plans to launch an H-IIA rocket carrying the NASA-JAXA, Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory from the space center on Feb. 28, 2014. Once launched, the GPM spacecraft will collect information that unifies data from an international network of existing and future satellites to map global rainfall and snowfall every three hours. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-02-26

Members of the weather team prepare reports for the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory Launch Readiness Review (LRR) with Chief officers from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd., the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), and NASA, on Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2014 at Tanegashima Space Center, Japan. The GPM spacecraft is scheduled to launch aboard an H-IIA rocket early on the morning of Feb. 28 Japan time. At the meeting in the space center's Range Control Center, all preparations to date were reviewed and approval was given to proceed with launch on schedule. Once launched, the GPM spacecraft will collect information that unifies data from an international network of existing and future satellites to map global rainfall and snowfall every three hours. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-02-26

Art Azarbarzin, NASA Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) project manager, left, participates in the GPM Launch Readiness Review (LRR) along with Chief officers from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd., and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) on Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2014 at Tanegashima Space Center, Japan. The spacecraft is scheduled to launch aboard an H-IIA rocket early on the morning of Feb. 28 Japan time. At the meeting in the space center's Range Control Center, all preparations to date were reviewed and approval was given to proceed with launch on schedule. Once launched, the GPM spacecraft will collect information that unifies data from an international network of existing and future satellites to map global rainfall and snowfall every three hours. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

A Physical Validation Program for the GPM Mission

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, Eric A.

2003-01-01

The GPM mission is currently planned for start in the late 2007 - early 2008 time frame. Its main scientific goal is to help answer pressing scientific problems arising within the context of global and regional water cycling. These problems cut across a hierarchy of scales and include climate-water cycle interactions, techniques for improving weather and climate predictions, and better methods for combining observed precipitation with hydrometeorological prediction models for applications to hazardous flood-producing storms, seasonal flood draught conditions, and fresh water resource assessments. The GPM mission will expand the scope of precipitation measurement through the use of a constellation of some 9 satellites, one of which will be an advanced TRMM-like core satellite carrying a dual-frequency Ku-Ka band precipitation radar and an advanced, multifrequency passive microwave radiometer with vertical-horizontal polarization discrimination. The other constellation members will include new dedicated satellites and co-existing operational/research satellites carrying similar (but not identical) passive microwave radiometers. The goal of the constellation is to achieve approximately 3-hour sampling at any spot on the globe -- continuously. The constellation's orbit architecture will consist of a mix of sun-synchronous and non-sun-synchronous satellites with the core satellite providing measurements of cloud-precipitation microphysical processes plus calibration-quality rainrate retrievals to be used with the other retrieval information to ensure bias-free constellation coverage. A major requirement before the retrieved rainfall information generated by the GPM mission can be used effectively by prognostic models to improve weather forecasts, hydrometeorological forecasts, and climate model reanalysis simulations is a capability to quantify the error characteristics of the retrievals. A solution for this problem has been upheld in past precipitation missions because of the lack of suitable error modeling systems incorporated into the validation programs and data distribution systems. An overview of how NASA intends to overcome this problem for the GPM mission using a physically-based error modeling approach within a multi-faceted validation program is described. The solution is to first identify specific user requirements and then determine the most stringent of these requirements that embodies all essential error characterization information needed by the entire user community. In the context of NASA s scientific agenda for the GPM mission, the most stringent user requirement is found within the data assimilation community. The fundamental theory of data assimilation vis-a-vis ingesting satellite precipitation information into the pre-forecast initializations is based on quantifying the conditional bias and precision errors of individual rain retrievals, and the space-time structure of the precision error (i.e., the spatial-temporal error covariance). By generating the hardware and software capability to produce this information in a near real-time fashion, and to couple the derived quantitative error properties to the actual retrieved rainrates, all key validation users can be satisfied. The talk will describe the essential components of the hardware and software systems needed to generate such near real-time error properties, as well as the various paradigm shifts needed within the validation community to produce a validation program relevant to the precipitation user community.

Optimizing Orbit-Instrument Configuration for Global Precipitation Mission (GPM) Satellite Fleet

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, Eric A.; Adams, James; Baptista, Pedro; Haddad, Ziad; Iguchi, Toshio; Im, Eastwood; Kummerow, Christian; Einaudi, Franco (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

Following the scientific success of the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) spearheaded by a group of NASA and NASDA scientists, their external scientific collaborators, and additional investigators within the European Union's TRMM Research Program (EUROTRMM), there has been substantial progress towards the development of a new internationally organized, global scale, and satellite-based precipitation measuring mission. The highlights of this newly developing mission are a greatly expanded scope of measuring capability and a more diversified set of science objectives. The mission is called the Global Precipitation Mission (GPM). Notionally, GPM will be a constellation-type mission involving a fleet of nine satellites. In this fleet, one member is referred to as the "core" spacecraft flown in an approximately 70 degree inclined non-sun-synchronous orbit, somewhat similar to TRMM in that it carries both a multi-channel polarized passive microwave radiometer (PMW) and a radar system, but in this case it will be a dual frequency Ku-Ka band radar system enabling explicit measurements of microphysical DSD properties. The remainder of fleet members are eight orbit-synchronized, sun-synchronous "constellation" spacecraft each carrying some type of multi-channel PMW radiometer, enabling no worse than 3-hour diurnal sampling over the entire globe. In this configuration the "core" spacecraft serves as a high quality reference platform for training and calibrating the PMW rain retrieval algorithms used with the "constellation" radiometers. Within NASA, GPM has advanced to the pre-formulation phase which has enabled the initiation of a set of science and technology studies which will help lead to the final mission design some time in the 2003 period. This presentation first provides an overview of the notional GPM program and mission design, including its organizational and programmatic concepts, scientific agenda, expected instrument package, and basic flight architecture. Following this introduction, we focus specifically on the last topic, that being an analysis which leads to an optimal flight architecture dictated in part by science requirements but constrained by allowable orbital mechanics, instrument scan patterns, and antenna aperture properties. Because the optimal architecture involves an interplay between orbit mechanics and instrument specifications, it is important to recognize that in attempting to serve various scientific themes, the final optimal architecture will represent a compromise concerning dynamic range, spatial resolution, sampling interval, pointing, beam coincidence, and measurement uncertainty. Moreover, cost becomes a major factor in seeking the optimal architecture through the pathways of antenna and instrument scan designs, as well as propulsion requirements associated with the orbit heights of various "constellation" members. Although the results presented at the IGARSS-2001 meeting will likely not be the fully refined flight architecture specifications, they are expected to be nearly complete.

Mining Twitter Data to Augment NASA GPM Validation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Teng, Bill; Albayrak, Arif; Huffman, George; Vollmer, Bruce; Loeser, Carlee; Acker, Jim

2017-01-01

The Twitter data stream is an important new source of real-time and historical global information for potentially augmenting the validation program of NASA's Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission. There have been other similar uses of Twitter, though mostly related to natural hazards monitoring and management. The validation of satellite precipitation estimates is challenging, because many regions lack data or access to data, especially outside of the U.S. and in remote and developing areas. The time-varying set of "precipitation" tweets can be thought of as an organic network of rain gauges, potentially providing a widespread view of precipitation occurrence. Twitter provides a large source of crowd for crowdsourcing. During a 24-hour period in the middle of the snow storm this past March in the U.S. Northeast, we collected more than 13,000 relevant precipitation tweets with exact geolocation. The overall objective of our project is to determine the extent to which processed tweets can provide additional information that improves the validation of GPM data. Though our current effort focuses on tweets and precipitation, our approach is general and applicable to other social media and other geophysical measurements. Specifically, we have developed an operational infrastructure for processing tweets, in a format suitable for analysis with GPM data; engaged with potential participants, both passive and active, to "enrich" the Twitter stream; and inter-compared "precipitation" tweet data, ground station data, and GPM retrievals. In this presentation, we detail the technical capabilities of our tweet processing infrastructure, including data abstraction, feature extraction, search engine, context-awareness, real-time processing, and high volume (big) data processing; various means for "enriching" the Twitter stream; and results of inter-comparisons. Our project should bring a new kind of visibility to Twitter and engender a new kind of appreciation of the value of Twitter by the science research communities.

Mining Twitter Data Stream to Augment NASA GPM Validation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Teng, W. L.; Albayrak, A.; Huffman, G. J.; Vollmer, B.

2017-12-01

The Twitter data stream is an important new source of real-time and historical global information for potentially augmenting the validation program of NASA's Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission. There have been other similar uses of Twitter, though mostly related to natural hazards monitoring and management. The validation of satellite precipitation estimates is challenging, because many regions lack data or access to data, especially outside of the U.S. and in remote and developing areas. The time-varying set of "precipitation" tweets can be thought of as an organic network of rain gauges, potentially providing a widespread view of precipitation occurrence. Twitter provides a large source of crowd for crowdsourcing. During a 24-hour period in the middle of the snow storm this past March in the U.S. Northeast, we collected more than 13,000 relevant precipitation tweets with exact geolocation. The overall objective of our project is to determine the extent to which processed tweets can provide additional information that improves the validation of GPM data. Though our current effort focuses on tweets and precipitation, our approach is general and applicable to other social media and other geophysical measurements. Specifically, we have developed an operational infrastructure for processing tweets, in a format suitable for analysis with GPM data; engaged with potential participants, both passive and active, to "enrich" the Twitter stream; and inter-compared "precipitation" tweet data, ground station data, and GPM retrievals. In this presentation, we detail the technical capabilities of our tweet processing infrastructure, including data abstraction, feature extraction, search engine, context-awareness, real-time processing, and high volume (big) data processing; various means for "enriching" the Twitter stream; and results of inter-comparisons. Our project should bring a new kind of visibility to Twitter and engender a new kind of appreciation of the value of Twitter by the science research communities.

GPM Satellite Radar Measurements of Precipitation and Freezing Level in Atmospheric Rivers: Comparison With Ground-Based Radars and Reanalyses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cannon, Forest; Ralph, F. Martin; Wilson, Anna M.; Lettenmaier, Dennis P.

2017-12-01

Atmospheric rivers (ARs) account for more than 90% of the total meridional water vapor flux in midlatitudes, and 25-50% of the annual precipitation in the coastal western United States. In this study, reflectivity profiles from the Global Precipitation Measurement Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (GPM-DPR) are used to evaluate precipitation and temperature characteristics of ARs over the western coast of North America and the eastern North Pacific Ocean. Evaluation of GPM-DPR bright-band height using a network of ground-based vertically pointing radars along the West Coast demonstrated exceptional agreement, and comparison with freezing level height from reanalyses over the eastern North Pacific Ocean also consistently agreed, indicating that GPM-DPR can be used to independently validate freezing level in models. However, precipitation comparison with gridded observations across the western United States indicated deficiencies in GPM-DPR's ability to reproduce the spatial distribution of winter precipitation, likely related to sampling frequency. Over the geographically homogeneous oceanic portion of the domain, sampling frequency was not problematic, and significant differences in the frequency and intensity of precipitation between GPM-DPR and reanalyses highlighted biases in both satellite-observed and modeled AR precipitation. Reanalyses precipitation rates below the minimum sensitivity of GPM-DPR accounted for a 20% increase in total precipitation, and 25% of radar-derived precipitation rates were greater than the 99th percentile precipitation rate in reanalyses. Due to differences in the proportions of precipitation in convective, stratiform bright-band, and non-bright-band conditions, AR conditions contributed nearly 10% more to total precipitation in GPM-DPR than reanalyses.

GPM Mission, its Scientific Agenda, and its Ground Validation Program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith Eric A.

2004-01-01

The GPM mission is currently planned for start in the late 2010 time frame. From the perspective of NASA s Earth Science Enterprise (ESE) and within the framework of ESE's global water and energy cycle (GWEC) research program, its main scientific goal is to help answer pressing scientific problems concerning how global and regional water cycle processes and precipitation fluctuations and trends influence the variability intrinsic to climate, weather, and hydrology. These problems cut across a hierarchy of space-time scales and include improving understanding of climate-water cycle interactions, developing better techniques for incorporating satellite precipitation measurements into weather and climate predictions, and demonstrating that more accurate, more complete, and better sampled observations of precipitation and other water budget variables used as inputs can improve the ability of prognostic hydrometeorological models in the prediction of hazardous flood-producing storms, seasonal flood/draught conditions, and fresh water resource stores. The GPM mission will expand the scope of precipitation measurement through the use of a constellation of some 9 satellites, one of which will be an advanced TRMM-like core satellite carrying a dual-frequency Ku-Ka band precipitation radar (DPR) and an advanced, multifrequency passive microwave radiometer with vertical-horizontal polarization discrimination (GMI). The other constellation members will include a combination of new dedicated satellites and co-existing operational/research satellites carrying similar (but not identical) passive microwave radiometers. The goal of the constellation is to achieve 3-hour sampling at any spot on the globe -- continuously. The constellation s orbit architecture will consist of a mix of sun-synchronous and non-sun-synchronous satellites with the core satellite providing measurements of calibration-quality rainrates, plus cloud-precipitation microphysical processes, to be used in conjunction with more basic rain retrievals from the other constellation satellites to ensure bias-free constellation coverage.

Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-02-23

Shrubs and flowers in the shape of a space shuttle, star and planet are seen just outside the visitor's center of the Tanegashima Space Center (TNSC), Sunday, Feb. 23, 2014, Tanegashima Island, Japan. A Japanese H-IIA rocket carrying the NASA-Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory is planned for launch from the space center on Feb. 28, 2014. Once launched, the GPM spacecraft will collect information that unifies data from an international network of existing and future satellites to map global rainfall and snowfall every three hours. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-02-23

A car drives on the twisty roads that hug the coast line of the Tanegashima Space Center (TNSC) on Sunday, Feb. 23, 2014, Tanegashima Island, Japan. A Japanese H-IIA rocket carrying the NASA-Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory is planned for launch from the space center on Feb. 28, 2014. Once launched, the GPM spacecraft will collect information that unifies data from an international network of existing and future satellites to map global rainfall and snowfall every three hours. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-02-23

Envelopes with stamps depicting various space missions are shown at the visitor's center of the Tanegashima Space Center (TNSC), Sunday, Feb. 23, 2014, Tanegashima Island, Japan. A Japanese H-IIA rocket carrying the NASA-Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory is planned for launch from the space center on Feb. 28, 2014. Once launched, the GPM spacecraft will collect information that unifies data from an international network of existing and future satellites to map global rainfall and snowfall every three hours. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-02-21

A sign at an overlook, named Rocket Hill, helps viewers identify the various facilities of the Tanegashima Space Center (TNSC), including launch pad 1 that will be used Feb. 28, 2014 for the launch of an H-IIA rocket carrying the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory, Friday, Feb. 21, 2014, Tanegashima Island, Japan. The NASA-Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) GPM spacecraft will collect information that unifies data from an international network of existing and future satellites to map global rainfall and snowfall every three hours. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-02-22

A small roadside park honoring spaceflight is seen in Minamitane Town, Saturday Feb. 22, 2014, Tanegashima Island, Japan. Minamitane Town is located not far from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) Tanegashima Space Center (TNSC), where the launch of an H-IIA rocket carrying the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory is planned for Feb. 28, 2014. The NASA-JAXA GPM spacecraft will collect information that unifies data from an international network of existing and future satellites to map global rainfall and snowfall every three hours. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-02-23

A building designed to look like a space shuttle is seen a few kilometers outside of the Tanegashima Space Center (TNSC), Sunday, Feb. 23, 2014, Tanegashima Island, Japan. A Japanese H-IIA rocket carrying the NASA-Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory is planned for launch from the space center on Feb. 28, 2014. Once launched, the GPM spacecraft will collect information that unifies data from an international network of existing and future satellites to map global rainfall and snowfall every three hours. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Spacecraft Lithium Ion Battery Micro-Cycling Investigation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dakermanji, George; Lee, Leonine; Spitzer, Thomas

2016-01-01

The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) spacecraft was jointly developed by NASA and JAXA. It is a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) spacecraft launched on February 27, 2014. The power system is a Direct Energy Transfer (DET) system designed to support 1950 watts orbit average power. The batteries use SONY 18650HC cells and consist of three 8s by 84p batteries operated in parallel as a single battery. During instrument integration with the spacecraft, large current transients were observed in the battery. Investigation into the matter traced the cause to the Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) phased array radar which generates cyclical high rate current transients on the spacecraft power bus. The power system electronics interaction with these transients resulted in the current transients in the battery. An accelerated test program was developed to bound the effect, and to assess the impact to the mission.

GPM High Gain Antenna System

NASA Image and Video Library

2013-11-14

The GPM High Gain Antenna System (HGAS) in integration and testing at Goddard Space Flight Center. Credit: Craig E. Huber, Chief Engineer SGT Inc, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission is an international partnership co-led by NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) that will provide next-generation global observations of precipitation from space. GPM will study global rain, snow and ice to better understand our climate, weather, and hydrometeorological processes. As of Novermber 2013 the GPM Core Observatory is in the final stages of testing at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. The satellite will be flown to Japan in the fall of 2013 and launched into orbit on an HII-A rocket in early 2014. For more on the GPM mission, visit gpm.gsfc.nasa.gov/. NASA image use policy. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. Follow us on Twitter Like us on Facebook Find us on Instagram

Recent results of the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission in Japan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kubota, Takuji; Oki, Riko; Furukawa, Kinji; Kaneko, Yuki; Yamaji, Moeka; Iguchi, Toshio; Takayabu, Yukari

2017-04-01

The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission is an international collaboration to achieve highly accurate and highly frequent global precipitation observations. The GPM mission consists of the GPM Core Observatory jointly developed by U.S. and Japan and Constellation Satellites that carry microwave radiometers and provided by the GPM partner agencies. The GPM Core Observatory, launched on February 2014, carries the Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT). JAXA develops the DPR Level 1 algorithm, and the NASA-JAXA Joint Algorithm Team develops the DPR Level 2 and DPR-GMI combined Level2 algorithms. The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) started the DPR assimilation in the meso-scale Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) system on March 24 2016. This was regarded as the world's first "operational" assimilation of spaceborne radar data in the NWP system of meteorological agencies. JAXA also develops the Global Satellite Mapping of Precipitation (GSMaP), as national product to distribute hourly and 0.1-degree horizontal resolution rainfall map. The GSMaP near-real-time version (GSMaP_NRT) product is available 4-hour after observation through the "JAXA Global Rainfall Watch" web site (http://sharaku.eorc.jaxa.jp/GSMaP) since 2008. The GSMaP_NRT product gives higher priority to data latency than accuracy, and has been used by various users for various purposes, such as rainfall monitoring, flood alert and warning, drought monitoring, crop yield forecast, and agricultural insurance. There is, however, a requirement for shortening of data latency time from GSMaP users. To reduce data latency, JAXA has developed the GSMaP realtime version (GSMaP_NOW) product for observation area of the geostationary satellite Himawari-8 operated by the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA). GSMaP_NOW product was released to public in November 2, 2015 through the "JAXA Realtime Rainfall Watch" web site (http://sharaku.eorc.jaxa.jp/GSMaP_NOW/). All GPM standard products and the GPM-GSMaP product have been released to the public since September 2014 as Version 03. The GPM products can be downloaded via the internet through the JAXA G-Portal (https://www.gportal.jaxa.jp). On Mar. 2016, the DPR, the GMI, and the DPR-GMI combined algorithms were updated and the first GPM latent heating product (in the TRMM coverage) were released. Therefore, the GPM Version 04 standard products have been provided since Mar. 2016. Furthermore, the GPM-GSMaP algorithms were updated and the GPM-GSMaP Version 04 products have been provided since Jan. 2017.

GPM Mission Overview and U.S. Science Status

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hou, Arthur Y.; Azarbarzin, Art; Skofronick, Gail; Carlisle, Candace

2012-01-01

The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission is an international satellite mission to unify and advance precipitation measurements from a constellation of research and operational sensors to provide "next-generation" precipitation products [1-2]. Water is fundamental to life on Earth. Knowing where and how much rain and snow falls globally is vital to understanding how weather and climate impact both our environment and Earth's water and energy cycles, including effects on agriculture, fresh water availability, and responses to natural disasters. Since rainfall and snowfall vary greatly from place to place and over time, satellites can provide more uniform observations of rain and snow around the globe than ground instruments, especially in areas where surface measurements are difficult. Relative to current global rainfall products, GPM data products will be characterized by: (l) more accurate instantaneous precipitation measurements (especially for light rain and cold-season solid precipitation), (2) more frequent sampling by an expanded constellation of domestic and international microwave radiometers including operational humidity sounders, (3) intercalibrated microwave brightness temperatures from constellation radiometers within a unified framework, and (4) physical-based precipitation retrievals from constellation radiometers using a common a priori cloud/hydrometeor database derived from GPM Core sensor measurements. The cornerstone of the GPM mission is the deployment of a Core Observatory in a unique 65 non-Sun-synchronous orbit to serve as a physics observatory and a reference standard to unify precipitation measurements by a constellation of dedicated and operational passive microwave sensors. The design of the GPM Core Observatory is an advancement of the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM)'s highly successful rain-sensing package. The Core Observatory will carry a Ku/Ka-band Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) and a multichannel (l0-183 GHz) GPM Microwave Radiometer (GMI). Since light rain and falling snow account for a significant fraction of precipitation occurrence in middle and high latitudes, the GPM instruments extend the capabilities of the TRMM sensors to detect falling snow, measure light rain, and provide, for the first time, quantitative estimates of microphysical properties of precipitation particles. The combined use of DPR and GMI measurements will place greater constraints on possible solutions to radiometer retrievals to improve the accuracy and consistency of precipitation retrievals from all constellation radiometers. The GMI uses 13 different microwave channels to observe energy from the different types of precipitation through clouds for estimating everything from heavy to light rain and for detecting falling snow. As the satellite passes over Earth, the GMI constantly scans a region 885 kilometers across. The Ball Aerospace and Technology Corporation built the GMI under contract with NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. The DPR provides three-dimensional information about precipitation particles derived from reflected energy by these particles at different heights within the cloud system. The two frequencies of the DPR also allow the radar to infer the sizes of precipitation particles and offer insights into a storm's physical characteristics. The Ka-band frequeny scans across a region of 125 kilometers and is nested within the wider scan of the Ku-band frequency of 245 kilometers. The Japan Aerospace and Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Japan's National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) built the DPR. The Core Observatory satellite will fly at an altitude of 253 miles (407 kilometers) in a non-Sun-synchronous orbit that covers the Earth from 65 S to 65 N - from about the Antarctic Circle to the Arctic Circle. The GPM Core Observatory is being developed and tested at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Once complete, a Japanese H-lIA rocket will carry thPM Core Observatory into orbit from Tanegashima Island, Japan in 2014. The GPM constellation is envisioned to comprise 8 or more microwave sensors provided by partners, including both conical imagers and cross-track sounders. GPM is currently a partnership between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). Additional partnerships are under development to include microwave radiometers on the French-Indian Megha-Tropiques satellite and U.S. Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) satellites, as well as humidity sounders or precipitation sensors on operational satellites such as the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) Preparatory Project (NPP), NOAA-NASA Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) satellites, European MetOp satellites, and DMSP follow-on sensors. In addition, data from Chinese and Russian microwave radiometers may be available through international cooperation under the auspices of the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) and Group on Earth Observations (GEO). GPM's next-generation global precipitation data will lead to scientific advances and societal benefits in the following areas: (1) Improved knowledge of the Earth's water cycle and its link to climate change (2) New insights into precipitation microphysics, storm structures and large-scale atmospheric processes (3) Better understanding of climate sensitivity and feedback processes (4) Extended capabilities in monitoring and predicting hurricanes and other extreme weather events (5) Improved forecasting capabilities for natural hazards, including floods, droughts and landslides. (6) Enhanced numerical prediction skills for weather and climate (7) Better agricultural crop forecasting and monitoring of freshwater resources. An overview of the GPM mission concept and science activities in the United States, together with an update on international collaborations in radiometer intercalibration and ground validation, will be presented.

Next-Generation Satellite Precipitation Products for Understanding Global and Regional Water Variability

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hou, Arthur Y.

2011-01-01

A major challenge in understanding the space-time variability of continental water fluxes is the lack of accurate precipitation estimates over complex terrains. While satellite precipitation observations can be used to complement ground-based data to obtain improved estimates, space-based and ground-based estimates come with their own sets of uncertainties, which must be understood and characterized. Quantitative estimation of uncertainties in these products also provides a necessary foundation for merging satellite and ground-based precipitation measurements within a rigorous statistical framework. Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) is an international satellite mission that will provide next-generation global precipitation data products for research and applications. It consists of a constellation of microwave sensors provided by NASA, JAXA, CNES, ISRO, EUMETSAT, DOD, NOAA, NPP, and JPSS. At the heart of the mission is the GPM Core Observatory provided by NASA and JAXA to be launched in 2013. The GPM Core, which will carry the first space-borne dual-frequency radar and a state-of-the-art multi-frequency radiometer, is designed to set new reference standards for precipitation measurements from space, which can then be used to unify and refine precipitation retrievals from all constellation sensors. The next-generation constellation-based satellite precipitation estimates will be characterized by intercalibrated radiometric measurements and physical-based retrievals using a common observation-derived hydrometeor database. For pre-launch algorithm development and post-launch product evaluation, NASA supports an extensive ground validation (GV) program in cooperation with domestic and international partners to improve (1) physics of remote-sensing algorithms through a series of focused field campaigns, (2) characterization of uncertainties in satellite and ground-based precipitation products over selected GV testbeds, and (3) modeling of atmospheric processes and land surface hydrology through simulation, downscaling, and data assimilation. An overview of the GPM mission, science status, and synergies with HyMex activities will be presented

GPM Launch Day at NASA Goddard (Feb. 27, 2014)

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-02-27

One of the control rooms at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., prepares for the GPM mission’s Core Observatory on Feb. 27, 2014. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Debbie McCallum GPM's Core Observatory is poised for launch from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Tanegashima Space Center, scheduled for the afternoon of Feb. 27, 2014 (EST). GPM is a joint venture between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. The GPM Core Observatory will link data from a constellation of current and planned satellites to produce next-generation global measurements of rainfall and snowfall from space. The GPM mission is the first coordinated international satellite network to provide near real-time observations of rain and snow every three hours anywhere on the globe. The GPM Core Observatory anchors this network by providing observations on all types of precipitation. The observatory's data acts as the measuring stick by which partner observations can be combined into a unified data set. The data will be used by scientists to study climate change, freshwater resources, floods and droughts, and hurricane formation and tracking. NASA image use policy. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. Follow us on Twitter Like us on Facebook Find us on Instagram

A Machine Learning-based Rainfall System for GPM Dual-frequency Radar

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tan, H.; Chandrasekar, V.; Chen, H.

2017-12-01

Precipitation measurement produced by the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) plays an important role in researching the water circle and forecasting extreme weather event. Compare with its predecessor - Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Precipitation Radar (PR), GRM DPR measures precipitation in two different frequencies (i.e., Ku and Ka band), which can provide detailed information on the microphysical properties of precipitation particles, quantify particle size distribution and quantitatively measure light rain and falling snow. This paper presents a novel Machine Learning system for ground-based and space borne radar rainfall estimation. The system first trains ground radar data for rainfall estimation using rainfall measurements from gauges and subsequently uses the ground radar based rainfall estimates to train GPM DPR data in order to get space based rainfall product. Therein, data alignment between space DPR and ground radar is conducted using the methodology proposed by Bolen and Chandrasekar (2013), which can minimize the effects of potential geometric distortion of GPM DPR observations. For demonstration purposes, rainfall measurements from three rain gauge networks near Melbourne, Florida, are used for training and validation purposes. These three gauge networks, which are located in Kennedy Space Center (KSC), South Florida Water Management District (SFL), and St. Johns Water Management District (STJ), include 33, 46, and 99 rain gauge stations, respectively. Collocated ground radar observations from the National Weather Service (NWS) Weather Surveillance Radar - 1988 Doppler (WSR-88D) in Melbourne (i.e., KMLB radar) are trained with the gauge measurements. The trained model is then used to derive KMLB radar based rainfall product, which is used to train GPM DPR data collected from coincident overpasses events. The machine learning based rainfall product is compared against the GPM standard products, which shows great potential of the machine learning concept in radar rainfall estimation.

Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission Products and Services at the NASA Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Liu, Z.; Ostrenga, D.; Vollmer, B.; Kempler, S.; Deshong, B.; Greene, M.

2015-01-01

The NASA Goddard Earth Sciences (GES) Data and Information Services Center (DISC) hosts and distributes GPM data within the NASA Earth Observation System Data Information System (EOSDIS). The GES DISC is also home to the data archive for the GPM predecessor, the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM). Over the past 17 years, the GES DISC has served the scientific as well as other communities with TRMM data and user-friendly services. During the GPM era, the GES DISC will continue to provide user-friendly data services and customer support to users around the world. GPM products currently and to-be available: -Level-1 GPM Microwave Imager (GMI) and partner radiometer products, DPR products -Level-2 Goddard Profiling Algorithm (GPROF) GMI and partner products, DPR products -Level-3 daily and monthly products, DPR products -Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for GPM (IMERG) products (early, late, and final) A dedicated Web portal (including user guides, etc.) has been developed for GPM data (http://disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/gpm). Data services that are currently and to-be available include Google-like Mirador (http://mirador.gsfc.nasa.gov/) for data search and access; data access through various Web services (e.g., OPeNDAP, GDS, WMS, WCS); conversion into various formats (e.g., netCDF, HDF, KML (for Google Earth), ASCII); exploration, visualization, and statistical online analysis through Giovanni (http://giovanni.gsfc.nasa.gov); generation of value-added products; parameter and spatial subsetting; time aggregation; regridding; data version control and provenance; documentation; science support for proper data usage, FAQ, help desk; monitoring services (e.g. Current Conditions) for applications. The United User Interface (UUI) is the next step in the evolution of the GES DISC web site. It attempts to provide seamless access to data, information and services through a single interface without sending the user to different applications or URLs (e.g., search, access, subset, Giovanni, documents).

GPM Vibration Testing

NASA Image and Video Library

2013-11-14

Vibration testing of the horizontal axis of the spacecraft. Credit: NASA/Goddard The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission is an international partnership co-led by NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) that will provide next-generation global observations of precipitation from space. GPM will study global rain, snow and ice to better understand our climate, weather, and hydrometeorological processes. As of Novermber 2013 the GPM Core Observatory is in the final stages of testing at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. The satellite will be flown to Japan in the fall of 2013 and launched into orbit on an HII-A rocket in early 2014. For more on the GPM mission, visit gpm.gsfc.nasa.gov/. NASA image use policy. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. Follow us on Twitter Like us on Facebook Find us on Instagram

GPM Launch Day at NASA Goddard (Feb. 27, 2014)

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-02-27

Children at the visitor center at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., receive a rainfall demonstration as part of activities tied to the launch of the Global Precipitation Measurement mission's Core Observatory on Feb. 27, 2014. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Debbie McCallum GPM's Core Observatory is poised for launch from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Tanegashima Space Center, scheduled for the afternoon of Feb. 27, 2014 (EST). GPM is a joint venture between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. The GPM Core Observatory will link data from a constellation of current and planned satellites to produce next-generation global measurements of rainfall and snowfall from space. The GPM mission is the first coordinated international satellite network to provide near real-time observations of rain and snow every three hours anywhere on the globe. The GPM Core Observatory anchors this network by providing observations on all types of precipitation. The observatory's data acts as the measuring stick by which partner observations can be combined into a unified data set. The data will be used by scientists to study climate change, freshwater resources, floods and droughts, and hurricane formation and tracking. NASA image use policy. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. Follow us on Twitter Like us on Facebook Find us on Instagram

Comparison of Imerg Half Hourly Final GPM data with Rain Gauge for Riyadh City, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tekeli, E.; Dönmez, S.

2016-12-01

Being launched in 1997 with the main goal of measuring moderate to heavy rainfall, TRMM enabled invaluable service to remote sensing and hydrology community with data more than 17 years. Based on TRMM experience, GPM was launched in 2014. GPM with increased radar sensitivity and higher spatial resolutions, is expected to enable better light rain and snowfall detection. In here, light rainfall detection capacity of IMERG Half hourly final GPM (IFHH) product is investigated for Riyadh City in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. A tipping bucket rain gauge located on the roof of King Saud University Civil Engineering Department provided rainfall measurements in 10 minute intervals from 22 November 2014 till 11 Jun 2015. Obtained rain gauge data indicated 72 light rain (rain rate [rr] ≤2.5mm/h) 5 medium rain (2.5mm/hPreliminary results indicate that IFHH overestimate most of the light rain. For the medium and heavy rain rates, IFHH showed under estimations. As one of the major goals of GPM is accurate light rain detection, similar studies should be continued and databases should be formed.

Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-02-27

Caroline Bouvier Kennedy, U.S. Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Japan, right, is welcomed by Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), President, Naoki Okumura, at the Tanegashima Space Center Visitors Center on Thursday, Feb. 27, 2014, Tanegashima, Japan. The Ambassador is visiting the space center and hopes to witness the planned launch of a Japanese H-IIA rocket carrying the NASA-JAXA, Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory. Once launched, the GPM spacecraft will collect information that unifies data from an international network of existing and future satellites to map global rainfall and snowfall every three hours. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-02-26

Chief officers from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd., the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and NASA met on Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2014 in the Range Control Center (RCC) of the Tanegashima Space Center, Japan, to review the readiness of the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory for launch. The spacecraft is scheduled to launch aboard an H-IIA rocket early on the morning of Feb. 28 Japan time. Once launched, the GPM spacecraft will collect information that unifies data from an international network of existing and future satellites to map global rainfall and snowfall every three hours. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-02-22

A sign with a model of the Japanese H-IIB rocket welcomes visitors to Minamitane Town, one of only a few small towns located outside of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) Tanegashima Space Center (TNSC), where the launch of an H-IIA rocket carrying the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory will take place in the next week, Saturday, Feb. 22, 2014, Tanegashima Island, Japan. The NASA-Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) GPM spacecraft will collect information that unifies data from an international network of existing and future satellites to map global rainfall and snowfall every three hours. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-02-23

Tourist photograph themselves in astronaut space suites next to a cardboard cutout of Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Astronaut Akihiko Hoshide at the visitor's center of the Tanegashima Space Center (TNSC), Sunday, Feb. 23, 2014, Tanegashima Island, Japan. A Japanese H-IIA rocket carrying the NASA-Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory is planned for launch from the space center on Feb. 28, 2014. Once launched, the GPM spacecraft will collect information that unifies data from an international network of existing and future satellites to map global rainfall and snowfall every three hours. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-02-22

A roadside sign shows visitors of Minamitane Town various locations for activities, including the viewing of rocket launches from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) Tanegashima Space Center (TNSC), where the launch of an H-IIA rocket carrying the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory is scheduled to take place in the next week, Saturday, Feb. 22, 2014, Minamitane Town, Tanegashima Island, Japan. The NASA-JAXA GPM spacecraft will collect information that unifies data from an international network of existing and future satellites to map global rainfall and snowfall every three hours. Launch is planned for Feb. 28, 2014. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-02-27

Caroline Bouvier Kennedy, U.S. Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Japan, center, tours the Tanegashima Space Center, Visitors Center with Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), President, Naoki Okumura, right, on Thursday, Feb. 27, 2014, Tanegashima, Japan. The Ambassador visiting the space center and hopes to witness the planned launch of a Japanese H-IIA rocket carrying the NASA-JAXA, Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory. Once launched, the GPM spacecraft will collect information that unifies data from an international network of existing and future satellites to map global rainfall and snowfall every three hours. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-02-27

Caroline Kennedy, U.S. Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Japan, right, is welcomed by Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), President, Naoki Okumura, at the Tanegashima Space Center Visitors Center on Thursday, Feb. 27, 2014, Tanegashima, Japan. The Ambassador is visiting the space center and hopes to witness the planned launch of a Japanese H-IIA rocket carrying the NASA-JAXA, Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory. Once launched, the GPM spacecraft will collect information that unifies data from an international network of existing and future satellites to map global rainfall and snowfall every three hours. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Satellite Propellant Pump Research

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schneider, Steven J.; Veres, Joseph P.; Hah, Chunill; Nerone, Anthony L.; Cunningham, Cameron C.; Kraft, Thomas G.; Tavernelli, Paul F.; Fraser, Bryan

2005-01-01

NASA Glenn initiated a satellite propellant pump technology demonstration program. The goal was to demonstrate the technologies for a 60 percent efficient pump at 1 gpm flow rate and 500 psia pressure rise. The pump design and analysis used the in-house developed computer codes named PUMPA and HPUMP3D. The requirements lead to a 4-stage impeller type pump design with a tip diameter of 0.54 inches and a rotational speed of 57,000 rpm. Analyses indicated that flow cavitation was not a problem in the design. Since the flow was incompressible, the stages were identical. Only the 2-stage pump was designed, fabricated, assembled, and tested for demonstration. Water was selected as the surrogate fluid for hydrazine in this program. Complete mechanical design including stress and dynamic analyses were conducted. The pump was driven by an electric motor directly coupled to the impellers. Runs up to 57,000 rpm were conducted, where a pressure rise of 200 psia at a flow rate of 0.8 gpm was measured to validate the design effort.

Error and Uncertainty Quantification in Precipitation Retrievals from GPM/DPR Using Ground-based Dual-Polarization Radar Observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chandra, Chandrasekar V.; Chen*, Haonan; Petersen, Walter

2017-04-01

The active Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) and passive radiometer onboard Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission's Core Observatory extend the observation range attained by Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) from tropical to most of the globe [1]. Through improved measurements of precipitation, the GPM mission is helping to advance our understanding of Earth's water and energy cycle, as well as climate changes. Ground Validation (GV) is an indispensable part of the GPM satellite mission. In the pre-launch era, several international validation experiments had already generated a substantial dataset that could be used to develop and test the pre-launch GPM algorithms. After launch, more ground validation field campaigns were conducted to further evaluate GPM precipitation data products as well as the sensitivities of retrieval algorithms. Among various validation equipment, ground based dual-polarization radar has shown great advantages to conduct precipitation estimation over a wide area in a relatively short time span. Therefore, radar is always a key component in all the validation field experiments. In addition, the radar polarization diversity has great potential to characterize precipitation microphysics through the identification of raindrop size distribution and different hydrometeor types [2]. Currently, all the radar sites comprising the U.S. National Weather Service (NWS) Weather Surveillance Radar-1988 Doppler (WSR-88DP) network are operating in dual-polarization mode. However, most of the operational radar based precipitation products are produced at coarse resolution typically on 1 km by 1 km spatial grids, focusing on precipitation accumulations at temporal scales of 1-h, 3-h, 6-h, 12-h, and/or 24-h (daily). Their capability for instantaneous GPM product validation is severely limited due to the spatial and temporal mismatching between observations from the ground and space. This paper first presents the rationale and opportunities of using dual-polarization radar in validation of precipitation retrievals from GPM/DPR. A new dual-polarization radar rainfall algorithm is proposed on this ground and implemented for WSR-88DP radar observations, especially when there are GPM satellite overpasses. In addition, an interpolation scheme is developed in order to map the WSR-88DP radar rainfall estimates that are updated every five-six minutes into instantaneous scale ( 1 minute). Detailed comparisons between instantaneous precipitation retrievals from GPM/DPR and WSR-88DP estimates before and after interpolation are investigated from a statistical perspective. [1] Hou, A., R. Kakar, S. Neeck, and Coauthors, 2014: The Global Precipitation Measurement Mission. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 95, 701-722. [2] Chen, Haonan, V. Chandrasekar, and R. Bechini, 2017: An Improved Dual-Polarization Radar Rainfall Algorithm (DROPS2.0): Application in NASA IFloodS Field Campaign. Journal of Hydrometeorology. doi:10.1175/JHM-D-16-0124.1

Comprehensive Evaluation of GPM and TRMM: A Case Study of the Winter 2015-2016 over California

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, J.; Liu, H.

2016-12-01

The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) has been established to provide the next-generation observations of precipitation globally. It gives the opportunities to measure the snow and lighter rainfall rates, which are relatively difficult to be retrieved by the previous missions. Recently, the state of California experienced with El Nino in the winter of 2015-2016, which brought more-than-average rainfall and snow to the much of areas in the state. This study focused on the state of California to examine how well GPM can capture the winter precipitation compared to the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM). The Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for GPM (IMERG) final-run and TRMM Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA) version 7 were evaluated against the ground reference of NOAA stage IV multi-sensor composite rain analysis. This study employed both the pixel-based and object-based verification measures to conduct a comprehensive evaluation for GPM and TRMM in the winter season. Probability of Detection, False Alarm Ratio, Bias Ratio, Taylor Diagram, Object-based Missing Ratio, Object-based False Alarm Ratio and Overall Interest Score were used as evaluation metrics. We found the IMERG-final has a better overall performance. We anticipate that the IMERG will benefit the applications of satellite remote-sensed precipitation, such as, hydrological flood modeling, watershed management and climate studies.

GPM's Launch Vehicle Arrives at Tanegashima Space Center

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-02-20

The launch vehicle for the Global Precipitation Measurement, or GPM, mission's Core Observatory arrived at Tanegashima Space Center, Japan, in the pre-dawn hours of Tuesday, Jan. 21, local time. Credits: NASA/Goddard/Warren Schultzaburger GPM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The Core Observatory will link data from a constellation of current and planned satellites to produce next-generation global measurements of rainfall and snowfall from space. The GPM mission is the first coordinated international satellite network to provide near real-time observations of rain and snow every three hours anywhere on the globe. The GPM Core Observatory anchors this network by providing observations on all types of precipitation. The observatory's data acts as the measuring stick by which partner observations can be combined into a unified data set. The data will be used by scientists to study climate change, freshwater resources, floods and droughts, and hurricane formation and tracking. Credit: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries NASA image use policy. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. Follow us on Twitter Like us on Facebook Find us on Instagram

Induced recharge of an artesian glacial-drift aquifer at Kalamazoo, Michigan

USGS Publications Warehouse

Reed, J.E.; Deutsch, Morris; Wiitala, S.W.

1966-01-01

As part of a program for managing its ground-water supply, the city of Kalamazoo has constructed induced-recharge facilities at the sites of several of its well fields. To determine the benefits of induced recharge in a water-management program, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the city, conducted a series of field experiments at a city well field (Station 9). The 12 production wells at the test site penetrate about 160 feet of glacial drift, which can be separated into three general units a lower aquifer, an intervening confining layer, and an upper aquifer. Although the upper aquifer is not tapped by any of the municipal supply wells, it serves as a storage and transmission medium for water from the West Fork Portage Creek. The testing program consisted of four aquifer and three recharge tests. The aquifer tests show that the transmissibility of the upper and lower aquifers ranges from 50,000 to 100,000 gallons per day per foot and indicate that nearly 200 gpm (gallons per minute) leaks through the intervening aquiclude under nonpumping conditions. The object of the three recharge tests (tests 5, 6, and 7) was to observe the effects of induced recharge by varying conditions in the recharge channel. During the three recharge tests, 7 wells were pumped at a total rate averaging about 2,500 gpm. During test 5, inflow to the channel was shut off, and the water level in the channel was allowed to decline. Drawdowns measured during this test were used as a standard for comparison with drawdowns in tests 6 and 7. During test 6, the head in the recharge channel was maintained as constant as possible, and the inflow to the channel was measured. The rate of induced recharge, as indicated by the measured inflow, averaged about 300 gpm. Between tests 6 and 7, the area of the channel was increased from 27,000 to 143,000 square feet. During test 7, the head in the channel was again maintained as constant as possible, but the inflow to the larger channel increased to about 600 gpm. The principal effect of induced recharge on the two aquifers was to reduce the amount and rate of drawdown. Therefore, where water levels and artesian pressures can be maintained at high stages, the result is lower pumping costs and increased rates of withdrawal during periods of peak demand.

Verification of the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Satellite by the Olympic Mountains Experiment (OLYMPEX)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McMurdie, L. A.; Houze, R.

2017-12-01

Measurements of global precipitation are critical for monitoring Earth's water resources and hydrological processes, including flooding and snowpack accumulation. As such, the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission `Core' satellite detects precipitation ranging from light snow to heavy downpours in a wide range locations including remote mountainous regions. The Olympic Mountains Experiment (OLYMPEX) during the 2015-2016 fall-winter season in the mountainous Olympic Peninsula of Washington State provide physical and hydrological validation for GPM precipitation algorithms and insight into the modification of midlatitude storms by passage over mountains. The instrumentation included ground-based dual-polarization Doppler radars on the windward and leeward sides of the Olympic Mountains, surface stations that measured precipitation rates, particle size distributions and fall velocities at various altitudes, research aircraft equipped with cloud microphysics probes, radars, lidar, and passive radiometers, supplemental rawinsondes and dropsondes, and autonomous recording cameras that monitored snowpack accumulation. Results based on dropsize distributions (DSDs) and cross-sections of radar reflectivity over the ocean and windward slopes have revealed important considerations for GPM algorithm development. During periods of great precipitation accumulation and enhancement by the mountains on windward slopes, both warm rain and ice-phase processes are present, implying that it is important for GPM retrievals be sensitive to both types of precipitation mechanisms and to represent accurately the concentration of precipitation at the lowest possible altitudes. OLYMPEX data revealed that a given rain rate could be associated with a variety of DSDs, which presents a challenge for GPM precipitation retrievals in extratropical cyclones passing over mountains. Some of the DSD regimes measured during OLYMPEX stratiform periods have the same characteristics found in prior studies of tropical convection, and it was common to observe high reflectivities in the stratiform brightband region. These findings cast doubt on traditional methods of identifying and measuring convective and stratiform rain based on DSDs and radar reflectivity thresholds.

An Overview of Demise Calculations, Conceptual Design Studies, and Hydrazine Compatibility Testing for the GPM Core Spacecraft Propellant Tank

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Estes, Robert H.; Moore, N. R.

2007-01-01

NASA's Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission is an ongoing Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) project whose basic objective is to improve global precipitation measurements. It has been decided that the GPM spacecraft is to be a "design for demise" spacecraft. This requirement resulted in the need for a propellant tank that would also demise or ablate to an appropriate degree upon re-entry. This paper will describe GSFC-performed spacecraft and tankage demise analyses, vendor conceptual design studies, and vendor performed hydrazine compatibility and wettability tests performed on 6061 and 2219 aluminum alloys.

Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-02-22

Roadside flags welcome the NASA team and visitors to Minamitame Town, one of only a few small towns located outside of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) Tanegashima Space Center (TNSC), where the launch of an H-IIA rocket carrying the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory will take place in the next week, Saturday, Feb. 22, 2014, Tanegashima Island, Japan. The NASA-Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) GPM spacecraft will collect information that unifies data from an international network of existing and future satellites to map global rainfall and snowfall every three hours. The launch is planned for Feb. 28, 2014. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

The assessment of Global Precipitation Measurement estimates over the Indian subcontinent

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Murali Krishna, U. V.; Das, Subrata Kumar; Deshpande, Sachin M.; Doiphode, S. L.; Pandithurai, G.

2017-08-01

Accurate and real-time precipitation estimation is a challenging task for current and future spaceborne measurements, which is essential to understand the global hydrological cycle. Recently, the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) satellites were launched as a next-generation rainfall mission for observing the global precipitation characteristics. The purpose of the GPM is to enhance the spatiotemporal resolution of global precipitation. The main objective of the present study is to assess the rainfall products from the GPM, especially the Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for the GPM (IMERG) data by comparing with the ground-based observations. The multitemporal scale evaluations of rainfall involving subdaily, diurnal, monthly, and seasonal scales were performed over the Indian subcontinent. The comparison shows that the IMERG performed better than the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM)-3B42, although both rainfall products underestimated the observed rainfall compared to the ground-based measurements. The analyses also reveal that the TRMM-3B42 and IMERG data sets are able to represent the large-scale monsoon rainfall spatial features but are having region-specific biases. The IMERG shows significant improvement in low rainfall estimates compared to the TRMM-3B42 for selected regions. In the spatial distribution, the IMERG shows higher rain rates compared to the TRMM-3B42, due to its enhanced spatial and temporal resolutions. Apart from this, the characteristics of raindrop size distribution (DSD) obtained from the GPM mission dual-frequency precipitation radar is assessed over the complex mountain terrain site in the Western Ghats, India, using the DSD measured by a Joss-Waldvogel disdrometer.

Japanese H-IIA rocket

NASA Image and Video Library

2013-11-14

The Japanese H-IIA rocket will be launching the GPM Core Observatory into orbit in 2014. Credit: JAXA The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission is an international partnership co-led by NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) that will provide next-generation global observations of precipitation from space. GPM will study global rain, snow and ice to better understand our climate, weather, and hydrometeorological processes. As of Novermber 2013 the GPM Core Observatory is in the final stages of testing at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. The satellite will be flown to Japan in the fall of 2013 and launched into orbit on an HII-A rocket in early 2014. For more on the GPM mission, visit gpm.gsfc.nasa.gov/. NASA image use policy. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. Follow us on Twitter Like us on Facebook Find us on Instagram

GPM's H-IIA Launch Vehicle No.23, First stage VOS

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-12-08

GPM's launch vehicle, the H-IIA No.23, first stage VOS (Vehicle On Stand). GPM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The Core Observatory will link data from a constellation of current and planned satellites to produce next-generation global measurements of rainfall and snowfall from space. The GPM mission is the first coordinated international satellite network to provide near real-time observations of rain and snow every three hours anywhere on the globe. The GPM Core Observatory anchors this network by providing observations on all types of precipitation. The observatory's data acts as the measuring stick by which partner observations can be combined into a unified data set. The data will be used by scientists to study climate change, freshwater resources, floods and droughts, and hurricane formation and tracking. Credit: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries NASA image use policy. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. Follow us on Twitter Like us on Facebook Find us on Instagram

Improving Access to Precipitation Data for GIS Users: Designing for Ease of Use

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stocker, Erich F.; Kelley, Owen A.

2007-01-01

The Global Precipitation Measurement Mission (GPM) is a NASA/JAXA led international mission to configure a constellation of space-based radiometers to monitor precipitation over the globe. The GPM goal of making global 3-hour precipitation products available in near real-time will make such global products more useful to a broader community of modelers and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) users than is currently the case with remote sensed precipitation products. Based on the existing interest to make Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) data available to a growing community of GIS users as well as what will certainly be an expanded community during the GPM era, it is clear that data systems must make a greater effort to provide data in formats easily used by GIS. We describe precipitation GIS products being developed for TRMM data. These products will serve as prototypes for production efforts during the GPM era. We describe efforts to convert TRMM precipitation data to GeoTIFF, Shapefile, and ASCII grid. Clearly, our goal is to format GPM data so that it can be easily used within GIS applications. We desire feedback on these efforts and any additions or direction changes that should be undertaken by the data system.

Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) and International Space Station (ISS) Coordination for Cubesat Deployments

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pawloski, James H.; Aviles, Jorge; Myers, Ralph; Parris, Joshua; Corley, Bryan; Hehn, Garrett; Pascucci, Joseph

2016-01-01

This paper describes the specific problem of collision threat to GPM and risk to ISS CubeSat deployment and the process that was implemented to keep both missions safe from collision and maximize their project goals.

Evaluation and intercomparison of GPM-IMERG and TRMM 3B42 daily precipitation products over Greece

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kazamias, A. P.; Sapountzis, M.; Lagouvardos, K.

2017-09-01

Accurate precipitation data at high temporal and spatial resolutions are needed for numerous applications in hydrology, water resources management and flood risk management. Satellite-based precipitation estimations/products offer a potential alternative source of rainfall data for regions with sparse rain gauge network. The recently launched Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission is the successor of Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) providing global precipitation estimates at spatial resolution of 0.1 degree x 0.1 degree and half-hourly temporal resolution. This study aims at evaluating the accuracy of the Integrated Multi-satellite Retrievals for GPM (IMERG) near-real-time daily product (GPM-3IMERGDL) against rain gauge observations from a network of stations distributed across Greece for the year 2016. Moreover, the GPM-IMERG product is also compared with its predecessor, the Version-7 near-real-time (3B42RT) daily product of TRMM Multisatellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA). Several statistical metrics are used to quantitatively evaluate the performance of the satellite-based precipitation estimates against rain gauge observations. In addition, categorical statistical indices are used to assess rain detection capabilities of the two satellite products. The GPM-IMERG daily product shows reasonable agreement (CC=0.60) against rain gauge observations, with the exception of coastal areas in which low correlations are achieved. The GPM-IMERG daily precipitation product tends to overestimate rainfall, especially in complex terrain areas with high annual precipitation. In particular, rainfall estimates in western Greece have a strong positive bias. On the other hand, the TRMM 3B42 product shows low correlation (CC=0.45) against rain gauge observations and slightly underestimates rainfall. This study is a first attempt to evaluate and compare the newly introduced GPM-IMERG and the TRMM 3B42 rainfall products at daily timescale over Greece.

Relationship of Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission to Global Change Research

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smith, Eric A.

start by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). This new mission is motivated by a number of scientific questions that are posed over a range of space and time scales that generally fall within the discipline of the global water and energy cycle (GWEC). climate variability out to decadal scales and beyond, for improving weather forecasting, and for producing better predictions of hydrometeorological processes including short-term hazardous flooding and seasonal fresh water resources assessment, a comprehensive and internationally- sanctioned global measuring strategy has led to the GPM mission. The GPM mission plans to expand the scope of rainfall measurement through use of a multi-member satellite constellation that will be contributed by a number of world nations. NASA, then focuses on scientific progress that is being made in various research areas in the course of the mission formulation phase that are of interest to the global change scientific community. This latter part of the talk addresses research issues that have become central to the GPM science implementation plan concerning: (1) the rate of global water cycling through the atmosphere and surface and the relationship of precipitation variability to the sustained rate of the water cycle; (2) the relationship between climate change and cloud macrophysical- microphysical processes; and (3) the general improvement in measuring precipitation at the fundamental microphysical level that will take place during the GPM era and an explanation of how these improvements are expected to come about.

GPM Launch Day at NASA Goddard (Feb. 27, 2014)

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-02-27

The Daruma doll is a symbol of good luck and in Japan is often given as a gift for encouragement to reach a goal. When the goal is set, one eye is colored in. When the goal is achieved, the other eye is colored. An identical doll sits in the control room at the Japan Aerospace Agency’s (JAXA) Tanegashima Space Center, leading up to the launch of the joint NASA-JAXA Global Precipitation Measurement mission’s Core Observatory. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Debbie McCallum GPM's Core Observatory is poised for launch from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Tanegashima Space Center, scheduled for the afternoon of Feb. 27, 2014 (EST). GPM is a joint venture between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. The GPM Core Observatory will link data from a constellation of current and planned satellites to produce next-generation global measurements of rainfall and snowfall from space. The GPM mission is the first coordinated international satellite network to provide near real-time observations of rain and snow every three hours anywhere on the globe. The GPM Core Observatory anchors this network by providing observations on all types of precipitation. The observatory's data acts as the measuring stick by which partner observations can be combined into a unified data set. The data will be used by scientists to study climate change, freshwater resources, floods and droughts, and hurricane formation and tracking. NASA image use policy. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. Follow us on Twitter Like us on Facebook Find us on Instagram

A Process for Producing Highly Wettable Aluminum 6061 Surfaces Compatible with Hydrazine

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Moore, N. R.; Ferraro, N. W.; Yue, A. F.; Estes, R. H.

2007-01-01

NASA's Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission is an ongoing Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) project whose basic objective is to improve global precipitation measurements. The space-based portion of the mission architecture consists of a primary or core spacecraft and a constellation of NASA and contributed spacecrafts. The efforts described in this paper refer to the core spacecraft (hereafter referred to as simply GPM) which is to be fabricated at GSFC. It has been decided that the GPM spacecraft is to be a "design-for-demise-spacecraft." This requirement resulted in the need for a propellant tank that would also demise or ablate to an appropriate degree upon re-entry. Composite overwrapped aluminum lined propellant tanks with aluminum propellant management devices (PMD) were shown by analyses to demise and thus became the baseline configuration for GPM. As part of the GPM tank development effort, long term compatibility and wettability testing with hydrazine was performed on Al6061 and 2219 coupons fabricated and cleaned by conventional processes. Long term compatibility was confirmed. However, the wettability of the aluminum as measured by contact angle produced higher than desired angles (greater than 30 deg.) with excessive scatter. The availability of PMD materials exhibiting consistently low contact angles aids in the design of simple PMDs. Two efforts performed by Angeles Crest Engineering and funded by GSFC were undertaken to reduce the risk of using aluminum for the GPM PMD. The goal of the first effort was to develop a cleaning or treatment process to produce consistently low contact angles. The goal of the second effort was to prove via testing that the processed aluminum would retain compatibility with hydrazine and retain low contact angle after long term exposure to hydrazine. Both goals were achieved. This paper describes both efforts and the results achieved.

Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Ground Validation (GV) Science Implementation Plan

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Petersen, Walter A.; Hou, Arthur Y.

2008-01-01

For pre-launch algorithm development and post-launch product evaluation Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Ground Validation (GV) goes beyond direct comparisons of surface rain rates between ground and satellite measurements to provide the means for improving retrieval algorithms and model applications.Three approaches to GPM GV include direct statistical validation (at the surface), precipitation physics validation (in a vertical columns), and integrated science validation (4-dimensional). These three approaches support five themes: core satellite error characterization; constellation satellites validation; development of physical models of snow, cloud water, and mixed phase; development of cloud-resolving model (CRM) and land-surface models to bridge observations and algorithms; and, development of coupled CRM-land surface modeling for basin-scale water budget studies and natural hazard prediction. This presentation describes the implementation of these approaches.

The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission contributions to hydrology and societal applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kirschbaum, D.; Huffman, G. J.; Skofronick Jackson, G.

2016-12-01

Too much or too little rain can serve as a tipping point for triggering catastrophic flooding and landslides or widespread drought. Knowing when, where and how much rain is falling globally is vital to understanding how vulnerable areas may be more or less impacted by these disasters. The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission provides near real-time precipitation data worldwide that is used by a broad range of end users, from tropical cyclone forecasters to agricultural modelers to researchers evaluating the spread of diseases. The GPM constellation provides merged, multi-satellite data products at three latencies that are critical for research and societal applications around the world. This presentation will outline current capabilities in using accurate and timely information of precipitation to directly benefit society, including examples of end user applications within the tropical cyclone forecasting, disasters response, agricultural forecasting, and disease tracking communities, among others. The presentation will also introduce some of the new visualization and access tools developed by the GPM team.

Advances in Global Water Cycle Science Made Possible by Global Precipitation Mission (GPM)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, Eric A.; Starr, David OC. (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

Within this decade the internationally sponsored Global Precipitation Mission (GPM) will take an important step in creating a global precipitation observing system from space. One perspective for understanding the nature of GPM is that it will be a hierarchical system of datastreams from very high caliber combined dual frequency radar/passive microwave (PMW) rain-radiometer retrievals, to high caliber PMW rain-radiometer only retrievals, and on to blends of the former datastreams with other less-high caliber PMW-based and IR-based rain retrievals. Within the context of NASA's role in global water cycle science and its own Global Water & Energy Cycle (GWEC) program, GPM is the centerpiece mission for improving our understanding of the global water cycle from a space-based measurement perspective. One of the salient problems within our current understanding of the global water and energy cycle is determining whether a change in the rate of the water cycle is accompanying changes in global temperature. As there are a number of ways in which to define a rate-change of the global water cycle, it is not entirely clear as to what constitutes such a determination, This paper presents an overview of the Global Precipitation Mission and how its datasets can be used in a set of quantitative tests within the framework of the oceanic and continental water budget equations to determine comprehensively whether substantive rate changes do accompany perturbations in global temperatures and how such rate changes manifest themselves in both water storage and water flux transport processes.

Advanced Passive Microwave Radiometer Technology for GPM Mission

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, Eric A.; Im, Eastwood; Kummerow, Christian; Principe, Caleb; Ruf, Christoper; Wilheit, Thomas; Starr, David (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

An interferometer-type passive microwave radiometer based on MMIC receiver technology and a thinned array antenna design is being developed under the Instrument Incubator Program (TIP) on a project entitled the Lightweight Rainfall Radiometer (LRR). The prototype single channel aircraft instrument will be ready for first testing in 2nd quarter 2003, for deployment on the NASA DC-8 aircraft and in a ground configuration manner; this version measures at 10.7 GHz in a crosstrack imaging mode. The design for a two (2) frequency preliminary space flight model at 19 and 35 GHz (also in crosstrack imaging mode) has also been completed, in which the design features would enable it to fly in a bore-sighted configuration with a new dual-frequency space radar (DPR) under development at the Communications Research Laboratory (CRL) in Tokyo, Japan. The DPR will be flown as one of two primary instruments on the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission's core satellite in the 2007 time frame. The dual frequency space flight design of the ERR matches the APR frequencies and will be proposed as an ancillary instrument on the GPM core satellite to advance space-based precipitation measurement by enabling better microphysical characterization and coincident volume data gathering for exercising combined algorithm techniques which make use of both radar backscatter and radiometer attenuation information to constrain rainrate solutions within a physical algorithm context. This talk will discuss the design features, performance capabilities, applications plans, and conical/polarametric imaging possibilities for the LRR, as well as a brief summary of the project status and schedule.

GPM High Gain Antenna System Testing

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-02-20

File: 03/26/2012 The GPM High Gain Antenna System (HGAS) in integration and testing at Goddard Space Flight Center. GPM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The Core Observatory will link data from a constellation of current and planned satellites to produce next-generation global measurements of rainfall and snowfall from space. The GPM mission is the first coordinated international satellite network to provide near real-time observations of rain and snow every three hours anywhere on the globe. The GPM Core Observatory anchors this network by providing observations on all types of precipitation. The observatory's data acts as the measuring stick by which partner observations can be combined into a unified data set. The data will be used by scientists to study climate change, freshwater resources, floods and droughts, and hurricane formation and tracking. Credit: Craig E. Huber, Chief Engineer SGT Inc, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center NASA image use policy. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. Follow us on Twitter Like us on Facebook Find us on Instagram

The NASA CloudSat/GPM Light Precipitation Validation Experiment (LPVEx)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Petersen, Walter A.; L'Ecuyer, Tristan; Moisseev, Dmitri

2011-01-01

Ground-based measurements of cool-season precipitation at mid and high latitudes (e.g., above 45 deg N/S) suggest that a significant fraction of the total precipitation volume falls in the form of light rain, i.e., at rates less than or equal to a few mm/h. These cool-season light rainfall events often originate in situations of a low-altitude (e.g., lower than 2 km) melting level and pose a significant challenge to the fidelity of all satellite-based precipitation measurements, especially those relying on the use of multifrequency passive microwave (PMW) radiometers. As a result, significant disagreements exist between satellite estimates of rainfall accumulation poleward of 45 deg. Ongoing efforts to develop, improve, and ultimately evaluate physically-based algorithms designed to detect and accurately quantify high latitude rainfall, however, suffer from a general lack of detailed, observationally-based ground validation datasets. These datasets serve as a physically consistent framework from which to test and refine algorithm assumptions, and as a means to build the library of algorithm retrieval databases in higher latitude cold-season light precipitation regimes. These databases are especially relevant to NASA's CloudSat and Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) ground validation programs that are collecting high-latitude precipitation measurements in meteorological systems associated with frequent coolseason light precipitation events. In an effort to improve the inventory of cool-season high-latitude light precipitation databases and advance the physical process assumptions made in satellite-based precipitation retrieval algorithm development, the CloudSat and GPM mission ground validation programs collaborated with the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI), the University of Helsinki (UH), and Environment Canada (EC) to conduct the Light Precipitation Validation Experiment (LPVEx). The LPVEx field campaign was designed to make detailed measurements of cool-season light precipitation by leveraging existing infrastructure in the Helsinki Precipitation Testbed. LPVEx was conducted during the months of September--October, 2010 and featured coordinated ground and airborne remote sensing components designed to observe and quantify the precipitation physics associated with light rain in low-altitude melting layer environments over the Gulf of Finland and neighboring land mass surrounding Helsinki, Finland.

Reconciling CloudSat and GPM Estimates of Falling Snow

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Munchak, S. Joseph; Jackson, Gail Skofronick; Kulie, Mark; Wood, Norm; Miliani, Lisa

2017-01-01

Satellite-based estimates of falling snow have been provided by CloudSat (launched in 2006) and the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) core satellite (launched in 2014). The CloudSat estimates are derived from W-band radar measurements whereas the GPM estimates are derived from its scanning Ku- and Ka-band Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) and 13-channel microwave imager (GMI). Each platform has advantages and disadvantages: CloudSat has higher resolution (approximately 1.5 km) and much better sensitivity (-28 dBZ), but poorer sampling (nadir-only and daytime-only since 2011) and the reflectivity-snowfall (Z-S) relationship is poorly constrained with single-frequency measurements. Meanwhile, DPR suffers from relatively poor resolution (5 km) and sensitivity (approximately 13 dBZ), but has cross-track scanning capability to cover a 245-km swath. Additionally, where Ku and Ka measurements are available, the conversion of reflectivity to snowfall rate is better-constrained than with a single frequency.

Ground Validation Assessments of GPM Core Observatory Science Requirements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Petersen, Walt; Huffman, George; Kidd, Chris; Skofronick-Jackson, Gail

2017-04-01

NASA Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission science requirements define specific measurement error standards for retrieved precipitation parameters such as rain rate, raindrop size distribution, and falling snow detection on instantaneous temporal scales and spatial resolutions ranging from effective instrument fields of view [FOV], to grid scales of 50 km x 50 km. Quantitative evaluation of these requirements intrinsically relies on GPM precipitation retrieval algorithm performance in myriad precipitation regimes (and hence, assumptions related to physics) and on the quality of ground-validation (GV) data being used to assess the satellite products. We will review GPM GV products, their quality, and their application to assessing GPM science requirements, interleaving measurement and precipitation physical considerations applicable to the approaches used. Core GV data products used to assess GPM satellite products include 1) two minute and 30-minute rain gauge bias-adjusted radar rain rate products and precipitation types (rain/snow) adapted/modified from the NOAA/OU multi-radar multi-sensor (MRMS) product over the continental U.S.; 2) Polarimetric radar estimates of rain rate over the ocean collected using the K-Pol radar at Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands and the Middleton Island WSR-88D radar located in the Gulf of Alaska; and 3) Multi-regime, field campaign and site-specific disdrometer-measured rain/snow size distribution (DSD), phase and fallspeed information used to derive polarimetric radar-based DSD retrievals and snow water equivalent rates (SWER) for comparison to coincident GPM-estimated DSD and precipitation rates/types, respectively. Within the limits of GV-product uncertainty we demonstrate that the GPM Core satellite meets its basic mission science requirements for a variety of precipitation regimes. For the liquid phase, we find that GPM radar-based products are particularly successful in meeting bias and random error requirements associated with retrievals of rain rate and required +/- 0.5 millimeter error bounds for mass-weighted mean drop diameter. Version-04 (V4) GMI GPROF radiometer-based rain rate products exhibit reasonable agreement with GV, but do not completely meet mission science requirements over the continental U.S. for lighter rain rates (e.g., 1 mm/hr) due to excessive random error ( 75%). Importantly, substantial corrections were made to the V4 GPROF algorithm and preliminary analysis of Version 5 (V5) rain products indicates more robust performance relative to GV. For the frozen phase and a modest GPM requirement to "demonstrate detection of snowfall", DPR products do successfully identify snowfall within the sensitivity and beam sampling limits of the DPR instrument ( 12 dBZ lower limit; lowest clutter-free bins). Similarly, the GPROF algorithm successfully "detects" falling snow and delineates it from liquid precipitation. However, the GV approach to computing falling-snow "detection" statistics is intrinsically tied to GPROF Bayesian algorithm-based thresholds of precipitation "detection" and model analysis temperature, and is not sufficiently tied to SWER. Hence we will also discuss ongoing work to establish the lower threshold SWER for "detection" using combined GV radar, gauge and disdrometer-based case studies.

Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-02-27

A Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (HMI) H-IIA rocket with the NASA-Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory onboard is during roll out at the Tanegashima Space Center, Thursday, Feb. 27, 2014, Tanegashima, Japan. Once launched, the GPM spacecraft will collect information that unifies data from an international network of existing and future satellites to map global rainfall and snowfall every three hours. Credit: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. NASA image use policy. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. Follow us on Twitter Like us on Facebook Find us on Instagram

Improving Global Precipitation Product Access at the GES DISC

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Liu, Z.; Vollmer, B.; Savtchenko, A.; Ostrenga, D.; DeShong, B.; Fang, F.; Albayrak, R,; Sherman, E.; Greene, M.; Li, A.;

Data Visualization and Analysis Tools for the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Validation Network

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Morris, Kenneth R.; Schwaller, Mathew

2010-01-01

The Validation Network (VN) prototype for the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission compares data from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite Precipitation Radar (PR) to similar measurements from U.S. and international operational weather radars. This prototype is a major component of the GPM Ground Validation System (GVS). The VN provides a means for the precipitation measurement community to identify and resolve significant discrepancies between the ground radar (GR) observations and similar satellite observations. The VN prototype is based on research results and computer code described by Anagnostou et al. (2001), Bolen and Chandrasekar (2000), and Liao et al. (2001), and has previously been described by Morris, et al. (2007). Morris and Schwaller (2009) describe the PR-GR volume-matching algorithm used to create the VN match-up data set used for the comparisons. This paper describes software tools that have been developed for visualization and statistical analysis of the original and volume matched PR and GR data.

Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-02-23

Minamitane elementary school girls pose for a photo in front of a sign featuring the town's mascot "Chuta-kun", Sunday, Feb. 23, 2014, Tanegashima Island, Japan. The Chuta-kun mascot rides a rocket and has guns on the side of his helmet to show the areas history as the site of the first known contact of Europe and the Japanese, in 1543 and the introduction of the gun. A Japanese H-IIA rocket carrying the NASA-Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory is planned for launch from the space center on Feb. 28, 2014. Once launched, the GPM spacecraft will collect information that unifies data from an international network of existing and future satellites to map global rainfall and snowfall every three hours. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Optical Alignment of the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Star Trackers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hetherington, Samuel; Osgood, Dean; McMann, Joe; Roberts, Viki; Gill, James; Mclean, Kyle

2013-01-01

The optical alignment of the star trackers on the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) core spacecraft at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) was challenging due to the layout and structural design of the GPM Lower Bus Structure (LBS) in which the star trackers are mounted as well as the presence of the star tracker shades that blocked line-of-sight to the primary star tracker optical references. The initial solution was to negotiate minor changes in the original LBS design to allow for the installation of a removable item of ground support equipment (GSE) that could be installed whenever measurements of the star tracker optical references were needed. However, this GSE could only be used to measure secondary optical reference cube faces not used by the star tracker vendor to obtain the relationship information and matrix transformations necessary to determine star tracker alignment. Unfortunately, due to unexpectedly large orthogonality errors between the measured secondary adjacent cube faces and the lack of cube calibration data, we required a method that could be used to measure the same reference cube faces as originally measured by the vendor. We describe an alternative technique to theodolite auto-collimation for measurement of an optical reference mirror pointing direction when normal incidence measurements are not possible. This technique was used to successfully align the GPM star trackers and has been used on a number of other NASA flight projects. We also discuss alignment theory as well as a GSFC-developed theodolite data analysis package used to analyze angular metrology data.

GPM and TRMM Radar Vertical Profiles and Impact on Large-scale Variations of Surface Rain

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, J. J.; Adler, R. F.

2017-12-01

Previous studies by the authors using Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) and Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) data have shown that TRMM Precipitation Radar (PR) and GPM Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) surface rain estimates do not have corresponding amplitudes of inter-annual variations over the tropical oceans as do passive microwave observations by TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI) and GPM Microwave Imager (GMI). This includes differences in surface temperature-rainfall variations. We re-investigate these relations with the new GPM Version 5 data with an emphasis on understanding these differences with respect to the DPR vertical profiles of reflectivity and rainfall and the associated convective and stratiform proportions. For the inter-annual variation of ocean rainfall from both passive microwave (TMI and GMI) and active microwave (PR and DPR) estimates, it is found that for stratiform rainfall both TMI-PR and GMI-DPR show very good correlation. However, the correlation of GMI-DPR is much higher than TMI-PR in convective rainfall. The analysis of vertical profile of PR and DPR rainfall during the TRMM and GPM overlap period (March-August, 2014) reveals that PR and DPR have about the same rainrate at 4km and above, but PR rainrate is more than 10% lower that of DPR at the surface. In other words, it seems that convective rainfall is better defined with DPR near surface. However, even though the DPR results agree better with the passive microwave results, there still is a significant difference, which may be a result of DPR retrieval error, or inherent passive/active retrieval differences. Monthly and instantaneous GMI and DPR data need to be analyzed in details to better understand the differences.

The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Project

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Azarbarazin, Ardeshir Art; Carlisle, Candace C.

2008-01-01

The GIobd Precipitation hleasurement (GPM) mission is an international cooperatiee ffort to advance weather, climate, and hydrological predictions through space-based precipitation measurements. The Core Observatory will be a reference standard to uniform11 calibrate data from a constellatism of spacecraft with passive microuave sensors. GP3l mission data will be used for scientific research as well as societal applications. GPM is being developed under a partnership between the United States (US) National .Aeronautics and Space Administration (XASA) and the Japanese Aerospace and Exploration Agency (JAYA). NASA is developing the Core Observatory, a Low-Inclination Constellation Observatory, two GPM Rlicrowave Imager (GXII) instruments. Ground Validation System and Precipitation Processing System for the GPRl mission. JAXA will provide a Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) for installation on the Core satellite and launch services for the Core Observatory. Other US agencies and international partners contribute to the GPkf mission by providing precipitation measurements obtained from their own spacecraft and,'or providing ground-based precipitation measurements to support ground validation activities. The GPM Core Observatory will be placed in a low earth orbit (-400 krn) with 65-degree inclination, in order to calibrate partner instruments in a variety of orbits. The Core Observatory accommodates 3 instruments. The GkfI instrument provides measurements of precipitation intensity and distribution. The DPR consists of Ka and Ku band instruments, and provides threedimensional measurements of cloud structure, precipitation particle size distribution and precipitation intensitj and distribution. The instruments are key drivers for GPM Core Observatory overall size (1 1.6m x 6.5m x 5.0m) and mass (3500kg), as well as the significant (-1 950U.3 power requirement. The Core Spacecraft is being built in-house at Goddard Space Flight Center. The spacecraft structure consists of an aluminum lower bus structure. composite upper bus structure, '-axis steerable High Gain Antenna System on a dual-hinged boom, and two deploy able solar arraq s. The propulsion system features twelve thrusters and a single Composite OverlvapP ressure Vessel tank. The GPhl Core spacecraft is one of the first large spacecraft developed to be demiseable (i.e. burn up upon atmospheric reentry j. The spacecraft dernissable components-- structure. propulsion tank, lithium-ion battery, sotar array md reaction wheels. are a unique fcature.

Improving Flood Forecasting in International River Basins

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hossain, Faisal; Katiyar, Nitin

2006-01-01

In flood-prone international river basins (IRBs), many riparian nations that are located close to a basin's outlet face a major problem in effectively forecasting flooding because they are unable to assimilate in situ rainfall data in real time across geopolitical boundaries. NASA's proposed Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission, which is expected to begin in 2010, will comprise high-resolution passive microwave (PM) sensors (at resolution ~3-6 hours, 10 × 10 square kilometers) that may provide new opportunities to improve flood forecasting in these river basins. Research is now needed to realize the potential of GPM. With adequate research in the coming years, it may be possible to identify the specific IRBs that would benefit cost-effectively from a preprogrammed satellite-based forecasting system in anticipation of GPM. Acceleration of such a research initiative is worthwhile because it could reduce the risk of the cancellation of GPM [see Zielinski, 2005].

SUBMIT YOUR IMAGES TO NASA's "LET IT SNOW" PHOTO CONTEST!

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-12-08

NASA's Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission wants to see your best photos of winter weather! You can submit your images to the contest here: www.flickr.com/groups/gpm-extreme-weather/ To read more about this image and or to see the high res file go to: earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=80082

NASA GPM GV Science Requirements

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, E.

2003-01-01

An important scientific objective of the NASA portion of the GPM Mission is to generate quantitatively-based error characterization information along with the rainrate retrievals emanating from the GPM constellation of satellites. These data must serve four main purposes: (1) they must be of sufficient quality, uniformity, and timeliness to govern the observation weighting schemes used in the data assimilation modules of numerical weather prediction models; (2) they must extend over that portion of the globe accessible by the GPM core satellite to which the NASA GV program is focused - (approx.65 degree inclination); (3) they must have sufficient specificity to enable detection of physically-formulated microphysical and meteorological weaknesses in the standard physical level 2 rainrate algorithms to be used in the GPM Precipitation Processing System (PPS), i.e., algorithms which will have evolved from the TRMM standard physical level 2 algorithms; and (4) they must support the use of physical error modeling as a primary validation tool and as the eventual replacement of the conventional GV approach of statistically intercomparing surface rainrates fiom ground and satellite measurements. This approach to ground validation research represents a paradigm shift vis-&-vis the program developed for the TRMM mission, which conducted ground validation largely as a statistical intercomparison process between raingauge-derived or radar-derived rainrates and the TRMM satellite rainrate retrievals -- long after the original satellite retrievals were archived. This approach has been able to quantify averaged rainrate differences between the satellite algorithms and the ground instruments, but has not been able to explain causes of algorithm failures or produce error information directly compatible with the cost functions of data assimilation schemes. These schemes require periodic and near-realtime bias uncertainty (i.e., global space-time distributed conditional accuracy of the retrieved rainrates) and local error covariance structure (i.e., global space-time distributed error correlation information for the local 4-dimensional space-time domain -- or in simpler terms, the matrix form of precision error). This can only be accomplished by establishing a network of high quality-heavily instrumented supersites selectively distributed at a few oceanic, continental, and coastal sites. Economics and pragmatics dictate that the network must be made up of a relatively small number of sites (6-8) created through international cooperation. This presentation will address some of the details of the methodology behind the error characterization approach, some proposed solutions for expanding site-developed error properties to regional scales, a data processing and communications concept that would enable rapid implementation of algorithm improvement by the algorithm developers, and the likely available options for developing the supersite network.

Supporting the Use of GPM-GV Field Campaign Data Beyond Project Scientists

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weigel, A. M.; Smith, D. K.; Sinclair, L.; Bugbee, K.

2017-12-01

The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission Ground Validation (GV) consisted of a collection of field campaigns at various locations focusing on particular aspects of precipitation. Data collected during the GPM-GV are necessary for better understanding the instruments and algorithms used to monitor water resources, study the global hydrologic cycle, understand climate variability, and improve weather prediction. The GPM-GV field campaign data have been archived at the NASA Global Hydrology Resource Center (GHRC) Distributed Achive Archive Center (DAAC). These data consist of a heterogeneous collection of observations that require careful handling, full descriptive user guides, and helpful instructions for data use. These actions are part of the data archival process. In addition, the GHRC focuses on expanding the use of GPM-GV data beyond the validation and instrument researchers that participated in the field campaigns. To accomplish this, GHRC ties together the similarities and differences between the various field campaigns with the goal of improving user documents to be more easily read by those outside the field of research. In this poster, the authors will describe the GPM-GV datasets, discuss data use among the broader community, outline the types of problems/issues with these datasets, demonstrate what tools support data visualization and use, and highlight the outreach materials developed to educate both younger and general audiences about the data.

Current Status of Japanese Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Research Project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kachi, Misako; Oki, Riko; Kubota, Takuji; Masaki, Takeshi; Kida, Satoshi; Iguchi, Toshio; Nakamura, Kenji; Takayabu, Yukari N.

2013-04-01

The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission is a mission led by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) under collaboration with many international partners, who will provide constellation of satellites carrying microwave radiometer instruments. The GPM Core Observatory, which carries the Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) developed by JAXA and the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT), and the GPM Microwave Imager (GMI) developed by NASA. The GPM Core Observatory is scheduled to be launched in early 2014. JAXA also provides the Global Change Observation Mission (GCOM) 1st - Water (GCOM-W1) named "SHIZUKU," as one of constellation satellites. The SHIZUKU satellite was launched in 18 May, 2012 from JAXA's Tanegashima Space Center, and public data release of the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 (AMSR2) on board the SHIZUKU satellite was planned that Level 1 products in January 2013, and Level 2 products including precipitation in May 2013. The Japanese GPM research project conducts scientific activities on algorithm development, ground validation, application research including production of research products. In addition, we promote collaboration studies in Japan and Asian countries, and public relations activities to extend potential users of satellite precipitation products. In pre-launch phase, most of our activities are focused on the algorithm development and the ground validation related to the algorithm development. As the GPM standard products, JAXA develops the DPR Level 1 algorithm, and the NASA-JAXA Joint Algorithm Team develops the DPR Level 2 and the DPR-GMI combined Level2 algorithms. JAXA also develops the Global Rainfall Map product as national product to distribute hourly and 0.1-degree horizontal resolution rainfall map. All standard algorithms including Japan-US joint algorithm will be reviewed by the Japan-US Joint Precipitation Measuring Mission (PMM) Science Team (JPST) before the release. DPR Level 2 algorithm has been developing by the DPR Algorithm Team led by Japan, which is under the NASA-JAXA Joint Algorithm Team. The Level-2 algorithms will provide KuPR only products, KaPR only products, and Dual-frequency Precipitation products, with estimated precipitation rate, radar reflectivity, and precipitation information such as drop size distribution and bright band height. At-launch code was developed in December 2012. In addition, JAXA and NASA have provided synthetic DPR L1 data and tests have been performed using them. Japanese Global Rainfall Map algorithm for the GPM mission has been developed by the Global Rainfall Map Algorithm Development Team in Japan. The algorithm succeeded heritages of the Global Satellite Mapping for Precipitation (GSMaP) project, which was sponsored by the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) under the Core Research for Evolutional Science and Technology (CREST) framework between 2002 and 2007. The GSMaP near-real-time version and reanalysis version have been in operation at JAXA, and browse images and binary data available at the GSMaP web site (http://sharaku.eorc.jaxa.jp/GSMaP/). The GSMaP algorithm for GPM is developed in collaboration with AMSR2 standard algorithm for precipitation product, and their validation studies are closely related. As JAXA GPM product, we will provide 0.1-degree grid and hourly product for standard and near-realtime processing. Outputs will include hourly rainfall, gauge-calibrated hourly rainfall, and several quality information (satellite information flag, time information flag, and gauge quality information) over global areas from 60°S to 60°N. At-launch code of GSMaP for GPM is under development, and will be delivered to JAXA GPM Mission Operation System by April 2013. At-launch code will include several updates of microwave imager and sounder algorithms and databases, and introduction of rain-gauge correction.

How effective is the new generation of GPM satellite precipitation in characterizing the rainfall variability over Malaysia?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mahmud, Mohd Rizaludin; Hashim, Mazlan; Reba, Mohd Nadzri Mohd

2017-08-01

We investigated the potential of the new generation of satellite precipitation product from the Global Precipitation Mission (GPM) to characterize the rainfall in Malaysia. Most satellite precipitation products have limited ability to precisely characterize the high dynamic rainfall variation that occurred at both time and scale in this humid tropical region due to the coarse grid size to meet the physical condition of the smaller land size, sub-continent and islands. Prior to the status quo, an improved satellite precipitation was required to accurately measure the rainfall and its distribution. Subsequently, the newly released of GPM precipitation product at half-hourly and 0.1° resolution served an opportunity to anticipate the aforementioned conflict. Nevertheless, related evidence was not found and therefore, this study made an initiative to fill the gap. A total of 843 rain gauges over east (Borneo) and west Malaysia (Peninsular) were used to evaluate the rainfall the GPM rainfall data. The assessment covered all critical rainy seasons which associated with Asian Monsoon including northeast (Nov. - Feb.), southwest (May - Aug.) and their subsequent inter-monsoon period (Mar. - Apr. & Sep. - Oct.). The ability of GPM to provide quantitative rainfall estimates and qualitative spatial rainfall patterns were analysed. Our results showed that the GPM had good capacity to depict the spatial rainfall patterns in less heterogeneous rainfall patterns (Spearman's correlation, 0.591 to 0.891) compared to the clustered one (r = 0.368 to 0.721). Rainfall intensity and spatial heterogeneity that is largely driven by seasonal monsoon has significant influence on GPM ability to resolve local rainfall patterns. In quantitative rainfall estimation, large errors can be primarily associated with the rainfall intensity increment. 77% of the error variation can be explained through rainfall intensity particularly the high intensity (> 35 mm d-1). A strong relationship between GPM rainfall and error was found from heavy ( 35 mm d-1) to violent rain (160 mm d-1). The output of this study provides reference regarding the performance of GPM data for respective hydrology studies in this region.

SPECIAL SESSION: (H21) on Global Precipitation Mission for Hydrology and Hydrometeorology. Sampling-Error Considerations for GPM-Era Rainfall Products

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bell, Thomas L.; Lau, William K. M. (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

The proposed Global Precipitation Mission (GPM) builds on the success of the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), offering a constellation of microwave-sensor-equipped smaller satellites in addition to a larger, multiply-instrumented "mother" satellite that will include an improved precipitation radar system to which the precipitation estimates of the smaller satellites can be tuned. Coverage by the satellites will be nearly global rather than being confined as TRMM was to lower latitudes. It is hoped that the satellite constellation can provide observations at most places on the earth at least once every three hours, though practical considerations may force some compromises. The GPM system offers the possibility of providing precipitation maps with much better time resolution than the monthly averages around which TRMM was planned, and therefore opens up new possibilities for hydrology and data assimilation into models. In this talk, methods that were developed for estimating sampling error in the rainfall averages that TRMM is providing will be used to estimate sampling error levels for GPM-era configurations. Possible impacts on GPM products of compromises in the sampling frequency will be discussed.

Solutions Network Formulation Report. The Potential Contributions of the Global Precipitation Measurement Mission to Phosphorus Reduction Efforts in the Florida Everglades

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Anderson, Daniel; Hilbert, Kent; Lewis, David

2009-01-01

This candidate solution suggests the use of GPM precipitation observations to enhance the CERP. Specifically, GPM measurements could augment in situ precipitation data that are used to model agricultural phosphorus discharged into the Everglades. This solution benefits society by aiding water resource managers in identifying effective phosphorus reduction scenarios and thereby returning the Everglades to a more natural state. This solution supports the Water Management, Coastal Management, and Ecological Forecasting National Applications.

Global Precipitation Measurement

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hou, Arthur Y.; Skofronick-Jackson, Gail; Kummerow, Christian D.; Shepherd, James Marshall

2008-01-01

This chapter begins with a brief history and background of microwave precipitation sensors, with a discussion of the sensitivity of both passive and active instruments, to trace the evolution of satellite-based rainfall techniques from an era of inference to an era of physical measurement. Next, the highly successful Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission will be described, followed by the goals and plans for the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission and the status of precipitation retrieval algorithm development. The chapter concludes with a summary of the need for space-based precipitation measurement, current technological capabilities, near-term algorithm advancements and anticipated new sciences and societal benefits in the GPM era.

The GPM Common Calibrated Brightness Temperature Product

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stout, John; Berg, Wesley; Huffman, George; Kummerow, Chris; Stocker, Erich

2005-01-01

The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) project will provide a core satellite carrying the GPM Microwave Imager (GMI) and will use microwave observations from a constellation of other satellites. Each partner with a satellite in the constellation will have a calibration that meets their own requirements and will decide on the format to archive their brightness temperature (Tb) record in GPM. However, GPM multi-sensor precipitation algorithms need to input intercalibrated Tb's in order to avoid differences among sensors introducing artifacts into the longer term climate record of precipitation. The GPM Common Calibrated Brightness Temperature Product is intended to address this problem by providing intercalibrated Tb data, called "Tc" data, where the "c" stands for common. The precipitation algorithms require a Tc file format that is both generic and flexible enough to accommodate the different passive microwave instruments. The format will provide detailed information on the processing history in order to allow future researchers to have a record of what was done. The format will be simple, including the main items of scan time, latitude, longitude, and Tc. It will also provide spacecraft orientation, spacecraft location, orbit, and instrument scan type (cross-track or conical). Another simplification is to store data in real numbers, avoiding the ambiguity of scaled data. Finally, units and descriptions will be provided in the product. The format is built on the concept of a swath, which is a series of scans that have common geolocation and common scan geometry. Scan geometry includes pixels per scan, sensor orientation, scan type, and incidence angles. The Tc algorithm and data format are being tested using the pre-GPM Precipitation Processing System (PPS) software to generate formats and 1/0 routines. In the test, data from SSM/I, TMI, AMSR-E, and WindSat are being processed and written as Tc products.

KSC-2009-4343

NASA Image and Video Library

2009-07-31

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – NASA Administrator Charles Bolden signs an agreement defining the terms of cooperation between NASA and JAXA on the Global Precipitation Measurement, or GPM, mission. The ceremony took place July 30 at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, Fla. Through the agreement, NASA is responsible for the GPM core observatory spacecraft bus, the GPM Microwave Imager, or GMI, carried by it, and a second GMI to be flown on a partner-provided Low-Inclination Observatory. JAXA will supply the Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar for the core observatory, an H-IIA rocket for the core observatory's launch in July 2013, and data from a conical-scanning microwave imager on the upcoming Global Change Observation Mission satellite. Photo credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller

Status Update on the GPM Ground Validation Iowa Flood Studies (IFloodS) Field Experiment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Petersen, Walt; Krajewski, Witold

2013-04-01

The overarching objective of integrated hydrologic ground validation activities supporting the Global Precipitation Measurement Mission (GPM) is to provide better understanding of the strengths and limitations of the satellite products, in the context of hydrologic applications. To this end, the GPM Ground Validation (GV) program is conducting the first of several hydrology-oriented field efforts: the Iowa Flood Studies (IFloodS) experiment. IFloodS will be conducted in the central to northeastern part of Iowa in Midwestern United States during the months of April-June, 2013. Specific science objectives and related goals for the IFloodS experiment can be summarized as follows: 1. Quantify the physical characteristics and space/time variability of rain (rates, DSD, process/"regime") and map to satellite rainfall retrieval uncertainty. 2. Assess satellite rainfall retrieval uncertainties at instantaneous to daily time scales and evaluate propagation/impact of uncertainty in flood-prediction. 3. Assess hydrologic predictive skill as a function of space/time scales, basin morphology, and land use/cover. 4. Discern the relative roles of rainfall quantities such as rate and accumulation as compared to other factors (e.g. transport of water in the drainage network) in flood genesis. 5. Refine approaches to "integrated hydrologic GV" concept based on IFloodS experiences and apply to future GPM Integrated GV field efforts. These objectives will be achieved via the deployment of the NASA NPOL S-band and D3R Ka/Ku-band dual-polarimetric radars, University of Iowa X-band dual-polarimetric radars, a large network of paired rain gauge platforms with attendant soil moisture and temperature probes, a large network of both 2D Video and Parsivel disdrometers, and USDA-ARS gauge and soil-moisture measurements (in collaboration with the NASA SMAP mission). The aforementioned measurements will be used to complement existing operational WSR-88D S-band polarimetric radar measurements, USGS streamflow, and Iowa Flood Center stream monitoring measurements. Coincident satellite datasets will be archived from current microwave imaging and sounding radiometers flying on NOAA, DMSP, NASA, and EU (METOP) low-earth orbiters, and rapid-scanned IR datasets collected from geostationary (GOES) platforms. Collectively the observational assets will provide a means to create high quality (time and space sampling) ground "reference" rainfall and stream flow datasets. The ground reference radar and rainfall datasets will provide a means to assess uncertainties in both satellite algorithms (physics) and products. Subsequently, the impact of uncertainties in the satellite products can be evaluated in coupled weather, land-surface and distributed hydrologic modeling frameworks as related to flood prediction.

Orographic Impacts on Liquid and Ice-Phase Precipitation Processes during OLYMPEX

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Petersen, W. A.; Hunzinger, A.; Gatlin, P. N.; Wolff, D. B.

2017-12-01

The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission Olympic Mountains Experiment (OLYMPEX) focused on physical validation of GPM products in cold-season, mid-latitude frontal precipitation occurring over the Olympic Mountains of Washington State. Herein, we use data collected by the NASA S-band polarimetric radar (NPOL) to quantify and examine ice (IWP), liquid (LWP) and total water paths (TWP) relative to surface precipitation rates and column hydrometeor types for several cases occurring in different synoptic and/or Froude number regimes. These quantities are compared to coincident precipitation properties measured or estimated by GPM's Microwave Imager (GMI) and Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR). Because ice scattering is the dominant radiometric signature used by the GMI for estimating precipitation over land, and because the DPR is greatly affected by ground clutter in the lowest 1 - 2 km above ground, measurement limitations combined with orographic forcing may impact the degree to which DPR and/or GMI algorithms are able to adequately observe and estimate precipitation over and around orography.Preliminary case results suggest: 1) as expected, the Olympic Mountains force robust enhancements in the liquid and ice microphysical processes on windward slopes, especially in atmospheric river events; 2) localized orographic enhancements alter the balance of liquid and frozen precipitation contributions (IWP/TWP, LWP/TWP) to near surface rain rate, and for two cases examined thus far the balance seems to be sensitive to flow direction at specific intersections with the terrain orientation; and 3) GPM measurement limitations related to the depth of surface clutter impact for the DPR, and degree to which ice processes are coupled to the orographic rainfall process (DPR and GMI), especially along windward mountain slopes, may constrain the ability of retrieval algorithms to properly estimate near-surface precipitation quantities over complex terrain. Ongoing analysis of the OLMPEX dataset will better isolate controls on the orographic precipitation process, better define uncertainties in GPM measurements, and contribute to physically-based approaches for mitigating errors in estimation due to measurement and/or algorithm limitations over complex terrain.

Satellite-based high-resolution mapping of rainfall over southern Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meyer, Hanna; Drönner, Johannes; Nauss, Thomas

2017-06-01

A spatially explicit mapping of rainfall is necessary for southern Africa for eco-climatological studies or nowcasting but accurate estimates are still a challenging task. This study presents a method to estimate hourly rainfall based on data from the Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager (SEVIRI). Rainfall measurements from about 350 weather stations from 2010-2014 served as ground truth for calibration and validation. SEVIRI and weather station data were used to train neural networks that allowed the estimation of rainfall area and rainfall quantities over all times of the day. The results revealed that 60 % of recorded rainfall events were correctly classified by the model (probability of detection, POD). However, the false alarm ratio (FAR) was high (0.80), leading to a Heidke skill score (HSS) of 0.18. Estimated hourly rainfall quantities were estimated with an average hourly correlation of ρ = 0. 33 and a root mean square error (RMSE) of 0.72. The correlation increased with temporal aggregation to 0.52 (daily), 0.67 (weekly) and 0.71 (monthly). The main weakness was the overestimation of rainfall events. The model results were compared to the Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for GPM (IMERG) of the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission. Despite being a comparably simple approach, the presented MSG-based rainfall retrieval outperformed GPM IMERG in terms of rainfall area detection: GPM IMERG had a considerably lower POD. The HSS was not significantly different compared to the MSG-based retrieval due to a lower FAR of GPM IMERG. There were no further significant differences between the MSG-based retrieval and GPM IMERG in terms of correlation with the observed rainfall quantities. The MSG-based retrieval, however, provides rainfall in a higher spatial resolution. Though estimating rainfall from satellite data remains challenging, especially at high temporal resolutions, this study showed promising results towards improved spatio-temporal estimates of rainfall over southern Africa.

Observational analysis of an exceptionally intense hailstorm over the Mediterranean area: Role of the GPM Core Observatory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marra, A. C.; Porcù, F.; Baldini, L.; Petracca, M.; Casella, D.; Dietrich, S.; Mugnai, A.; Sanò, P.; Vulpiani, G.; Panegrossi, G.

2017-08-01

On 5 September 2015 a violent hailstorm hit the Gulf and the city of Naples in Italy. The storm originated over the Tyrrhenian Sea dropping 7-10 cm diameter hailstones along its path. During its mature phase, at 08:47 UTC, the hailstorm was captured by one overpass of the Global Precipitation Measurement mission Core Observatory (GPM-CO) embarking the GPM Microwave Imager (GMI) and the Ka/Ku-band Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR). In this paper, observations by both GMI and DPR are thoroughly analyzed in conjunction with other spaceborne and ground-based measurements, to show how the GPM-CO integrates established observational tools in monitoring, understanding, and characterizing severe weather. Rapid-scan MSG SEVIRI images show an extremely rapid development, with 10.8 μm cloud-top temperatures dropping by 65 K in 40 min down to 198 K. The LIghtning NETwork registered over 37,000 strokes in 5 h, with intracloud positive stroke fraction increasing during the regeneration phases, when ground-based polarimetric radar and DPR support the presence of large graupel/hail particles. DPR Ku 40 dBZ and 20 dBZ echo top heights at 14 km and 16 km, respectively, indicate strong updraft and deep overshooting. GMI extremely low brightness temperatures (TBs) in correspondence of the convective core (158, 97, 67, and 87 K at 18.7, 36.5, 89 and 166 GHz) are compatible with the presence of massive ice particles. In two years of GPM global observations the storm ranks as fourth and first in terms of minimum 36.5 and 18.7 GHz (V-pol) TBs, respectively. This study illustrates GPM-CO sensing capabilities for characterizing the structure of such severe hailstorm, while providing observational evidence of its intensity and rarity, both globally and over the Mediterranean area.

The Olympic Mountains Experiment for GPM (OLYMPEX)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Houze, R.; McMurdie, L. A.; Petersen, W. A.; Schwaller, M.

2016-12-01

The GPM satellite has made it possible to observe the amount and nature of precipitation in remote areas of midlatitudes, including oceans and mountain ranges. OLYMPEX conducted over the Olympic Mountains on the northwest coast of Washington State was designed to provide the means for evaluating the physical basis of the algorithms used to convert GPM satellite measurements to determine the amount and nature of precipitation in midlatitude extratropical cyclones. Microphysical processes producing precipitation are highly sensitive to the vertical profile of temperature. In the tropics, the domain of the TRMM satellite, the temperature profile varies only slightly. GPM algorithms, however, must account for the strong horizontal variation of temperature profiles in baroclinic storms systems of midlatitudes and for the variations of precipitation mechanisms caused by passage of these storms over mountains. The OLYMPEX scientific strategy was: 1) collect a statistically robust set of measurements in midlatitude cyclones upstream of, over, and downstream of a midlatitude mountain range that can be used to improve GPM satellite algorithms; 2) determine how the physics and dynamics of the mechanisms affecting precipitation formation in relation to storm structure and terrain. To accomplish these goals 3 aircraft, 4 scanning dual polarization Doppler radars, supplemental soundings, and sophisticated surface instruments were deployed on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington, where Pacific frontal systems produce seasonal precipitation of 2000-4000 mm. 13 storms were observed. 3 of these were atmospheric rivers. The NASA DC-8 and ER-2 aircraft overflew the storms with instruments similar to those on GPM. The U. North Dakota Citation sampled hydrometeors in situ. Preliminary analysis indicates that one of the primary modes of orographic enhancement is low-level moist flow rising over the lower windward slopes and producing many very small drops. Ice-phase processes producing larger particles also vary in relation to shear-enhanced turbulence over topography.

Research on TRMM and GPM Through Collaboration Between JAXA & NASA

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, Eric A.

2003-01-01

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is conducting joint research with the Communications Research Laboratory (CRL) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on a new constellation satellite observation project called Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM), the main satellite of which is planned for launch in 2008 by JAXA. This GPM project was proposed as a follow-up mission to the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) by both the Japanese and American sides based on the unparalleled scientific success of TRMM. A major reason for TRMM's success was the use of the worlds first spaceborne rain radar, the Precipitation Radar (PR) system developed by the National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA, now JAXA) and CRL. Measurements from this instrument have ushered in many new scientific findings and have opened a new era of precipitation measuring from space. GPM is an ambitious project which will produce accurate and frequent global observations of precipitation (both rain and snow) made possible by replacing TRMM with a new core satellite carrying an advanced radar-radiometer system, and serving as the centerpiece for a constellation of some eight (8) additional satellites being provided through international cooperation. The core satellite is to be flown up to high latitudes (inclined some 65-70 degrees), and will carry a dual-frequency precipitation radar (DPR) that will be newly developed by JAXA and CRL, along with a large aperture, extended frequency-range passive microwave radiometer being provided by NASA. Each constellation satellite will also carry some type of multi-channel passive microwave radiometer whose rain estimates will be calibrated and referenced to those made by the core satellite, producing for the first time fully-global, continuous, and bias-free precipitation datasets. GPM data will be delivered in near-realtime, taking a major step toward the operational use of precipitation information for model initialization and data assimilation in a number of application areas such as hazardous weather forecasting, flood warning, fresh water resource assessment, and crop growth prediction. In addition, GPM data will complement the now-existing global temperature record, allowing for improved assessments of climate change, particularly those processes in which the global water cycle both forces and responds to climatic drifts in global temperature conditions.

Comparison of TRMM Ground Validation and Satellite Rain Intensity Estimates

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wolff, David B.; Lawrence, Richard

2005-01-01

The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Ground Validation (GV) Program began in the late 1980's and has provided a wealth of data and resources for validating TRMM satellite estimates. The TRMM GV program's main operational task is to provide rainfall products for four sites: Darwin, Australia (DARW); Houston, Texas (HSTN); Kwajalein, Republic of the Marshall Islands (KWAJ); and, Melbourne, Florida (MELB). A comparison between TRMM Ground Validation (Version 5) and Satellite (Version 6) rain intensity estimates is presented. The full suite of Version 6 satellite data is currently being generated by the TRMM Science Data and Information System (TSDIS) and should be completed some time near the end of 2005. The gridded satellite product (3G68) will be compared to GV Level II rain-intensity and -type maps (2A53 and 2A54, respectively). The 3G68 product represents a 0.5 deg x 0.5 deg data grid providing estimates of rain intensities from the TRMM Precipitation Radar (PR), Microwave Imager (TMI) and Combined (COM) algorithms. The comparisons will be sub-setted according to geographical type (land, coast and ocean). A bias statistic will be presented that provides quantification of the relative differences between the various estimators. Previous comparisons of an interim satellite product (Version 6a) showed that all of the estimates (GV and satellite) are converging, with some expected discrepancies. The convergence of the GV and satellite estimates bodes well for expectations for the proposed Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) program and this study and others are being leveraged towards planning GV goals for GPM.

Space and Missile Defense Acquisitions: Periodic Assessment Needed to Correct Parts Quality Problems in Major Programs

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-06-01

understanding of the global water cycle and the accuracy of precipitation forecasts. GPM is composed of a core spacecraft carrying two main instruments: a dual...developed by NASA and the Space Agency of Argentina (Comisión Nacional de Actividades Espaciales) to investigate the links between the global water ... cycle , ocean circulation, and the climate. It will measure global sea surface salinity. The Aquarius science goals are to observe and model the

Crowley Alden A-4 oil skimmer operational test report. Final report, 1 May-30 June 1986

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Borst, M.

1986-10-01

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) tested the Crowley Alden A-4 Oil Skimming System at its Oil and Hazardous Simulated Environmental Test Tank (OHMSETT) facility in Leonardo, N.J. This testing was sponsored by the Naval Civil Engineering Laboratory (NCEL). The tests were required as part of a Navy purchase to assure that the product met or exceeded specifications in an RFP issued in 1985. During these tests the skimmer recovered 2 to 3 gallons per minute (gpm) (7.5 to 11.4 liters per minute (1pm) ) of oil. There was little or no variation in oil recovery rate introduced by altering testmore » conditions. In calm water, the skimmer recovery efficiency was minimally 85 to 95 %. Under wave conditions, the recovery efficiency was 65 to 75 %. The test program included measurement of the maximum pump rate of an ancillary double diaphragm pump. The greatest pump rate that should be expected is 70 to 80 18pm (18 to 21gpm). Lower capacities were measured with added head, but the pump performed equally well with DFM as with water. Overall, the skimmer met or exceeded the performance characteristics required for inner harbor use.« less

Solutions Network Formulation Report. The Potential Contributions of the Global Precipitation Measurement Mission to Estuary Management in Acadia National Park

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Anderson, Daniel; Hilbert, Kent; Lewis, David

2007-01-01

This candidate solution suggests the use of GPM precipitation observations to enhance the Acadia National Park NLERDSS. Simulated GPM data should provide measurements that would enable analysis of how precipitation affects runoff and nutrient load in the park?s wetlands. This solution benefits society by aiding park and resource managers in making predictions based on hypothetical changes and in identifying effective mitigation scenarios. This solution supports the Coastal Management, Water Management, and Ecological Forecasting National Applications.

USA Science and Engineering Festival 2014

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-04-25

A NASA staff member describes the Global Precipitation Measurement Mission. The GPM Core Observatory satellite was launched into space on February 27, 2014 and will measure rain and snow worldwide every three hours. The GPM mission will help advance our understanding of Earth's water and energy cycles, improve the forecasting of extreme events that cause natural disasters, and extend current capabilities of using satellite precipitation information. The USA Science and Engineering Festival took place at the Washington Convention Center in Washington, DC on April 26 and 27, 2014. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)

Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission: Precipitation Processing System (PPS) GPM Mission Gridded Text Products Provide Surface Precipitation Retrievals

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stocker, Erich Franz; Kelley, O.; Kummerow, C.; Huffman, G.; Olson, W.; Kwiatkowski, J.

2015-01-01

In February 2015, the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission core satellite will complete its first year in space. The core satellite carries a conically scanning microwave imager called the GPM Microwave Imager (GMI), which also has 166 GHz and 183 GHz frequency channels. The GPM core satellite also carries a dual frequency radar (DPR) which operates at Ku frequency, similar to the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Precipitation Radar, and a new Ka frequency. The precipitation processing system (PPS) is producing swath-based instantaneous precipitation retrievals from GMI, both radars including a dual-frequency product, and a combined GMIDPR precipitation retrieval. These level 2 products are written in the HDF5 format and have many additional parameters beyond surface precipitation that are organized into appropriate groups. While these retrieval algorithms were developed prior to launch and are not optimal, these algorithms are producing very creditable retrievals. It is appropriate for a wide group of users to have access to the GPM retrievals. However, for researchers requiring only surface precipitation, these L2 swath products can appear to be very intimidating and they certainly do contain many more variables than the average researcher needs. Some researchers desire only surface retrievals stored in a simple easily accessible format. In response, PPS has begun to produce gridded text based products that contain just the most widely used variables for each instrument (surface rainfall rate, fraction liquid, fraction convective) in a single line for each grid box that contains one or more observations.This paper will describe the gridded data products that are being produced and provide an overview of their content. Currently two types of gridded products are being produced: (1) surface precipitation retrievals from the core satellite instruments GMI, DPR, and combined GMIDPR (2) surface precipitation retrievals for the partner constellation satellites. Both of these gridded products are generated for a.25 degree x.25 degree hourly grid, which are packaged into daily ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) files that can downloaded from the PPS FTP (File Transfer Protocol) site. To reduce the download size, the files are compressed using the gzip utility.This paper will focus on presenting high-level details about the gridded text product being generated from the instruments on the GPM core satellite. But summary information will also be presented about the partner radiometer gridded product. All retrievals for the partner radiometer are done using the GPROF2014 algorithmusing as input the PPS generated inter-calibrated 1C product for the radiometer.

Recent Observations of Clouds and Precipitation by the Airborne Precipitation Radar 2nd Generation in Support of the GPM and ACE Missions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Durden, Stephen L.; Tanelli, Simone; Im, Eastwood

2012-01-01

In this paper we illustrate the unique dataset collected during the Global Precipitation Measurement Cold-season Precipitation Experiment (GCPEx, US/Canada Jan/Feb 2012). We will focus on the significance of these observations for the development of algorithms for GPM and ACE, with particular attention to classification and retrievals of frozen and mixed phase hydrometeors.

KSC-2009-4342

NASA Image and Video Library

2009-07-31

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, President Keiji Tachikawa signs an agreement defining the terms of cooperation between NASA and JAXA on the Global Precipitation Measurement, or GPM, mission. The ceremony took place July 30 at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, Fla. Through the agreement, NASA is responsible for the GPM core observatory spacecraft bus, the GPM Microwave Imager, or GMI, carried by it, and a second GMI to be flown on a partner-provided Low-Inclination Observatory. JAXA will supply the Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar for the core observatory, an H-IIA rocket for the core observatory's launch in July 2013, and data from a conical-scanning microwave imager on the upcoming Global Change Observation Mission satellite. Photo credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller

Cross Validation of Rain Drop Size Distribution between GPM and Ground Based Polarmetric radar

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chandra, C. V.; Biswas, S.; Le, M.; Chen, H.

2017-12-01

Dual-frequency precipitation radar (DPR) on board the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) core satellite has reflectivity measurements at two independent frequencies, Ku- and Ka- band. Dual-frequency retrieval algorithms have been developed traditionally through forward, backward, and recursive approaches. However, these algorithms suffer from "dual-value" problem when they retrieve medium volume diameter from dual-frequency ratio (DFR) in rain region. To this end, a hybrid method has been proposed to perform raindrop size distribution (DSD) retrieval for GPM using a linear constraint of DSD along rain profile to avoid "dual-value" problem (Le and Chandrasekar, 2015). In the current GPM level 2 algorithm (Iguchi et al. 2017- Algorithm Theoretical Basis Document) the Solver module retrieves a vertical profile of drop size distributionn from dual-frequency observations and path integrated attenuations. The algorithm details can be found in Seto et al. (2013) . On the other hand, ground based polarimetric radars have been used for a long time to estimate drop size distributions (e.g., Gorgucci et al. 2002 ). In addition, coincident GPM and ground based observations have been cross validated using careful overpass analysis. In this paper, we perform cross validation on raindrop size distribution retrieval from three sources, namely the hybrid method, the standard products from the solver module and DSD retrievals from ground polarimetric radars. The results are presented from two NEXRAD radars located in Dallas -Fort Worth, Texas (i.e., KFWS radar) and Melbourne, Florida (i.e., KMLB radar). The results demonstrate the ability of DPR observations to produce DSD estimates, which can be used subsequently to generate global DSD maps. References: Seto, S., T. Iguchi, T. Oki, 2013: The basic performance of a precipitation retrieval algorithm for the Global Precipitation Measurement mission's single/dual-frequency radar measurements. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 51(12), 5239-5251. Gorgucci, E., Chandrasekar, V., Bringi, V. N., and Scarchilli, G.: Estimation of Raindrop Size Distribution Parameters from Polarimetric Radar Measurements, J. Atmos. Sci., 59, 2373-2384, doi:10.1175/1520-0469(2002)0592.0.CO;2, 2002.

Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission Core Spacecraft Systems Engineering Challenges

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bundas, David J.; ONeill, Deborah; Field, Thomas; Meadows, Gary; Patterson, Peter

2006-01-01

The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission is a collaboration between the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), and other US and international partners, with the goal of monitoring the diurnal and seasonal variations in precipitation over the surface of the earth. These measurements will be used to improve current climate models and weather forecasting, and enable improved storm and flood warnings. This paper gives an overview of the mission architecture and addresses the status of some key trade studies, including the geolocation budgeting, design considerations for spacecraft charging, and design issues related to the mitigation of orbital debris.

Global precipitation measurement (GPM) mission core spacecraft systems engineering challenges

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bundas, David J.; O'Neill, Deborah; Rhee, Michael; Feild, Thomas; Meadows, Gary; Patterson, Peter

2006-09-01

The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission is a collaboration between the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), and other US and international partners, with the goal of monitoring the diurnal and seasonal variations in precipitation over the surface of the earth. These measurements will be used to improve current climate models and weather forecasting, and enable improved storm and flood warnings. This paper gives an overview of the mission architecture and addresses the status of some key trade studies, including the geolocation budgeting, design considerations for spacecraft charging, and design issues related to the mitigation of orbital debris.

The Midlatitude Continental Convective Clouds Experiment (MC3E)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Jensen, Mark P.; Petersen, Walt A.; Bansemer, Aaron

The Midlatitude Continental Convective Clouds Experiment (MC3E), a field program jointly led by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Atmospheric Radiation Measurement program and the NASA Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission, was conducted in south-central Oklahoma during April – May 2011. MC3E science objectives were motivated by the need to improve understanding of midlatitude continental convective cloud system lifecycles, microphysics, and GPM precipitation retrieval algorithms. To achieve these objectives a multi-scale surface- and aircraft-based in situ and remote sensing observing strategy was employed. A variety of cloud and precipitation events were sampled during the MC3E, of which results from three deepmore » convective events are highlighted. Vertical structure, air motions, precipitation drop-size distributions and ice properties were retrieved from multi-wavelength radar, profiler, and aircraft observations for an MCS on 11 May. Aircraft observations for another MCS observed on 20 May were used to test agreement between observed radar reflectivities and those calculated with forward-modeled reflectivity and microwave brightness temperatures using in situ particle size distributions and ice water content. Multi-platform observations of a supercell that occurred on 23 May allowed for an integrated analysis of kinematic and microphysical interactions. A core updraft of 25 ms-1 supported growth of hail and large rain drops. Data collected during the MC3E campaign is being used in a number of current and ongoing research projects and is available through the DOE ARM and NASA data archives.« less

Strawman Philosophical Guide for Developing International Network of GPM GV Sites

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, Eric A.

2005-01-01

The creation of an international network of ground validation (GV) sites that will support the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission's international science programme will require detailed planning of mechanisms for exchanging technical information, GV data products, and scientific results. An important component of the planning will be the philosophical guide under which the network will grow and emerge as a successful element of the GPM Mission. This philosophical guide should be able to serve the mission in developing scientific pathways for ground validation research which will ensure the highest possible quality measurement record of global precipitation products. The philosophical issues, in this regard, partly stem from the financial architecture under which the GV network will be developed, i.e., each participating country will provide its own financial support through committed institutions -- regardless of whether a national or international space agency is involved.At the 1st International GPM Ground Validation Workshop held in Abingdon, UK in November-2003, most of the basic tenants behind the development of the international GV network were identified and discussed. Therefore, with this progress in mind, this presentation is intended to put forth a strawman philosophical guide supporting the development of the international network of GPM GV sites, noting that the initial progress has been reported in the Proceedings of the 1st International GPM GV Workshop -- available online. The central philosophical issues themselves, all flow from the fact that each participating institution can only bring to the table, GV facilities and scientific personnel that are affordable to the sanctioning (funding) national agency (be that a research, research-support, or operational agency). This situation imposes on the network, heterogeneity in the measuring sensors, data collection periods, data collection procedures, data latencies, and data reporting capabilities. Therefore, in order for the network to be effective in supporting the central scientific goals of the GPM mission, there must be a basic agreed upon doctrine under which the network participants function vis-a-vis: (1) an overriding set of general scientific requirements, (2) a minimal set of policies governing the free flow of GV data between the scientific participants, (3) a few basic definitions concerning the prioritization of measurements and their respective value to the mission, (4) a few basic procedures concerning data formats, data reporting procedures, data access, and data archiving, and (5) a simple means to differentiate GV sites according to their level of effort and ability to perform near real-time data acquisition - data reporting tasks. Most important, in case they choose to operate as a near real-time data collection-data distribution site, they would be expected to operate under a fairly narrowly defined protocol needed to ensure smooth GV support operations. This presentation will suggest measures responsive to items (1) - (5) from which to proceed,. In addition, this presentation will seek to stimulate discussion and debate concerning how much heterogeneity is tolerable within the eventual GV site network, given that the any individual GV site can only be considered scientifically useful if it supports the achievement of the central GPM Mission goals. Only ground validation research that has a direct connection to the space mission should be considered justifiable given the overarching scientific goals of the mission. Therefore each site will have to seek some level of accommodation to what the GPM Mission requires in the way of retrieval error characterization, retrieval error detection and reporting, and generation of GV data products that support assessment and improvement of the mission's standard precipitation retrieval algorithms. These are all important scientific issues that will be best resolved in open scientific debate.

Characterizing the physical-basis of orographic rainfall retrieval errors due to terrain artifacts on GPM-DPR reflectivity profiles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arulraj, M.; Barros, A. P.

2017-12-01

GPM-DPR reflectivity profiles in mountainous regions are severely handicapped by low level ground-clutter artifacts which have different error characteristics depending on landform (upwind slopes of high mountains versus complex topography in middle-mountains) and precipitation regime. These artifacts result in high detection and estimation errors especially in mid-latitude and tropical mountain regions where low-level light precipitation and complex multi-layer clouds interact with incoming storms. Here, we present results assessment studies in the Southern Appalachian Mountains (SAM) and preliminary results over the eastern slopes of the Andes using ground-based observations from the long-term hydrometeorological networks and model studies toward developing a physically-based framework to systematically identify and attribute measurement errors. Specifically, the focus is on events when GPM-DPR Ka- and Ku- Band precipitation radar misses low-level precipitation with vertical altitude less than 2 km AGL (above ground level). For this purpose, ground-based MRR and Parsivel disdrometer observations near the surface are compared with the reflectivity profiles observed by the GPM-DPR overpasses, the raindrop-size spectra are used to classify the precipitation regime associated with different classes of detection and estimation errors. This information will be used along with a coupled rainfall dynamics and radar simulator model to 1) merge the low-level GPM-DPR measured reflectivity with the MRR reflectivities optimally under strict physically-based constraints and 2) build a library of reflectivity profile corrections. Finally, preliminary 4D analysis of the organization of reflectivity correction modes, microphysical regimes, topography and storm environment will be presented toward developing a general physically-based error model.

Global Precipitation Measurement Mission Launch and Commissioning

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Davis, Nikesha; DeWeese, Keith; Vess, Melissa; O'Donnell, James R., Jr.; Welter, Gary

2015-01-01

During launch and early operation of the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission, the Guidance, Navigation, and Control (GN&C) analysis team encountered four main on-orbit anomalies. These include: (1) unexpected shock from Solar Array deployment, (2) momentum buildup from the Magnetic Torquer Bars (MTBs) phasing errors, (3) transition into Safehold due to albedo induced Course Sun Sensor (CSS) anomaly, and (4) a flight software error that could cause a Safehold transition due to a Star Tracker occultation. This paper will discuss ways GN&C engineers identified the anomalies and tracked down the root causes. Flight data and GN&C on-board models will be shown to illustrate how each of these anomalies were investigated and mitigated before causing any harm to the spacecraft. On May 29, 2014, GPM was handed over to the Mission Flight Operations Team after a successful commissioning period. Currently, GPM is operating nominally on orbit, collecting meaningful scientific data that will significantly improve our understanding of the Earth's climate and water cycle.

Global Precipitation Measurement Mission Launch and Commissioning

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Davis, Nikesha; Deweese, Keith; Vess, Missie; Welter, Gary; O'Donnell, James R., Jr.

2015-01-01

During launch and early operation of the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission, the Guidance, Navigation and Control (GNC) analysis team encountered four main on orbit anomalies. These include: (1) unexpected shock from Solar Array deployment, (2) momentum buildup from the Magnetic Torquer Bars (MTBs) phasing errors, (3) transition into Safehold due to albedo-induced Course Sun Sensor (CSS) anomaly, and (4) a flight software error that could cause a Safehold transition due to a Star Tracker occultation. This paper will discuss ways GNC engineers identified and tracked down the root causes. Flight data and GNC on board models will be shown to illustrate how each of these anomalies were investigated and mitigated before causing any harm to the spacecraft. On May 29, 2014, GPM was handed over to the Mission Flight Operations Team after a successful commissioning period. Currently, GPM is operating nominally on orbit, collecting meaningful scientific data that will significantly improve our understanding of the Earth's climate and water cycle.

CDRD and PNPR satellite passive microwave precipitation retrieval algorithms: EuroTRMM/EURAINSAT origins and H-SAF operations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mugnai, A.; Smith, E. A.; Tripoli, G. J.; Bizzarri, B.; Casella, D.; Dietrich, S.; Di Paola, F.; Panegrossi, G.; Sanò, P.

2013-04-01

Satellite Application Facility on Support to Operational Hydrology and Water Management (H-SAF) is a EUMETSAT (European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites) program, designed to deliver satellite products of hydrological interest (precipitation, soil moisture and snow parameters) over the European and Mediterranean region to research and operations users worldwide. Six satellite precipitation algorithms and concomitant precipitation products are the responsibility of various agencies in Italy. Two of these algorithms have been designed for maximum accuracy by restricting their inputs to measurements from conical and cross-track scanning passive microwave (PMW) radiometers mounted on various low Earth orbiting satellites. They have been developed at the Italian National Research Council/Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate in Rome (CNR/ISAC-Rome), and are providing operational retrievals of surface rain rate and its phase properties. Each of these algorithms is physically based, however, the first of these, referred to as the Cloud Dynamics and Radiation Database (CDRD) algorithm, uses a Bayesian-based solution solver, while the second, referred to as the PMW Neural-net Precipitation Retrieval (PNPR) algorithm, uses a neural network-based solution solver. Herein we first provide an overview of the two initial EU research and applications programs that motivated their initial development, EuroTRMM and EURAINSAT (European Satellite Rainfall Analysis and Monitoring at the Geostationary Scale), and the current H-SAF program that provides the framework for their operational use and continued development. We stress the relevance of the CDRD and PNPR algorithms and their precipitation products in helping secure the goals of H-SAF's scientific and operations agenda, the former helpful as a secondary calibration reference to other algorithms in H-SAF's complete mix of algorithms. Descriptions of the algorithms' designs are provided including a few examples of their performance. This aspect of the development of the two algorithms is placed in the context of what we refer to as the TRMM era, which is the era denoting the active and ongoing period of the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) that helped inspire their original development. In 2015, the ISAC-Rome precipitation algorithms will undergo a transformation beginning with the upcoming Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission, particularly the GPM Core Satellite technologies. A few years afterward, the first pair of imaging and sounding Meteosat Third Generation (MTG) satellites will be launched, providing additional technological advances. Various of the opportunities presented by the GPM Core and MTG satellites for improving the current CDRD and PNPR precipitation retrieval algorithms, as well as extending their product capability, are discussed.

KSC-2009-4341

NASA Image and Video Library

2009-07-31

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – NASA Administrator Charles Bolden (left) and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, President Keiji Tachikawa sign an agreement defining the terms of cooperation between the agencies on the Global Precipitation Measurement, or GPM, mission. The ceremony took place July 30 at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, Fla. Through the agreement, NASA is responsible for the GPM core observatory spacecraft bus, the GPM Microwave Imager, or GMI, carried by it, and a second GMI to be flown on a partner-provided Low-Inclination Observatory. JAXA will supply the Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar for the core observatory, an H-IIA rocket for the core observatory's launch in July 2013, and data from a conical-scanning microwave imager on the upcoming Global Change Observation Mission satellite. Photo credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller

KSC-2009-4344

NASA Image and Video Library

2009-07-31

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – NASA Administrator Charles Bolden (left) and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, President Keiji Tachikawa pose for photographers after signing an agreement defining the terms of cooperation between NASA and JAXA on the Global Precipitation Measurement, or GPM, mission. The ceremony took place July 30 at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, Fla. Through the agreement, NASA is responsible for the GPM core observatory spacecraft bus, the GPM Microwave Imager, or GMI, carried by it, and a second GMI to be flown on a partner-provided Low-Inclination Observatory. JAXA will supply the Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar for the core observatory, an H-IIA rocket for the core observatory's launch in July 2013, and data from a conical-scanning microwave imager on the upcoming Global Change Observation Mission satellite. Photo credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller

The Extratropical Transition of Tropical Storm Cindy From a GLM, ISS LIS and GPM Perspective

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Heuscher, Lena; Gatlin, Patrick; Petersen, Walt; Liu, Chuntao; Cecil, Daniel J.

2017-01-01

The distribution of lightning with respect to tropical convective precipitation systems has been well established in previous studies and more recently by the successful Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM). However, TRMM did not provide information about precipitation features poleward of +/-38 deg latitude. Hence we focus on the evolution of lightning within extra-tropical cyclones traversing the mid-latitudes, especially its oceans. To facilitate such studies, lightning data from the Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) onboard GOES-16 was combined with precipitation features obtained from the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission constellation of satellites.

Assessment of the GPM and TRMM Precipitation Products Using the Rain Gauge Network over the Tibetan Plateau

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Sijia; Wang, Donghai; Qin, Zhengkun; Zheng, Yaoyao; Guo, Jianping

2018-04-01

Using high-quality hourly observations from national-level ground-based stations, the satellite-based rainfall products from both the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Integrated MultisatellitE Retrievals for GPM (IMERG) and its predecessor, the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA), are statistically evaluated over the Tibetan Plateau (TP), with an emphasis on the diurnal variation. The results indicate that: (1) the half-hourly IMERG rainfall product can explicitly describe the diurnal variation over the TP, but with discrepancies in the timing of the greatest precipitation intensity and an overestimation of the maximum rainfall intensity over the whole TP. In addition, the performance of IMERG on the hourly timescale, in terms of the correlation coefficient and relative bias, is different for regions with sea level height below or above 3500 m; (2) the IMERG products, having higher correlation and lower root-mean-square error, perform better than the TMPA products on the daily and monthly timescales; and (3) the detection ability of IMERG is superior to that of TMPA, as corroborated by a higher Hanssen and Kuipers score, a higher probability of detection, a lower false alarm ratio, and a lower bias. Compared to TMPA, the IMERG products ameliorate the overestimation across the TP. In conclusion, GPM IMERG is superior to TRMM TMPA over the TP on multiple timescales.

Treponema pallidum 3-Phosphoglycerate Mutase Is a Heat-Labile Enzyme That May Limit the Maximum Growth Temperature for the Spirochete

PubMed Central

Benoit, Stéphane; Posey, James E.; Chenoweth, Matthew R.; Gherardini, Frank C.

2001-01-01

In the causative agent of syphilis, Treponema pallidum, the gene encoding 3-phosphoglycerate mutase, gpm, is part of a six-gene operon (tro operon) that is regulated by the Mn-dependent repressor TroR. Since substrate-level phosphorylation via the Embden-Meyerhof pathway is the principal way to generate ATP in T. pallidum and Gpm is a key enzyme in this pathway, Mn could exert a regulatory effect on central metabolism in this bacterium. To study this, T. pallidum gpm was cloned, Gpm was purified from Escherichia coli, and antiserum against the recombinant protein was raised. Immunoblots indicated that Gpm was expressed in freshly extracted infective T. pallidum. Enzyme assays indicated that Gpm did not require Mn2+ while 2,3-diphosphoglycerate (DPG) was required for maximum activity. Consistent with these observations, Mn did not copurify with Gpm. The purified Gpm was stable for more than 4 h at 25°C, retained only 50% activity after incubation for 20 min at 34°C or 10 min at 37°C, and was completely inactive after 10 min at 42°C. The temperature effect was attenuated when 1 mM DPG was added to the assay mixture. The recombinant Gpm from pSLB2 complemented E. coli strain PL225 (gpm) and restored growth on minimal glucose medium in a temperature-dependent manner. Increasing the temperature of cultures of E. coli PL225 harboring pSLB2 from 34 to 42°C resulted in a 7- to 11-h period in which no growth occurred (compared to wild-type E. coli). These data suggest that biochemical properties of Gpm could be one contributing factor to the heat sensitivity of T. pallidum. PMID:11466272

Applying Advances in GPM Radiometer Intercalibration and Algorithm Development to a Long-Term TRMM/GPM Global Precipitation Dataset

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Berg, W. K.

2016-12-01

The Global Precipitation Mission (GPM) Core Observatory, which was launched in February of 2014, provides a number of advances for satellite monitoring of precipitation including a dual-frequency radar, high frequency channels on the GPM Microwave Imager (GMI), and coverage over middle and high latitudes. The GPM concept, however, is about producing unified precipitation retrievals from a constellation of microwave radiometers to provide approximately 3-hourly global sampling. This involves intercalibration of the input brightness temperatures from the constellation radiometers, development of an apriori precipitation database using observations from the state-of-the-art GPM radiometer and radars, and accounting for sensor differences in the retrieval algorithm in a physically-consistent way. Efforts by the GPM inter-satellite calibration working group, or XCAL team, and the radiometer algorithm team to create unified precipitation retrievals from the GPM radiometer constellation were fully implemented into the current version 4 GPM precipitation products. These include precipitation estimates from a total of seven conical-scanning and six cross-track scanning radiometers as well as high spatial and temporal resolution global level 3 gridded products. Work is now underway to extend this unified constellation-based approach to the combined TRMM/GPM data record starting in late 1997. The goal is to create a long-term global precipitation dataset employing these state-of-the-art calibration and retrieval algorithm approaches. This new long-term global precipitation dataset will incorporate the physics provided by the combined GPM GMI and DPR sensors into the apriori database, extend prior TRMM constellation observations to high latitudes, and expand the available TRMM precipitation data to the full constellation of available conical and cross-track scanning radiometers. This combined TRMM/GPM precipitation data record will thus provide a high-quality high-temporal resolution global dataset for use in a wide variety of weather and climate research applications.

Japanese Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission status and application of satellite-based global rainfall map

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kachi, Misako; Shimizu, Shuji; Kubota, Takuji; Yoshida, Naofumi; Oki, Riko; Kojima, Masahiro; Iguchi, Toshio; Nakamura, Kenji

2010-05-01

As accuracy of satellite precipitation estimates improves and observation frequency increases, application of those data to societal benefit areas, such as weather forecasts and flood predictions, is expected, in addition to research of precipitation climatology to analyze precipitation systems. There is, however, limitation on single satellite observation in coverage and frequency. Currently, the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission is scheduled under international collaboration to fulfill various user requirements that cannot be achieved by the single satellite, like the Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission (TRMM). The GPM mission is an international mission to achieve high-accurate and high-frequent rainfall observation over a global area. GPM is composed of a TRMM-like non-sun-synchronous orbit satellite (GPM core satellite) and constellation of satellites carrying microwave radiometer instruments. The GPM core satellite carries the Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR), which is being developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT), and microwave radiometer provided by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Development of DPR instrument is in good progress for scheduled launch in 2013, and DPR Critical Design Review has completed in July - September 2009. Constellation satellites, which carry a microwave imager and/or sounder, are planned to be launched around 2013 by each partner agency for its own purpose, and will contribute to extending coverage and increasing frequency. JAXA's future mission, the Global Change Observation Mission (GCOM) - Water (GCOM-W) satellite will be one of constellation satellites. The first generation of GCOM-W satellite is scheduled to be launched in 2011, and it carries the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 (AMSR2), which is being developed based on the experience of the AMSR-E on EOS Aqua satellite. Collaboration with GCOM-W is not only limited to its participation to GPM constellation but also coordination in areas of algorithm development and validation in Japan. Generation of high-temporal and high-accurate global rainfall map is one of targets of the GPM mission. As a proto-type for GPM era, JAXA has developed and operates the Global Precipitation Map algorithm in near-real-time since October 2008, and hourly and 0.1-degree resolution binary data and images available at http://sharaku.eorc.jaxa.jp/GSMaP/ four hours after observation. The algorithms are based on outcomes from the Global Satellite Mapping for Precipitation (GSMaP) project, which was sponsored by the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) under the Core Research for Evolutional Science and Technology (CREST) framework between 2002 and 2007 (Okamoto et al., 2005; Aonashi et al., 2009; Ushio et al., 2009). Target of GSMaP project is to produce global rainfall maps that are highly accurate and in high temporal and spatial resolution through the development of rain rate retrieval algorithms based on reliable precipitation physical models by using several microwave radiometer data, and comprehensive use of precipitation radar and geostationary infrared imager data. Near-real-time GSMaP data is distributed via internet and utilized by end users. Purpose of data utilization by each user covers broad areas and in world wide; Science researches (model validation, data assimilation, typhoon study, etc.), weather forecast/service, flood warning and rain analysis over river basin, oceanographic condition forecast, agriculture, and education. Toward the GPM era, operational application should be further emphasized as well as science application. JAXA continues collaboration with hydrological communities to utilize satellite-based precipitation data as inputs to future flood prediction and warning system, as well as with meteorological agencies to proceed further data utilization in numerical weather prediction system and forecasts.

Global precipitation measurement (GPM)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Neeck, Steven P.; Flaming, Gilbert M.; Adams, W. James; Smith, Eric A.

2001-12-01

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is studying options for future space-based missions for the EOS Follow-on Era (post 2003), building upon the measurements made by Pre-EOS and EOS First Series Missions. One mission under consideration is the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM), a cooperative venture of NASA, Japan, and other international partners. GPM will capitalize on the experience of the highly successful Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission (TRMM). Its goal is to extend the measurement of rainfall to high latitudes with high temporal frequency, providing a global data set every three hours. A reference concept has been developed consisting of an improved TRMM-like primary satellite with precipitation radar and microwave radiometer to make detailed and accurate estimates of the precipitation structure and a constellation of small satellites flying compact microwave radiometers to provide the required temporal sampling of highly variable precipitation systems. Considering that DMSP spacecraft equipped with SSMIS microwave radiometers, successor NPOESS spacecraft equipped with CMIS microwave radiometers, and other relevant international systems are expected to be in operation during the timeframe of the reference concept, the total number of small satellites required to complete the constellation will be reduced. A nominal plan is to begin implementation in FY'03 with launches in 2007. NASA is presently engaged in advanced mission studies and advanced instrument technology development related to the mission.

Report of two preventive medicine job market surveys.

PubMed

Nitzkin, J L; Falcao, P; Janusz, N; Arraiano, J

2001-01-01

The American Association of Public Health Physicians (AAPHP) conducted two surveys to explore the value of general preventive medicine/public health (GPM) training and board certification to physicians seeking GPM jobs. The first survey reviewed advertisements in recent issues of four medical journals. The second surveyed physician registrants at the Prevention 99 meeting. The first survey screened about 18, 500 job advertisements. Of these, 1427 (7.7%) met the study's GPM screening criteria. Only 145 (10.6%) preferred an MPH, management, or related degree. Forty-one (2.9%) preferred a doctorate (MD/DO/PhD) and an MPH, management, or related degree. Only one (0. 07%) required or preferred GPM board certification. Results were consistent across market sectors (federal, state/local, academic, health care delivery) and across job roles (management, direct service, research, technical). The second survey gathered credential, job search, and employment data from 140 physician registrants at Prevention 99 (annual joint meeting of the American College of Preventive Medicine and the Association of Teachers of Preventive Medicine in March 1999). Seventy-eight (55.7%) reported that GPM training was of major importance in securing their current employment. Only 18.5% of physicians holding GPM jobs secured their current employment by responding to an advertisement. GPM board certification is of little or no value when competing for the vast majority of GPM-related jobs. The AAPHP recommends prompt coordinated action by national organizations representing GPM physicians to increase the number of job offerings preferring or requiring physicians with GPM board certification. A six-point action plan is proposed.

GPM Solar Array Gravity Negated Deployment Testing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Penn, Jonathan; Johnson, Chris; Lewis, Jesse; Dear, Trevin; Stewart, Alphonso

2014-01-01

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) successfully developed a g-negation support system for use on the solar arrays of the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Satellite. This system provides full deployment capability at the subsystem and observatory levels. In addition, the system provides capability for deployed configuration first mode frequency verification testing. The system consists of air pads, a support structure, an air supply, and support tables. The g-negation support system was used to support all deployment activities for flight solar array deployment testing.

Passive Microwave Rainfall Estimates from the GPM Mission

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kummerow, Christian; Petkovic, Veljko

2017-04-01

The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission was launched in February 2014 as a joint mission between JAXA from Japan and NASA from the United States. GPM carries a state of the art dual-frequency precipitation radar and a multi-channel passive microwave radiometer that acts not only to enhance the radar's retrieval capability, but also as a reference for a constellation of existing satellites carrying passive microwave sensors. In March of 2016, GPM released Version 4 of its precipitation products that consists of radar, radiometer, and combined radar/radiometer products. The precipitation products from these sensors or sensor combination are consistent by design and show relatively minor differences in the mean global sense. Closer examination of the biases, however, reveals regional biases between active and passive sensors that can be directly related top the nature of the convection. By looking at cloud systems instead of individual satellite pixels, the relationship between biases and the large scale environmental state become obvious. Organized convection, which occurs more readily in regimes with large Convective Available Potential Energy (CAPE) and shear tend to drive biases in different directions than isolated convection. This is true over both land and ocean. This talk will present the latest findings and explore these discrepancies from a physical perspective in order to gain some understanding between cloud structures, information content, and retrieval differences. This analysis will be used to then drive a bigger picture of how GPM's latest results inform the Global Water and Energy budgets.

A Summary of Large Raindrop Observations from GPM GV Field Campaigns

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gatlin, Patrick N.; Petersen, Walter; Tokay, Ali; Thurai, Merhala; Bringi, V. N.; Carey, Lawrence; Wingo, Matthew

2013-01-01

NASA's Global Precipitation Measurement Mission (GPM) has conducted as series of Ground Validation (GV) studies to assist algorithm development for the GPM core satellite. Characterizing the drop size distribution (DSD) for different types of precipitation systems is critical in order to accurately estimate precipitation across the majority of the planet. Thus far, GV efforts have sampled DSDs in a variety of precipitation systems from Finland to Oklahoma. This dataset consists of over 33 million raindrops sampled by GPM GV's two-dimensional video disdrometers (2DVD) and includes RSD observations from the LPVEx, MC3E, GCPEx, HyMEx and IFloodS campaigns as well as from GV sites in Huntsville, AL and Wallops Island, VA. This study focuses on the larger end of the raindrop size spectrum, which greatly influences radar reflectivity and has implications for moment estimation. Thus knowledge of the maximum diameter is critical to GPM algorithm development. There are over 24,000 raindrops exceeding 5 mm in diameter contained within this disdrometer dataset. The largest raindrops in the 2DVD dataset (>7-8 mm in diameter) are found within intense convective thunderstorms, and their origins are believed to be hailstones. In stratiform rainfall, large raindrops have also been found to fall from lower and thicker melting layers. The 2DVD dataset will be combined with that collected by dual-polarimetric radar and aircraft particle imaging probes to "follow" the vertical evolution of the DSD tail (i.e., retrace the large drops from the surface to their origins aloft).

Distributed Disdrometer and Rain Gauge Measurement Infrastructure Developed for GPM Ground Validation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Petersen, Walter A.; Bringi, V. N.; Gatlin, Patrick; Phillips, Dustin; Schwaller, Mathew; Tokay, Ali; Wingo, Mathew; Wolff, David

2010-01-01

Global Precipitation Mission (GPM)retrieval algorithm validation requires datasets characterizing the 4-D structure, variability, and correlation properties of hydrometeor particle size distributions (PSD) and accumulations over satellite fields of view (FOV;<10 km). Collection of this data provides a means to assess retrieval errors related to beam filling and algorithm PSD assumptions. Hence, GPM Ground Validation is developing a deployable network of precipitation gauges and disdrometers to provide fine-scale measurements of PSD and precipitation accumulation variability. These observations will be combined with dual-frequency, polarimetric, and profiling radar data in a bootstrapping fashion to extend validated PSD measurements to a large coverage domain. Accordingly, a total of 24 Parsivel disdrometers(PD), 5 3rd-generation 2D Video Disdrometers (2DVD), 70 tipping bucket rain gauges (TBRG),9 weighing gauges, 7 Hot-Plate precipitation sensors (HP), and 3 Micro Rain Radars (MRR) have been procured. In liquid precipitation the suite of TBRG, PD and 2DVD instruments will quantify a broad spectrum of rain rate and PSD variability at sub-kilometer scales. In the envisioned network configuration 5 2DVDs will act as reference points for 16 collocated PD and TBRG measurements. We find that PD measurements provide similar measures of the rain PSD as observed with collocated 2DVDs (e.g., D0, Nw) for rain rates less than 15 mm/hr. For heavier rain rates we will rely on 2DVDs for PSD information. For snowfall we will combine point-redundant observations of SWER distributed over three or more locations within a FOV. Each location will contain at least one fenced weighing gauge, one HP, two PDs, and a 2DVD. MRRs will also be located at each site to extend the measurement to the column. By collecting SWER measurements using different instrument types that employ different measurement techniques our objective is to separate measurement uncertainty from natural variability in SWER and PSD. As demonstrated using C3VP polarimetric radar, gauge, and 2DVD/PD datasets these measurements can be combined to bootstrap an area wide SWER estimate via constrained modification of density-diameter and radar reflectivity-snowfall relationships. These data will be combined with snowpack, airborne microphysics, radar, radiometer, and tropospheric sounding data to refine GPM snowfall retrievals. The gauge and disdrometer instruments are being developed to operate autonomously when necessary using solar power and wireless communications. These systems will be deployed in numerous field campaigns through 2016. Planned deployment of these systems include field campaigns in Finland (2010), Oklahoma (2011), Canada (2012) and North Carolina (2013). GPM will also deploy 20 pairs of TBRGs within a 25 km2 region along the Virginia coast under NASA NPOL radar coverage in order to quantify errors in point-area rainfall measurements.

Global Precipitation Measurement Cold Season Precipitation Experiment (GCPEx): For Measurement Sake Let it Snow

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Skofronick-Jackson, Gail; Hudak, David; Petersen, Walter; Nesbitt, Stephen W.; Chandrasekar, V.; Durden, Stephen; Gleicher, Kirstin J.; Huang, Gwo-Jong; Joe, Paul; Kollias, Pavlos;

OLYMPEX: A Ground Validation Campaign on the Olympic Peninsula in the Pacific Northwest

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McMurdie, L. A.; Houze, R.; Lettenmaier, D. P.; Lundquist, J. D.; Petersen, W. A.; Schwaller, M.

2013-12-01

The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission is scheduled for launch in early 2014. It's primary objective is to measure rain and snow globally especially in areas lacking surface observations or ground-based radar coverage. The GPM satellites will need to be able to detect solid and liquid precipitation over a wide range of intensities, locations and regimes. The core satellite of GPM will carry a passive microwave radiometer, the GPM Microwave Imager (GMI) and the first space-borne Ku/Ka band Dual Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR). To satisfy the GPM measurement requirements and to assess how remotely sensed precipitation can be applied to a range of data applications (e.g. determining storm structures and monitoring flooding events and droughts) ground validation (GV) field campaigns are vital. As such, the Olympic Mountains GV Experiment (OLYMPEX) is planned for November 2015 - February 2016. The Olympic Peninsula is an ideal location to conduct a GV campaign. It is situated in the northwest corner of Washington State within an active mid-latitude winter storm track. It receives among the highest annual precipitation amounts in North America ranging from over 2500 mm on the coast to 4000 mm in the mountainous interior. In one compact area, the Olympic peninsula ranges from ocean to coast to land to mountains. This unique venue will enable the field campaign to monitor both upstream precipitation characteristics and processes over the ocean and their modification over complex terrain. Measuring precipitation from space in coastal and mountainous regions is challenging; however, the unique characteristics of the Olympic Peninsula make OLYMPEX a unique and viable opportunity to address these challenges and quantify the sources of variability and uncertainty in coastal and complex terrain. The scientific goals of the OLYMPEX field campaign include physical validation of satellite algorithms, precipitation processes in complex terrain, hydrological applications and modeling studies. In order to address these goals, a wide variety of existing and new observations and instrumentation is planned. These include an in situ surface observing networks of meteorological stations, rain and snow gauges, surface microphysical measurements and snowpack surveys. Surface-based remote instrumentation will include the existing coastal radar at Langley, WA, the NOAA/ESRL Atmospheric River Observatory at Westport, WA, and planned additional radars such as the NASA N-Pol S-Band dual-polarimetric and NASA Dual-Frequency Dual-Polarimetric Doppler (D3R) scanning radars for PPI and RHI scanning over the west slopes of the Olympics, and other mobile vertically-pointing radars. Several instrumented aircraft are likely to participate. The NASA DC-8 will be equipped with a Ka-Ku band dual-frequency radar and passive microwave sensors that simulate those on the GPM Core satellite. The University of North Dakota Citation will measure in situ microphysics. The aircraft measurements will determine upstream thermodynamic and moisture conditions, sample particle types and sizes for comparison with those employed in the satellite algorithm, and act as a proxy for the satellite itself. The ground-based measurements will test how well the satellite proxy measurements determine the rain and snow over complex terrain.

Mass Transfer And Hydraulic Testing Of The V-05 And V-10 Contactors With The Next Generation Solvent

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Herman, D. T.; Duignan, M. R.; Williams, M. R.

The Modular Caustic Side Solvent Extraction (CSSX) Unit (MCU) facility is actively pursuing the transition from the current BOBCalixC6 based solvent to the Next Generation Solvent (NGS)-MCU solvent. To support this integration of NGS into the MCU facilities, Savannah River Remediation (SRR) requested that Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) perform testing of a blend of the NGS (MaxCalix based solvent) with the current solvent (BOBCalixC6 based solvent) for the removal of cesium (Cs) from the liquid salt waste stream. This testing differs from prior testing by utilizing a blend of BOBCalixC6 based solvent and the NGS with the full (0.05more » M) concentration of the MaxCalix as well as a new suppressor, tris(3,7dimethyloctyl) guanidine. Single stage tests were conducted using the full size V-05 and V-10 centrifugal contactors installed at SRNL. These tests were designed to determine the mass transfer and hydraulic characteristics with the NGS solvent blended with the projected heel of the BOBCalixC6 based solvent that will exist in MCU at time of transition. The test program evaluated the amount of organic carryover and the droplet size of the organic carryover phases using several analytical methods. Stage efficiency and mass distribution ratios were determined by measuring Cs concentration in the aqueous and organic phases during single contactor testing. The nominal cesium distribution ratio, D(Cs) measured for extraction ranged from 37-60. The data showed greater than 96% stage efficiency for extraction. No significant differences were noted for operations at 4, 8 or 12 gpm aqueous salt simulant feed flow rates. The first scrub test (contact with weak caustic solution) yielded average scrub D(Cs) values of 3.3 to 5.2 and the second scrub test produced an average value of 1.8 to 2.3. For stripping behavior, the “first stage” D Cs) values ranged from 0.04 to 0.08. The efficiency of the low flow (0.27 gpm aqueous) was calculated to be 82.7%. The Spreadsheet Algorithm for Stagewise Solvent Extraction (SASSE) predicted equivalent DF for MCU from this testing is greater than 3,500 assuming 95% efficiency during extraction and 80% efficiency during scrub and strip. Hydraulically, the system performed very well in all tests. Target flows were easily obtained and stable throughout testing. Though some issues were encountered with plugging in the coalescer, they were not related to the solvent. No hydraulic upsets due to the solvent were experienced during any of the tests conducted. The first extraction coalescer element used in testing developed high pressure drop that made it difficult to maintain the target flow rates. Analysis showed an accumulation of sodium aluminosilicate solids. The coalescer was replaced with one from the same manufacturer’s lot and pressure drop was no longer an issue. Concentrations of Isopar™ L and Modifier were measured using semi-volatile organic analysis (SVOA) and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) to determine the amount of solvent carryover. For low-flow (0.27 gpm aqueous) conditions in stripping, SVOA measured the Isopar™ L post-contactor concentration to be 25 mg/L, HPLC measured 39 mg/L of Modifier. For moderate-flow (0.54 gpm aqueous) conditions, SVOA measured the Isopar™ L postcontactor to be ~69 mg/L, while the HPLC measured 56 mg/L for Modifier. For high-flow (0.8 gpm aqueous) conditions, SVOA measured the Isopar™ L post-contactor to be 39 mg/L. The post-coalescer (pre-decanter) measurements by SVOA for Isopar™ L were all less than the analysis detection limit of 10 mg/L. The HPLC measured 18, 22 and 20 mg/L Modifier for the low, medium, and high-low rates respectively. In extraction, the quantity of pre-coalescer Isopar™ L carryover measured by SVOA was ~280-410 mg/L at low flow (4 gpm aqueous), ~400-450 mg/L at moderate flow (8 gpm aqueous), and ~480 mg/L at high flow (12 gpm aqueous). The amount of post coalescer (pre-decanter) Isopar™ L carryover measured by SVOA was less than 45 mg/L for all flow rates. HPLC results for Modifier were 182, 217 and 222 mg/L for the post-contactor low, medium and high flow rates. The post-coalescer (pre-decanter) samples were measured to contain 12, 10 and 22 mg/L Modifier for the low, medium, and high flow rates. The carryover results and droplet size measurements were used to determine the decanter performance utilizing the decanter model developed by the ARES Corporation. Results show for the targeted salt flow rate of approximately 8 gpm, that over 93% of the solvent carryover from stripping is predicted to be recovered and over 96% solvent carryover from extraction is predicted to be recovered. This translates to a predicted solvent carryover of <3 ppm from stripping and <20 ppm solvent carryover from extraction. This projected performance at MCU is expected to be well within the operating limits and the historical performance for the baseline BOBCalixC6 based solvent. Droplet-size data obtained by MicroTrac™ S3400 analyzer consistently shows that the droplet size post-oalescer is significantly greater than the post-contactor or pre-coalescer samples. Increased flow rates did not show a consistent impact to the droplet size results. For the extraction testing, droplet size analysis showed that the post-contactor and pre-coalescer samples were essentially the same. The mean droplet sizes post-coalescer were less than the mean droplet sizes pre-coalescer with a very slight upward trend in the mean droplet size as the flow rate was increased. This result is probably due to the method of sampling. The larger post-coalescer drops immediately rise to the surface after leaving the coalescer element. The downstream sampling point was horizontally in-line with the element and therefore would only capture those organic droplets well mixed in the flowing aqueous stream.« less

Current Development of Global Precipitation Mission (GPM)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, Eric A.; Starr, David (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

The scientific success of the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) and additional satellite-focused precipitation retrieval projects, particularly those based on use of passive microwave radiometer measurements, have paved the way for a more advanced global precipitation mission. The new mission is motivated by a number of scientific questions that TRMM research has posed over a range of space-time scales and within a variety of scientific disciplines that are becoming more integrated into earth system science modeling. Added to this success is the realization that satellite rainfall datasets are now a foremost tool in understanding global climate variability out to decadal scales and beyond. This progress has motivated a comprehensive global measuring strategy -- leading to the "Global Precipitation Mission" (GPM). GPM is planning to expand the scope of rainfall measurement through use of a satellite constellation. The intent is to address looming scientific questions arising in the context of global climate-water cycle interactions, hydrometeorology, weather prediction & prediction of fresh water resources, the global carbon budget, and biogeochemical cycles. This talk overviews the status and scientific agenda of this mission currently planned for launch in the 2007-2008 time frame. The GPM notional design involves a 10-member satellite constellation, one of which will be an advanced TRMM-like "core" satellite carrying a dual-frequency Ku-Ka band radar (DFPR) and a TMI-like radiometer. The other nine members of the constellation will be considered daughters of the core satellite, each carrying some type of passive microwave radiometer measuring across the 10.7-85 GHz frequency range -- likely to include a combination of lightweight satellites and co-existing operational/experimental satellites carrying passive microwave radiometers (i.e., 2 DMSP/SSMISs, GCOM-B1/AMSR-J, & Megha Tropiques/MADRAS). The goal behind the constellation is to achieve no worse than 3-hour sampling at any spot on the globe. The constellation's orbit architecture will consist of a mix of sun-synchronous and non- sun-synchronous daughter satellites, with the core satellite providing relevant measurements on internal cloud-precipitation microphysical processes plus "training-calibrating" information to be used with the retrieval algorithms for the daughter satellite measurements. The GPM is organized internationally, currently involving a partnership between NASA in the US, NASDA in Japan, and ESA in Europe (representing the European community nations). The mission is expected to involve additional international participants, sister agencies to the mainstream space agencies, and a diverse collection scientists from academia, government, and the private sector.

The Midlatitude Continental Convective Clouds Experiment (MC3E)

DOE PAGES

Jensen, M. P.; Petersen, W. A.; Bansemer, A.; ...

2015-12-18

The Midlatitude Continental Convective Clouds Experiment (MC3E), a field program jointly led by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Atmospheric Radiation Measurement program and the NASA Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission, was conducted in south-central Oklahoma during April – May 2011. MC3E science objectives were motivated by the need to improve understanding of midlatitude continental convective cloud system lifecycles, microphysics, and GPM precipitation retrieval algorithms. To achieve these objectives a multi-scale surface- and aircraft-based in situ and remote sensing observing strategy was employed. A variety of cloud and precipitation events were sampled during the MC3E, of which results from three deepmore » convective events are highlighted. Vertical structure, air motions, precipitation drop-size distributions and ice properties were retrieved from multi-wavelength radar, profiler, and aircraft observations for an MCS on 11 May. Aircraft observations for another MCS observed on 20 May were used to test agreement between observed radar reflectivities and those calculated with forward-modeled reflectivity and microwave brightness temperatures using in situ particle size distributions and ice water content. Multi-platform observations of a supercell that occurred on 23 May allowed for an integrated analysis of kinematic and microphysical interactions. A core updraft of 25 ms -1 supported growth of hail and large rain drops. As a result, data collected during the MC3E campaign is being used in a number of current and ongoing research projects and is available through the DOE ARM and NASA data archives.« less

The Midlatitude Continental Convective Clouds Experiment (MC3E)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Jensen, M. P.; Petersen, W. A.; Bansemer, A.

The Midlatitude Continental Convective Clouds Experiment (MC3E), a field program jointly led by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Atmospheric Radiation Measurement program and the NASA Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission, was conducted in south-central Oklahoma during April – May 2011. MC3E science objectives were motivated by the need to improve understanding of midlatitude continental convective cloud system lifecycles, microphysics, and GPM precipitation retrieval algorithms. To achieve these objectives a multi-scale surface- and aircraft-based in situ and remote sensing observing strategy was employed. A variety of cloud and precipitation events were sampled during the MC3E, of which results from three deepmore » convective events are highlighted. Vertical structure, air motions, precipitation drop-size distributions and ice properties were retrieved from multi-wavelength radar, profiler, and aircraft observations for an MCS on 11 May. Aircraft observations for another MCS observed on 20 May were used to test agreement between observed radar reflectivities and those calculated with forward-modeled reflectivity and microwave brightness temperatures using in situ particle size distributions and ice water content. Multi-platform observations of a supercell that occurred on 23 May allowed for an integrated analysis of kinematic and microphysical interactions. A core updraft of 25 ms -1 supported growth of hail and large rain drops. As a result, data collected during the MC3E campaign is being used in a number of current and ongoing research projects and is available through the DOE ARM and NASA data archives.« less

Inventory of File naefs_geavg.t12z.pgrb2a_anvf06

Science.gov Websites

Records: 19 Number Level/Layer Parameter Forecast Valid Description 001 1000 mb HGT 6 hour fcst Geopotential Height [gpm] ens-mean 002 700 mb HGT 6 hour fcst Geopotential Height [gpm] ens-mean 003 500 mb HGT 6 hour fcst Geopotential Height [gpm] ens-mean 004 250 mb HGT 6 hour fcst Geopotential Height [gpm

Assimilation of Precipitation Measurement Missions Microwave Radiance Observations With GEOS-5

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jin, Jianjun; Kim, Min-Jeong; McCarty, Will; Akella, Santha; Gu, Wei

2015-01-01

The Global Precipitation Mission (GPM) Core Observatory satellite was launched in February, 2014. The GPM Microwave Imager (GMI) is a conically scanning radiometer measuring 13 channels ranging from 10 to 183 GHz and sampling between 65 S 65 N. This instrument is a successor to the Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission (TRMM) Microwave Imager (TMI), which has observed 9 channels at frequencies ranging 10 to 85 GHz between 40 S 40 N since 1997. This presentation outlines the base procedures developed to assimilate GMI and TMI radiances in clear-sky conditions, including quality control methods, thinning decisions, and the estimation of, observation errors. This presentation also shows the impact of these observations when they are incorporated into the GEOS-5 atmospheric data assimilation system.

OLYMPEX Counterflow Spectrometer and Impactor Field Campaign Report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Poellot, Michael

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Climate Research Facility’s ARM Aerial Facility (AAF) Counterflow Spectrometer and Impactor (CSI) probe was flown on the University of North Dakota Cessna Citation research aircraft during the Olympic Mountain Experiment (OLYMPEX). The field campaign took place from November 12 through December 19, 2015, over the Olympic Mountains and coastal waters of Washington State as part of a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) validation campaign. The CSI was added to the Citation instrument suite to support the NASA Aerosol-Cloud Ecosystem (ACE) satellite program and flights ofmore » the NASA Lockheed Earth Resources (ER-2) aircraft. ACE funded extra ER-2 flights to focus on clouds that are weakly precipitating, which are also of interest to the DOE Atmospheric System Research (ASR) program.« less

GPM Data Products, Their Availability, and Production Status

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stocker, Erich Franz; Kelley, Owen; Kwiatkowski, John; Ji, Yimin

2014-01-01

On February 28, 2014, Japan Standard Time, the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission was launched in a picture-perfect launch activity. On March 4, 2014, the GPM Microwave Imager (GMI) was put into science observation mode. The Dual-Frequency Radar (DPR) was put in science observation mode on March 8, 2014. The Precipitation Processing System (PPS) produced products immediately upon receiving the data. Both regular science products and Near-realtime (NRT) products were produced. These were made immediately available to a group of early adopters. In mid-June 2014, GMI level-1 brightness temperature products were made publicly available. In mid-July 2014, GMI and partner-radiometer precipitation retrievals were made public. GMI public availability was several months ahead of the planned release. The DPR products became publicly available on the planned release date of September 2, 2014. Data continues to be available to any user desiring it.

A Rapid Protoyping Approach for the Evaluation of Potential GPM-Era Precipitation Products for Water Resources Management Applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anantharaj, V. G.; Houser, P. R.; Turk, F. J.; Peterson, C. A.; Hossain, F.; Moorhead, R. J.; Toll, D. L.; Mostovoy, G.

2009-04-01

In order to facilitate the operational transition of satellite data, research products and advances in numerical modeling, the NASA Applied Sciences Program (ASP) had adopted a systems engineering approach to help identify and advanced and basic research capabilities that may be further developed for operational applications. This novel approach was envisioned to accelerate the harvesting of NASA's investment in research for societal benefits. International programs such as the Global Earth Observing System of Systems (GEOSS) could benefit from such systematic and integrated approaches to identify and extend the results of earth and environmental sciences for the benefits of global society. This new approach by the ASP was based on three phases of implementation, namely: (a) "Solutions Networks" for systematically examining data products, capabilities, and results from NASA Earth science research in order to find identify and prioritize candidate research activities that have the potential for societal benefits; (b) "Rapid Prototyping Capability (RPC)" experiments to further develop and tailor basic research and further evaluate and quantify their potential impacts for applications and decision support; and (c) "Integrated System Solutions (ISS)" to fully execute the transition the research to operational implementation and benchmark the performance resulting from integrating NASA Earth observations and science results. The RPC science experiments can be rapidly prototyped in order to evaluate the suitability of data, algorithms and models. They are designed to characterize uncertainties involved in the data, models, and decision making process while maintaining scientific rigor through the entire process. This approach helps identify scientific and logistical risks earlier in the process so that they can be appropriately addressed in a timely manner to minimize risk. GPM is promoted as "a science mission with broad societal applications," that will address societal benefits related to human health (soil moisture, climate and disease outbreak), homeland security (removal of chemical/biological/nuclear agents), flooding potential and warning, water availability, water quality, and agriculture and food security. In 2006, the NASA ASP sponsored two RPC experiments to evaluate potential GPM-era high resolution satellite precipitation products for water management applications. One of the current uncertainties involved in the GPM missions is the nature of the exact configuration of the constellations of satellites and hence the potential for the dynamic error characteristics over time of the precipitation estimates. For the RPC evaluations, we needed a satellite precipitation product that would be analogous to the GPM-era products. Our solution was to develop a suite of high resolution precipitation products, based on the NRL-Blend algorithm. We created a set of 10 different satellite precipitation estimates (hereafter referred to as the "GPM-proxy data"), using the currently available IR and microwave sensors. However, in each product we systematically left out sets of observations and/or sensors, such as AM orbits. The geographical focus of our study was the operational domain of the Arkansas Basin River Forecast Center (ABRFC) of the U.S. National Weather Service. We have evaluated the GPM-proxy data against the operational product (radar and gauge based) used by ABRFC. Further, we also performed a set of soil water content (SWC) sensitivity experiments using the Noah and Mosaic Land Surface Models (LSM) to quantify the impacts on water management applications involving land surface hydrology. Both the LSMs were forced with the same set of GPM-proxy data. Though the overall spatial patterns for both the models were similar, there were subtle differences in the respective model sensitivities to the different precipitation forcings. These experimental results illustrate the need for comprehensive pre-evaluations of applications, in order quantify and minimize the risks involved in applications with the introduction of new precipitation products, before making extensive investments in operational transitions. Besides the SWC sensitivity experiments, we have also evaluated precipitation merging and downscaling techniques using various other precipitation products, including IR-based estimates, NRL-Blend and CMORPH. During the presentation, we will outline systems engineering approach used by ASP, summarize the results of the GPM RPC experiments, and discuss the lessons learned in prototyping applications for GPM-era high resolution precipitation products.

Improving Database Simulations for Bayesian Precipitation Retrieval using Non-Spherical Ice Particles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ringerud, S.; Skofronick Jackson, G.; Kulie, M.; Randel, D.

2016-12-01

NASA's Global Precipitation Measurement Mission (GPM) provides a wealth of both active and passive microwave observations aimed at furthering understanding of global precipitation and the hydrologic cycle. Employing a constellation of passive microwave radiometers increases global coverage and sampling, while the core satellite acts as a transfer standard, enabling consistent retrievals across individual constellation members. The transfer standard is applied in the form of a physically based a priori database constructed for use in Bayesian retrieval algorithms for each radiometer. The database is constructed using hydrometeor profiles optimized for the best fit to simultaneous active/passive core satellite measurements via the GPM Combined Algorithm. Initial validation of GPM rainfall products using the combined database suggests high retrieval errors for convective precipitation over land and at high latitudes. In such regimes, the signal from ice scattering observed at the higher microwave frequencies becomes particularly important for detecting and retrieving precipitation. For cross-track sounders such as MHS and SAPHIR, this signal is crucial. It is therefore important that the scattering signals associated with precipitation are accurately represented and modeled in the retrieval database. In the current GPM combined retrieval and constellation databases, ice hydrometeors are represented as "fluffy spheres", with assumed density and scattering parameters calculated using Mie theory. Resulting simulated Tb agree reasonably well at frequencies up to 89 GHz, but show significant biases at higher frequencies. In this work the database is recreated using an ensemble of non-spherical ice particles with single scattering properties calculated using discrete dipole approximation. Simulated Tb agreement is significantly improved across the high frequencies, decreasing biases by an order of magnitude in several of the channels. The new database is applied for a sample of GPM constellation retrievals and the retrieved precipitation rates compared, to demonstrate areas where the use of more complex ice particles will have the greatest effect upon the final retrievals.

The Day-1 GPM Combined Precipitation Algorithm: IMERG

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huffman, G. J.; Bolvin, D. T.; Braithwaite, D.; Hsu, K.; Joyce, R.; Kidd, C.; Sorooshian, S.; Xie, P.

2012-12-01

The Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission (IMERG) algorithm will provide the at-launch combined-sensor precipitation dataset being produced by the U.S. GPM Science Team. IMERG is being developed as a unified U.S. algorithm that takes advantage of strengths in three current U.S. algorithms: - the TRMM Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA), which addresses inter-satellite calibration of precipitation estimates and monthly scale combination of satellite and gauge analyses; - the CPC Morphing algorithm with Kalman Filtering (KF-CMORPH), which provides quality-weighted time interpolation of precipitation patterns following storm motion; and - the Precipitation Estimation from Remotely Sensed Information using Artificial Neural Networks using a Cloud Classification System (PERSIANN-CCS), which provides a neural-network-based scheme for generating microwave-calibrated precipitation estimates from geosynchronous infrared brightness temperatures, and filters out some non-raining cold clouds. The goal is to provide a long-term, fine-scale record of global precipitation from the entire constellation of precipitation-relevant satellite sensors, with input from surface precipitation gauges. The record will begin January 1998 at the start of the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) and extend as GPM records additional data. Although homogeneity is considered desirable, the use of diverse and evolving data sources works against the strict long-term homogeneity that characterizes a Climate Data Record (CDR). This talk will briefly review the design requirements for IMERG, including multiple runs at different latencies (most likely around 4 hours, 12 hours, and 2 months after observation time), various intermediate data fields as part of the IMERG data file, and the plans to bring up IMERG with calibration by TRMM initially, transitioning to GPM when its individual-sensor precipitation algorithms are fully functional. Then we will present some early examples of IMERG data products and compare them with existing products to illustrate how the design of IMERG affects the overall performance of the algorithm.

Visualization of GPM Standard Products at the Precipitation Processing System (PPS)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kelley, O.

2010-12-01

Many of the standard data products for the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) constellation of satellites will be generated at and distributed by the Precipitation Processing System (PPS) at NASA Goddard. PPS will provide several means to visualize these data products. These visualization tools will be used internally by PPS analysts to investigate potential anomalies in the data files, and these tools will also be made available to researchers. Currently, a free data viewer called THOR, the Tool for High-resolution Observation Review, can be downloaded and installed on Linux, Windows, and Mac OS X systems. THOR can display swath and grid products, and to a limited degree, the low-level data packets that the satellite itself transmits to the ground system. Observations collected since the 1997 launch of the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite can be downloaded from the PPS FTP archive, and in the future, many of the GPM standard products will also be available from this FTP site. To provide easy access to this 80 terabyte and growing archive, PPS currently operates an on-line ordering tool called STORM that provides geographic and time searches, browse-image display, and the ability to order user-specified subsets of standard data files. Prior to the anticipated 2013 launch of the GPM core satellite, PPS will expand its visualization tools by integrating an on-line version of THOR within STORM to provide on-the-fly image creation of any portion of an archived data file at a user-specified degree of magnification. PPS will also provide OpenDAP access to the data archive and OGC WMS image creation of both swath and gridded data products. During the GPM era, PPS will continue to provide realtime globally-gridded 3-hour rainfall estimates to the public in a compact binary format (3B42RT) and in a GIS format (2-byte TIFF images + ESRI WorldFiles).

Incorporating the TRMM Dataset into the GPM Mission Data Suite

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stocker, Erich Franz; Ji, Yimin; Chou, Joyce; Kelley, Owen; Kwiatkowski, John; Stout, John

2016-01-01

In June 2015 the TRMM satellite came to its end. The 17 plus year of mission data that it provided has proven a valuable asset to a variety of science communities. This 17plus year data set does not, however, stagnate with the end of the mission itself. NASA/JAXA intend to integrate the TRMM data set into the data suite of the GPM mission. This will ensure the creation of a consistent, intercalibrated, accurate dataset within GPM that extends back to November of 1998. This paper describes the plans for incorporating the TRMM 17plus year data into the GPM data suite. These plans call for using GPM algorithms for both radiometer and radar to reprocess TRMM data as well as intercalibrating partner radiometers using GPM intercalibration techniques. This reprocessing will mean changes in content, logical format and physical format as well as improved geolocation, sensor corrections and retrieval techniques.

Meteorological Observations and System Performance From the NASA D3R's First 5 Years

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chandrasekar, V.; Beauchamp, Robert M.; Vega, Manuel; Chen, Haonan; Kumar, Mohit; Joshil, Shashank; Schwaller, Mathew; Petersen, Walter; Wolff, David

2017-01-01

The NASA dual-frequency, dual-polarization, Doppler radar (D3R) was conceived and developed to support ground validation (GV) operations of the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission. The D3R operates in the same frequencies bands, Ku- and Ka-band, as GPMs dual-frequency precipitation radar enabling direct comparisons of microphysical observations of precipitation. To support the GPM GVmission, D3R substantively participated in four field campaigns in North America with diverse geographic features covering both winter and summer conditions.

Performance of the Falling Snow Retrieval Algorithms for the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Skofronick-Jackson, Gail; Munchak, Stephen J.; Ringerud, Sarah

2016-01-01

Retrievals of falling snow from space represent an important data set for understanding the Earth's atmospheric, hydrological, and energy cycles, especially during climate change. Estimates of falling snow must be captured to obtain the true global precipitation water cycle, snowfall accumulations are required for hydrological studies, and without knowledge of the frozen particles in clouds one cannot adequately understand the energy and radiation budgets. While satellite-based remote sensing provides global coverage of falling snow events, the science is relatively new and retrievals are still undergoing development with challenges remaining). This work reports on the development and testing of retrieval algorithms for the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission Core Satellite, launched February 2014.

Approximating Long-Term Statistics Early in the Global Precipitation Measurement Era

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stanley, Thomas; Kirschbaum, Dalia B.; Huffman, George J.; Adler, Robert F.

2017-01-01

Long-term precipitation records are vital to many applications, especially the study of extreme events. The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) has served this need, but TRMMs successor mission, Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM), does not yet provide a long-term record. Quantile mapping, the conversion of values across paired empirical distributions, offers a simple, established means to approximate such long-term statistics, but only within appropriately defined domains. This method was applied to a case study in Central America, demonstrating that quantile mapping between TRMM and GPM data maintains the performance of a real-time landslide model. Use of quantile mapping could bring the benefits of the latest satellite-based precipitation dataset to existing user communities such as those for hazard assessment, crop forecasting, numerical weather prediction, and disease tracking.

Building the GPM-GV Column from the GPM Cold season Precipitation Experiment (Invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nesbitt, S. W.; Duffy, G. A.; Gleicher, K.; McFarquhar, G. M.; Kulie, M.; Williams, C. R.; Petersen, W. A.; Munchak, S. J.; Tokay, A.; Skofronick Jackson, G.; Chandrasekar, C. V.; Kollias, P.; Hudak, D. R.; Tanelli, S.

2013-12-01

Within the context of the Drop Size Distribution Working Group (DSDWG) of the Global Precipitation Mission-Ground Validation (GPM-GV) program, a major science and satellite precipitation algorithm validation focus is on quantitatively determining the variability of microphysical properties of precipitation in the vertical column, as well as the radiative properties of those particles at GPM-relevant microwave frequencies. The GPM Cold season Precipitation Experiment, or GCPEx, was conducted to address both of these objectives in mid-latitude winter precipitation. Radar observations at C, X, Ku, Ka, and W band from ground based scanning radars, profiling radars, and aircraft, as well as an aircraft passive microwave imager from GCPEx, conducted in early 2012 near Barrie, Ontario, Canada, can be used to constrain the observed reflectivites and brightness temperatures in snow as well as construct radar dual frequency ratios (DFRs) that can be used to identify regimes of microwave radiative properties in observed hydrometeor columns. These data can be directly matched with aircraft and ground based in situ microphysical probes, such as 2-D and bulk aircraft probes and surface disdrometers, to place the microphysical and microwave scattering and emission properties of the snow in context throughout the column of hydrometeors. In this presentation, particle scattering regimes will be identified in GCPEx hydrometeor columns storm events using a clustering technique in a multi-frequency DFR-near Rayleigh radar reflectivity phase space using matched ground-based and aircraft-based radar and passive microwave data. These data will be interpreted using matched in situ disdrometer and aircraft probe microphysical data (particle size distributions, habit identification, fall speed, mass-diameter relationships) derived during the events analyzed. This database is geared towards evaluating scattering simulations and the choice of integral particle size distributions for snow precipitation retrieval algorithms for ground and spaceborne radars at relevant wavelengths. A comparison of results for different cases with varying synoptic forcing and microphysical evolution will be presented.

GPM Avionics Module Heat Pipes Design and Performance Test Results

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ottenstein, Laura; DeChristopher, Mike

2011-01-01

The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission is an international network of satellites that provide the next-generation global observations of rain and snow. The GPM core satellite carries an advanced radar / radiometer system to measure precipitation from space and serve as a reference standard to unify precipitation measurements from a constellation of research and operational satellites. Through improved measurements of precipitation globally, the GPM mission will help to advance our understanding of Earth's water and energy cycle, improve forecasting of extreme events that cause natural hazards and disasters, and extend current capabilities in using accurate and timely information of precipitation to directly benefit society. The avionics module on the core satellite contains a number of electronics boxes which are cooled by a network of aluminum/ammonia heat pipes and a honeycomb radiator which contains thirteen embedded aluminum/ammonia heat pipes. All heat pipes were individually tested by the vendor (Advanced Cooling Technologies, Inc.) prior to delivery. Following delivery to NASA, the flight avionics radiator and the flight spare transport heat pipes were mounted to flight-like test structure and a system level thermal vacuum test was performed. This test, which used simulators in place of all electronics boxes, was done to verify the operation of the thermal control system as a whole. This presentation will discuss the design of the avionics module heat pipes, and then discuss performance tests results for the individual heat pipes prior to delivery and for the system level thermal vacuum test. All heat pipes met their performance requirements. However, it was found that the power was too low in some instances to start all of the smaller radiator spreader heat pipes when they were tested in a reflux configuration (which is the nominal test configuration). Although this lowered the efficiency of the radiator somewhat, it did not impact the operating temperatures of the electronics boxes.

Evaluation of Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for GPM with All Weather Gauge Observations over CONUS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, S.; Qi, Y.; Hu, B.; Hu, J.; Hong, Y.

2015-12-01

The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission is composed of an international network of satellites that provide the next-generation global observations of rain and snow. Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for GPM (IMERG) is the state-of-art precipitation products with high spatio-temporal resolution of 0.1°/30min. IMERG unifies precipitation measurements from a constellation of research and operational satellites with the core sensors dual-frequency precipitation radar (DPR) and microwave imager (GMI) on board a "Core" satellite. Additionally, IMERG blends the advantages of currently most popular satellite-based quantitative precipitation estimates (QPE) algorithms, i.e. TRMM Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA), Climate Prediction Center morphing technique (CMORPH), Precipitation Estimation from Remotely Sensed Information using Artificial Neural Networks-Cloud Classification System (PERSIANN-CCS). The real-time and post real-time IMERG products are now available online at https://stormpps.gsfc.nasa.gov/storm. In this study, the final run post real-time IMERG is evaluated with all-weather manual gauge observations over CONUS from June 2014 through May 2015. Relative Bias (RB), Root-Mean-Squared Error (RMSE), Correlation Coefficient (CC), Probability Of Detection (POD), False Alarm Ratio (FAR), and Critical Success Index (CSI) are used to quantify the performance of IMERG. The performance of IMERG in estimating snowfall precipitation is highlighted in the study. This timely evaluation with all-weather gauge observations is expected to offer insights into performance of IMERG and thus provide useful feedback to the algorithm developers as well as the GPM data users.

Precipitation and Diabatic Heating Distributions from TRMM/GPM

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Olson, W. S.; Grecu, M.; Wu, D.; Tao, W. K.; L'Ecuyer, T.; Jiang, X.

2016-12-01

The initial focus of our research effort was the development of a physically-based methodology for estimating 3D precipitation distributions from a combination of spaceborne radar and passive microwave radiometer observations. This estimation methodology was originally developed for applications to Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission sensor data, but it has recently been adapted to Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Precipitation Radar and Microwave Imager observations. Precipitation distributions derived from the TRMM sensors are interpreted using cloud-system resolving model simulations to infer atmospheric latent+eddy heating (Q1-QR) distributions in the tropics and subtropics. Further, the estimates of Q1-QR are combined with estimates of radiative heating (QR), derived from TRMM Microwave Imager and Visible and Infrared Scanner data as well as environmental properties from NCEP reanalyses, to yield estimates of the large-scale total diabatic heating (Q1). A thirteen-year database of precipitation and diabatic heating is constructed using TRMM observations from 1998-2010 as part of NASA's Energy and Water cycle Study program. State-dependent errors in precipitation and heating products are evaluated by propagating the potential errors of a priori modeling assumptions through the estimation method framework. Knowledge of these errors is critical for determining the "closure" of global water and energy budgets. Applications of the precipitation/heating products to climate studies will be presented at the conference.

Altered GPM6A/M6 dosage impairs cognition and causes phenotypes responsive to cholesterol in human and Drosophila.

PubMed

Gregor, Anne; Kramer, Jamie M; van der Voet, Monique; Schanze, Ina; Uebe, Steffen; Donders, Rogier; Reis, André; Schenck, Annette; Zweier, Christiane

2014-12-01

Glycoprotein M6A (GPM6A) is a neuronal transmembrane protein of the PLP/DM20 (proteolipid protein) family that associates with cholesterol-rich lipid rafts and promotes filopodia formation. We identified a de novo duplication of the GPM6A gene in a patient with learning disability and behavioral anomalies. Expression analysis in blood lymphocytes showed increased GPM6A levels. An increase of patient-derived lymphoblastoid cells carrying membrane protrusions supports a functional effect of this duplication. To study the consequences of GPM6A dosage alterations in an intact nervous system, we employed Drosophila melanogaster as a model organism. We found that knockdown of Drosophila M6, the sole member of the PLP family in flies, in the wing, and whole organism causes malformation and lethality, respectively. These phenotypes as well as the protrusions of patient-derived lymphoblastoid cells with increased GPM6A levels can be alleviated by cholesterol supplementation. Notably, overexpression as well as loss of M6 in neurons specifically compromises long-term memory in the courtship conditioning paradigm. Our findings thus indicate a critical role of correct GPM6A/M6 levels for cognitive function and support a role of the GPM6A duplication for the patient's phenotype. Together with other recent findings, this study highlights compromised cholesterol homeostasis as a recurrent feature in cognitive phenotypes. © 2014 WILEY PERIODICALS, INC.

Validation of High Resolution IMERG Satellite Precipitation over the Global Oceans using OceanRAIN

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kucera, Paul; Klepp, Christian

2017-04-01

Precipitation is a key parameter of the essential climate variables in the Earth System that is a key variable in the global water cycle. Observations of precipitation over oceans is relatively sparse. Satellite observations over oceans is the only viable means of measuring the spatially distribution of precipitation. In an effort to improve global precipitation observations, the research community has developed a state of the art precipitation dataset as part of the NASA/JAXA Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) program. The satellite gridded product that has been developed is called Integrated Multi-satelliE Retrievals for GPM (IMERG), which has a maximum spatial resolution of 0.1° x 0.1° and temporal 30 minute. Even with the advancements in retrievals, there is a need to quantify uncertainty of IMERG especially over oceans. To address this need, the OceanRAIN dataset has been used to create a comprehensive database to compare IMERG products. The OceanRAIN dataset was collected using an ODM-470 optical disdrometer that has been deployed on 12 research vessels worldwide with 6 long-term installations operating in all climatic regions, seasons and ocean basins. More than 5.5 million data samples have been collected on the OceanRAIN program. These data were matched to IMERG grids for the study period of 15 March 2014-31 January 2016. This evaluation produced over a 1000 matched pairs with precipitation observed at the surface. These matched pairs were used to evaluate the performance of IMERG for different latitudinal bands and precipitation regimes. The presentation will provide an overview of the study and summary of evaluation results.

Evaluation of High Resolution IMERG Satellite Precipitation over the Global Oceans using OceanRAIN

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kucera, P. A.; Klepp, C.

2017-12-01

Precipitation is a key parameter of the essential climate variables in the Earth System that is a key variable in the global water cycle. Observations of precipitation over oceans is relatively sparse. Satellite observations over oceans is the only viable means of measuring the spatially distribution of precipitation. In an effort to improve global precipitation observations, the research community has developed a state of the art precipitation dataset as part of the NASA/JAXA Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) program. The satellite gridded product that has been developed is called Integrated Multi-satelliE Retrievals for GPM (IMERG), which has a maximum spatial resolution of 0.1º x 0.1º and temporal 30 minute. Even with the advancements in retrievals, there is a need to quantify uncertainty of IMERG precipitation estimates especially over oceans. To address this need, the OceanRAIN dataset has been used to create a comprehensive database to compare IMERG products. The OceanRAIN dataset was created using observations from the ODM-470 optical disdrometer that has been deployed on 12 research vessels worldwide with 6 long-term installations operating in all climatic regions, seasons and ocean basins. More than 6 million data samples have been collected on the OceanRAIN program. These data were matched to IMERG grids for the study period of 15 March 2014-01 April 2017. This evaluation produced over 1500 matched IMERG-OceanRAIN pairs of precipitation observed at the surface. These matched pairs were used to evaluate the performance of IMERG stratified by different latitudinal bands and precipitation regimes. The presentation will provide an overview of the study and summary of evaluation results.

From TRMM to GPM: How well can heavy rainfall be detected from space?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Prakash, Satya; Mitra, Ashis K.; Pai, D. S.; AghaKouchak, Amir

2016-02-01

In this study, we investigate the capabilities of the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA) and the recently released Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for GPM (IMERG) in detecting and estimating heavy rainfall across India. First, the study analyzes TMPA data products over a 17-year period (1998-2014). While TMPA and reference gauge-based observations show similar mean monthly variations of conditional heavy rainfall events, the multi-satellite product systematically overestimates its inter-annual variations. Categorical as well as volumetric skill scores reveal that TMPA over-detects heavy rainfall events (above 75th percentile of reference data), but it shows reasonable performance in capturing the volume of heavy rain across the country. An initial assessment of the GPM-based multi-satellite IMERG precipitation estimates for the southwest monsoon season shows notable improvements over TMPA in capturing heavy rainfall over India. The recently released IMERG shows promising results to help improve modeling of hydrological extremes (e.g., floods and landslides) using satellite observations.

Current Status of GPM Data Products: Near-realtime and research

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stocker, Erich Franz

2013-04-01

With the core satellite currently completing testing at the Goddard Space Flight Center and the planned launch of the satellite in February 2014. this paper will provide a public, final, pre-launch status report of the planned GPM data products. This information is provided in four distinct product categories: near realtime, research quality, climate quality, and user products. It provides a high-level summary of the purpose for the categories, the products contained within, the data latencies, and an estimated data volume. The information presented should be sufficient for users to determine the GPM products they desire as well as plan for the necessary storage and code the software to use the products. The paper also provides a high level presentation of the data policy that Precipitation Processing System (PPS) will use for distributing the products. As the radiometer L1C intercalibrated brightness temperature products provide the entry point for swath based GPM products, this paper provides the underlying purpose of these products and their relationship to the partner provided L1B brightness temperatures from which they are evolved. It provides the differences between L1B and L1C and provides some examples to illustrate this difference. The chosen "archive" format for GPM products is HDF5. The paper outlines the philosophy used in constructing the HDF5 formats and the impact this has on data product, storage, use, and display. In addition the paper provides an introduction to PPS access and viewing tools available to GPM products. In conclusion, the paper provides access information for retrieving GPM synthetic data products. These products are used at PPS for algorithm testing and can be used by prospective GPM data users for writing and testing their data read routines. This should greatly facilitate readiness to use GPM products when they become publicly available.

GPM Encapsulation Complete

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-02-20

GPM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The Core Observatory will link data from a constellation of current and planned satellites to produce next-generation global measurements of rainfall and snowfall from space. On Feb. 11, the Core Observatory was moved into the spacecraft fairing assembly building and into the Encapsulation Hall. Final inspections and preparations were completed for the installation into the fairing, which began on Feb 13. The fairing is the part of the rocket that will contain the spacecraft at the top of the H-IIA rocket. The encapsulation process for the H-IIA is very different than for most U.S. rockets. For U.S. rockets, the fairing is usually in two pieces that close around the payload like a clamshell. To install the GPM Core Observatory into the fairing of the H-IIA rocket, first the Core Observatory and the Payload Attach Fitting (PAF) are set up in scaffolding in the Encapsulation Hall. Then, the fairing is lifted above and lowered onto the fitting. When only a few feet remain above the final position, stanchions support the fairing while technicians go inside to complete the electrical connections. When this is completed, they remove the stanchions and lower the fairing to its final position, where it is bolted in place. The GPM mission is the first coordinated international satellite network to provide near real-time observations of rain and snow every three hours anywhere on the globe. The GPM Core Observatory anchors this network by providing observations on all types of precipitation. The observatory's data acts as the measuring stick by which partner observations can be combined into a unified data set. The data will be used by scientists to study climate change, freshwater resources, floods and droughts, and hurricane formation and tracking. Credit: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency NASA image use policy. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. Follow us on Twitter Like us on Facebook Find us on Instagram

GPM Encapsulation Complete

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-12-08

GPM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The Core Observatory will link data from a constellation of current and planned satellites to produce next-generation global measurements of rainfall and snowfall from space. On Feb. 11, the Core Observatory was moved into the spacecraft fairing assembly building and into the Encapsulation Hall. Final inspections and preparations were completed for the installation into the fairing, which began on Feb 13. The fairing is the part of the rocket that will contain the spacecraft at the top of the H-IIA rocket. The encapsulation process for the H-IIA is very different than for most U.S. rockets. For U.S. rockets, the fairing is usually in two pieces that close around the payload like a clamshell. To install the GPM Core Observatory into the fairing of the H-IIA rocket, first the Core Observatory and the Payload Attach Fitting (PAF) are set up in scaffolding in the Encapsulation Hall. Then, the fairing is lifted above and lowered onto the fitting. When only a few feet remain above the final position, stanchions support the fairing while technicians go inside to complete the electrical connections. When this is completed, they remove the stanchions and lower the fairing to its final position, where it is bolted in place. The GPM mission is the first coordinated international satellite network to provide near real-time observations of rain and snow every three hours anywhere on the globe. The GPM Core Observatory anchors this network by providing observations on all types of precipitation. The observatory's data acts as the measuring stick by which partner observations can be combined into a unified data set. The data will be used by scientists to study climate change, freshwater resources, floods and droughts, and hurricane formation and tracking. Credit: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency NASA image use policy. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. Follow us on Twitter Like us on Facebook Find us on Instagram

Current Status of Japan's Activity for GPM/DPR and Global Rainfall Map algorithm development

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kachi, M.; Kubota, T.; Yoshida, N.; Kida, S.; Oki, R.; Iguchi, T.; Nakamura, K.

2012-04-01

The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission is composed of two categories of satellites; 1) a Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM)-like non-sun-synchronous orbit satellite (GPM Core Observatory); and 2) constellation of satellites carrying microwave radiometer instruments. The GPM Core Observatory carries the Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR), which is being developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT), and microwave radiometer provided by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). GPM Core Observatory will be launched in February 2014, and development of algorithms is underway. DPR Level 1 algorithm, which provides DPR L1B product including received power, will be developed by the JAXA. The first version was submitted in March 2011. Development of the second version of DPR L1B algorithm (Version 2) will complete in March 2012. Version 2 algorithm includes all basic functions, preliminary database, HDF5 I/F, and minimum error handling. Pre-launch code will be developed by the end of October 2012. DPR Level 2 algorithm has been developing by the DPR Algorithm Team led by Japan, which is under the NASA-JAXA Joint Algorithm Team. The first version of GPM/DPR Level-2 Algorithm Theoretical Basis Document was completed on November 2010. The second version, "Baseline code", was completed in January 2012. Baseline code includes main module, and eight basic sub-modules (Preparation module, Vertical Profile module, Classification module, SRT module, DSD module, Solver module, Input module, and Output module.) The Level-2 algorithms will provide KuPR only products, KaPR only products, and Dual-frequency Precipitation products, with estimated precipitation rate, radar reflectivity, and precipitation information such as drop size distribution and bright band height. It is important to develop algorithm applicable to both TRMM/PR and KuPR in order to produce long-term continuous data set. Pre-launch code will be developed by autumn 2012. Global Rainfall Map algorithm has been developed by the Global Rainfall Map Algorithm Development Team in Japan. The algorithm succeeded heritages of the Global Satellite Mapping for Precipitation (GSMaP) project between 2002 and 2007, and near-real-time version operating at JAXA since 2007. "Baseline code" used current operational GSMaP code (V5.222,) and development completed in January 2012. Pre-launch code will be developed by autumn 2012, including update of database for rain type classification and rain/no-rain classification, and introduction of rain-gauge correction.

GPM Mission Gridded Text Products Providing Surface Precipitation Retrievals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stocker, Erich Franz; Kelley, Owen; Huffman, George; Kummerow, Christian

2015-04-01

In February 2015, the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission core satellite will complete its first year in space. The core satellite carries a conically scanning microwave imager called the GPM Microwave Imager (GMI), which also has 166 GHz and 183 GHz frequency channels. The GPM core satellite also carries a dual frequency radar (DPR) which operates at Ku frequency, similar to the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Precipitation Radar), and a new Ka frequency. The precipitation processing system (PPS) is producing swath-based instantaneous precipitation retrievals from GMI, both radars including a dual-frequency product, and a combined GMI/DPR precipitation retrieval. These level 2 products are written in the HDF5 format and have many additional parameters beyond surface precipitation that are organized into appropriate groups. While these retrieval algorithms were developed prior to launch and are not optimal, these algorithms are producing very creditable retrievals. It is appropriate for a wide group of users to have access to the GPM retrievals. However, for reseachers requiring only surface precipitation, these L2 swath products can appear to be very intimidating and they certainly do contain many more variables than the average researcher needs. Some researchers desire only surface retrievals stored in a simple easily accessible format. In response, PPS has begun to produce gridded text based products that contain just the most widely used variables for each instrument (surface rainfall rate, fraction liquid, fraction convective) in a single line for each grid box that contains one or more observations. This paper will describe the gridded data products that are being produced and provide an overview of their content. Currently two types of gridded products are being produced: (1) surface precipitation retrievals from the core satellite instruments - GMI, DPR, and combined GMI/DPR (2) surface precipitation retrievals for the partner constellation satellites. Both of these gridded products are generated for a .25 degree x .25 degree hourly grid, which are packaged into daily ASCII files that can downloaded from the PPS FTP site. To reduce the download size, the files are compressed using the gzip utility. This paper will focus on presenting high-level details about the gridded text product being generated from the instruments on the GPM core satellite. But summary information will also be presented about the partner radiometer gridded product. All retrievals for the partner radiometer are done using the GPROF2014 algorithm using as input the PPS generated inter-calibrated 1C product for the radiometer.

Consistent radiative transfer modeling of active and passive observations of precipitation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adams, Ian

2016-04-01

Spaceborne platforms such as the Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission (TRMM) and the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission exploit a combination of active and passive sensors to provide a greater understanding of the three-dimensional structure of precipitation. While "operationalized" retrieval algorithms require fast forward models, the ability to perform higher fidelity simulations is necessary in order to understand the physics of remote sensing problems by testing assumptions and developing parameterizations for the fast models. To ensure proper synergy between active and passive modeling, forward models must be consistent when modeling the responses of radars and radiometers. This work presents a self-consistent transfer model for simulating radar reflectivities and millimeter wave brightness temperatures for precipitating scenes. To accomplish this, we extended the Atmospheric Radiative Transfer Simulator (ARTS) version 2.3 to solve the radiative transfer equation for active sensors and multiple scattering conditions. Early versions of ARTS (1.1) included a passive Monte Carlo solver, and ARTS is capable of handling atmospheres of up to three dimensions with ellipsoidal planetary geometries. The modular nature of ARTS facilitates extensibility, and the well-developed ray-tracing tools are suited for implementation of Monte Carlo algorithms. Finally, since ARTS handles the full Stokes vector, co- and cross-polarized reflectivity products are possible for scenarios that include nonspherical particles, with or without preferential alignment. The accuracy of the forward model will be demonstrated with precipitation events observed by TRMM and GPM, and the effects of multiple scattering will be detailed. The three-dimensional nature of the radiative transfer model will be useful for understanding the effects of nonuniform beamfill and multiple scattering for spatially heterogeneous precipitation events. The targets of this forward model are GPM (the Dual-wavelength Precipitation Radar (DPR) and GPM Microwave Imager (GMI)).

Improving User Access to the Integrated Multi-Satellite Retrievals for GPM (IMERG) Products

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huffman, George; Bolvin, David; Nelkin, Eric; Kidd, Christopher

2016-04-01

The U.S. Global Precipitation Measurement mission (GPM) team has developed the Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for GPM (IMERG) algorithm to take advantage of the international constellation of precipitation-relevant satellites and the Global Precipitation Climatology Centre surface precipitation gauge analysis. The goal is to provide a long record of homogeneous, high-resolution quasi-global estimates of precipitation. While expert scientific researchers are major users of the IMERG products, it is clear that many other user communities and disciplines also desire access to the data for wide-ranging applications. Lessons learned during the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission, the predecessor to GPM, led to some basic design choices that provided the framework for supporting multiple user bases. For example, two near-real-time "runs" are computed, the Early and Late (currently 5 and 15 hours after observation time, respectively), then the Final Run about 3 months later. The datasets contain multiple fields that provide insight into the computation of the complete precipitation data field, as well as diagnostic (currently) estimates of the precipitation's phase. In parallel with this, the archive sites are working to provide the IMERG data in a variety of formats, and with subsetting and simple interactive analysis to make the data more easily available to non-expert users. The various options for accessing the data are summarized under the pmm.nasa.gov data access page. The talk will end by considering the feasibility of major user requests, including polar coverage, a simplified Data Quality Index, and reduced data latency for the Early Run. In brief, the first two are challenging, but under the team's control. The last requires significant action by some of the satellite data providers.

NASA's Sentinels Monitoring Weather and Climate: Past, Present, and Future

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shepherd, J. Marshall; Herring, David; Gutro, Rob; Huffman, George; Halverson, Jeff

2002-01-01

Weatherwise is probably the most popular newstand magazine focusing on the subject of weather. It is published six times per year and includes features on weather, climate, and technology. This article (to appear in the January/February Issue) provides a comprehensive review of NASA s past, present, and future contributions in satellite remote sensing for weather and climate processes. The article spans the historical strides of the TIROS program through the scientific and technological innovation of Earth Observer-3 and Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM). It is one of the most thorough reviews of NASA s weather and climate satellite efforts to appear in the popular literature.

First evaluation of the utility of GPM precipitation in global flood monitoring

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, H.; Yan, Y.; Gao, Z.

2017-12-01

The Global Flood Monitoring System (GFMS) has been developed and used to provide real-time flood detection and streamflow estimates over the last few years with significant success shown by validation against global flood event data sets and observed streamflow variations (Wu et al., 2014). It has become a tool for various national and international organizations to appraise flood conditions in various areas, including where rainfall and hydrology information is limited. The GFMS has been using the TRMM Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA) as its main rainfall input. Now, with the advent of the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission there is an opportunity to significantly improve global flood monitoring and forecasting. GPM's Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for GPM (IMERG) multi-satellite product is designed to take advantage of various technical advances in the field and combine that with an efficient processing system producing "early" (4 hrs) and "late" (12 hrs) products for operational use. Specifically, this study is focused on (1) understanding the difference between the new IMERG products and other existing satellite precipitation products, e.g., TMPA, CMORPH, and ground observations; (2) addressing the challenge in the usage of the IMERG for flood monitoring through hydrologic models, given that only a short period of precipitation data record has been accumulated since the lunch of GPM in 2014; and (3) comparing the statistics of flood simulation based on the DRIVE model with IMERG, TMPA, CMORPH etc. as precipitation inputs respectively. Derivation of a global threshold map is a necessary step to define flood events out of modelling results, which requires a relatively longer historic information. A set of sensitivity tests are conducted by adjusting IMERG's light, moderate, heavy rain to existing precipitation products with long-term records separately, to optimize the strategy of PDF matching. Other aspects are also examined, including higher latitude events, where GPM precipitation algorithms should also provide improvements. This study provides a first evaluating the utility of the new IMERG products in flood monitoring through hydrologic modeling at a global scale.

Initial Results in Global Flood Monitoring System (GFMS) Using GPM Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, H.; Adler, R. F.; Kirschbaum, D.; Huffman, G. J.; Tian, Y.

2016-12-01

The Global Flood Monitoring System (GFMS) (http://flood.umd.edu) has been developed and used to provide real-time flood detection and streamflow estimates over the last few years with significant success shown by validation against global flood event data sets and observed streamflow variations. It has become a tool for various national and international organizations to appraise flood conditions in various areas, including where rainfall and hydrology information is limited. The GFMS has been using the TRMM Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA) as its main rainfall input. Now, with the advent of NASA's Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission there is an opportunity to significantly improve global flood monitoring and forecasting. GPM's Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for GPM (IMERG) multi-satellite product is designed to take advantage of various technical advances in the field and combine that with an efficient processing system producing "early" (4 hrs) and "late" (12 hrs) products for operational use. The products are also more uniform in results than TMPA among the various satellites going into the analysis and available at finer time and space resolutions. On the road to replacing TMPA with the IMERG in the operational version of the GFMS parallel systems were run for periods to understand the impact of the new type of data on the streamflow and flood estimates. Results of this comparison are the basis for this presentation. It is expected that an improvement will be noted both in the accuracy of the precipitation estimates and a smoother transition in and out of heavy rain events, helping to reduce "shock" in the hydrology model. The finer spatial resolution should also help in this regard. The GFMS will be initially run at its primary resolution of 1/8th degree latitude/longitude with both data sets to isolate the impact of the rain information change. Other aspects will also be examined, including higher latitude events, where GPM precipitation algorithms should also provide improvements. This initial work will help focus full implementation of the IMERG into GFMS and the retrospective calculations to be done for the full TRMM/GPM era.

Hail detection algorithm for the Global Precipitation Measuring mission core satellite sensors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mroz, Kamil; Battaglia, Alessandro; Lang, Timothy J.; Tanelli, Simone; Cecil, Daniel J.; Tridon, Frederic

2017-04-01

By exploiting an abundant number of extreme storms observed simultaneously by the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission core satellite's suite of sensors and by the ground-based S-band Next-Generation Radar (NEXRAD) network over continental US, proxies for the identification of hail are developed based on the GPM core satellite observables. The full capabilities of the GPM observatory are tested by analyzing more than twenty observables and adopting the hydrometeor classification based on ground-based polarimetric measurements as truth. The proxies have been tested using the Critical Success Index (CSI) as a verification measure. The hail detection algorithm based on the mean Ku reflectivity in the mixed-phase layer performs the best, out of all considered proxies (CSI of 45%). Outside the Dual frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) swath, the Polarization Corrected Temperature at 18.7 GHz shows the greatest potential for hail detection among all GMI channels (CSI of 26% at a threshold value of 261 K). When dual variable proxies are considered, the combination involving the mixed-phase reflectivity values at both Ku and Ka-bands outperforms all the other proxies, with a CSI of 49%. The best-performing radar-radiometer algorithm is based on the mixed-phase reflectivity at Ku-band and on the brightness temperature (TB) at 10.7 GHz (CSI of 46%). When only radiometric data are available, the algorithm based on the TBs at 36.6 and 166 GHz is the most efficient, with a CSI of 27.5%.

Intersatellite Calibration of Microwave Radiometers for GPM

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wilheit, T. T.

2010-12-01

The aim of the GPM mission is to measure precipitation globally with high temporal resolution by using a constellation of satellites logically united by the GPM Core Satellite which will be in a non-sunsynchronous, medium inclination orbit. The usefulness of the combined product depends on the consistency of precipitation retrievals from the various microwave radiometers. The calibration requirements for this consistency are quite daunting requiring a multi-layered approach. The radiometers can vary considerably in their frequencies, view angles, polarizations and spatial resolutions depending on their primary application and other constraints. The planned parametric algorithms will correct for the varying viewing parameters, but they are still vulnerable to calibration errors, both relative and absolute. The GPM Intersatellite Calibration Working Group (aka X-CAL) will adjust the calibration of all the radiometers to a common consensus standard for the GPM Level 1C product to be used in precipitation retrievals. Finally, each Precipitation Algorithm Working Group must have its own strategy for removing the residual errors. If the final adjustments are small, the credibility of the precipitation retrievals will be enhanced. Before intercomparing, the radiometers must be self consistent on a scan-wise and orbit-wise basis. Pre-screening for this consistency constitutes the first step in the intercomparison. The radiometers are then compared pair-wise with the microwave radiometer (GMI) on the GPM Core Satellite. Two distinct approaches are used for sake of cross-checking the results. On the one hand, nearly simultaneous observations are collected at the cross-over points of the orbits and the observations of one are converted to virtual observations of the other using a radiative transfer model to permit comparisons. The complementary approach collects histograms of brightness temperature from each instrument. In each case a model is needed to translate the observations from one set of viewing parameters to those of the GMI. For the conically scanning window channel radiometers, the models are reasonably complete. Currently we have compared TMI with Windsat and arrived at a preliminary consensus calibration based on the pair. This consensus calibration standard has been applied to TMI and is currently being compared with AMSR-E on the Aqua satellite. In this way we are implementing a rolling wave spin-up of X-CAL. In this sense, the launch of GPM core will simply provide one more radiometer to the constellation; one hopes it will be the best calibrated. Water vapor and temperature sounders will use a different scenario. Some of the precipitation retrieval algorithms will use sounding channels. The GMI will include typical water vapor sounding channels. The radiances are ingested directly via 3DVAR and 4DVAR techniques into forecast models by many operational weather forecast agencies. The residuals and calibration adjustments of this process will provide a measure of the relative calibration errors throughout the constellation. The use of the ARM Southern Great Plains site as a benchmark for calibrating the more opaque channels is also being investigated.

TECHNOLOGY EVALUATION REPORT: BIOLOGICAL TREATMENT OF WOOD PRESERVING SITE GROUNDWATER BY BIOTROL, INC.

EPA Science Inventory

This report provides the in-depth data analysis from the SITE Program's six-week demonstration of BioTrol's Aqueous Treatment System (BATS) at the MacGillis and Gibbs Company wood treatment facility in New Brighton, Minnesota. he pilot scale (5gpm), fixed-film biological system u...

Land Surface Modeling and Data Assimilation to Support Physical Precipitation Retrievals for GPM

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Peters-Lidard, Christa D.; Tian. Yudong; Kumar, Sujay; Geiger, James; Choudhury, Bhaskar

2010-01-01

Objective: The objective of this proposal is to provide a routine land surface modeling and data assimilation capability for GPM in order to provide global land surface states that are necessary to support physical precipitation retrieval algorithms over land. It is well-known that surface emission, particularly over the range of frequencies to be included in GPM, is sensitive to land surface states, including soil properties, vegetation type and greenness, soil moisture, surface temperature, and snow cover, density, and grain size. Therefore, providing a robust capability to routinely provide these critical land states is essential to support GPM-era physical retrieval algorithms over land.

Training in Good Psychiatric Management for Borderline Personality Disorder in Residency: An Aide to Learning Supportive Psychotherapy for Challenging-to-Treat Patients.

PubMed

Bernanke, Joel; McCommon, Benjamin

2018-01-01

Given many competing demands, psychotherapy training to competency is difficult during psychiatric residency. Good Psychiatric Management for borderline personality disorder (GPM) offers an evidence-based, simplified, psychodynamically informed framework for the outpatient management of patients with borderline personality disorder, one of the most challenging disorders psychiatric residents must learn to treat. In this article, we provide an overview of GPM, and show that training in GPM meets a requirement for training in supportive psychotherapy; builds on psychodynamic psychotherapy training; and applies to other severe personality disorders, especially narcissistic personality disorder. We describe the interpersonal hypersensitivity model used in GPM as a straightforward way for clinicians to collaborate with patients in organizing approaches to psychoeducation, treatment goals, case management, use of multiple treatment modalities, and safety. A modification of the interpersonal hypersensitivity model that includes intra-personal hypersensitivity can be used to address narcissistic problems often present in borderline personality disorder. We argue that these features make GPM ideally suited for psychiatry residents in treating their most challenging patients, provide clinical examples to illustrate these points, and report the key lessons learned by a psychiatry resident after a year of GPM supervision.

Precision measurements of the timelike electromagnetic form factors of pion, kaon, and proton.

PubMed

Pedlar, T K; Cronin-Hennessy, D; Gao, K Y; Gong, D T; Hietala, J; Kubota, Y; Klein, T; Lang, B W; Li, S Z; Poling, R; Scott, A W; Smith, A; Dobbs, S; Metreveli, Z; Seth, K K; Tomaradze, A; Zweber, P; Ernst, J; Arms, K; Severini, H; Dytman, S A; Love, W; Mehrabyan, S; Mueller, J A; Savinov, V; Li, Z; Lopez, A; Mendez, H; Ramirez, J; Huang, G S; Miller, D H; Pavlunin, V; Sanghi, B; Shipsey, I P J; Adams, G S; Anderson, M; Cummings, J P; Danko, I; Napolitano, J; He, Q; Muramatsu, H; Park, C S; Thorndike, E H; Coan, T E; Gao, Y S; Liu, F; Artuso, M; Boulahouache, C; Blusk, S; Butt, J; Dorjkhaidav, O; Li, J; Menaa, N; Mountain, R; Randrianarivony, K; Redjimi, R; Sia, R; Skwarnicki, T; Stone, S; Wang, J C; Zhang, K; Csorna, S E; Bonvicini, G; Cinabro, D; Dubrovin, M; Lincoln, A; Bornheim, A; Pappas, S P; Weinstein, A J; Briere, R A; Chen, G P; Chen, J; Ferguson, T; Tatishvili, G; Vogel, H; Watkins, M E; Rosner, J L; Adam, N E; Alexander, J P; Berkelman, K; Cassel, D G; Duboscq, J E; Ecklund, K M; Ehrlich, R; Fields, L; Galik, R S; Gibbons, L; Gray, R; Gray, S W; Hartill, D L; Heltsley, B K; Hertz, D; Jones, C D; Kandaswamy, J; Kreinick, D L; Kuznetsov, V E; Mahlke-Krüger, H; Meyer, T O; Onyisi, P U E; Patterson, J R; Peterson, D; Phillips, E A; Pivarski, J; Riley, D; Ryd, A; Sadoff, A J; Schwarthoff, H; Shi, X; Shepherd, M R; Stroiney, S; Sun, W M; Wilksen, T; Weaver, K M; Weinberger, M; Athar, S B; Avery, P; Breva-Newell, L; Patel, R; Potlia, V; Stoeck, H; Yelton, J; Rubin, P; Cawlfield, C; Eisenstein, B I; Karliner, I; Kim, D; Lowrey, N; Naik, P; Sedlack, C; Selen, M; White, E J; Williams, J; Wiss, J; Asner, D M; Edwards, K W; Besson, D

2005-12-31

Using 20.7 pb(-1) of e(+)e(-) annihilation data taken at sq.rt(r) = 3.671 GeV with the CLEO-c detector, precision measurements of the electromagnetic form factors of the charged pion, charged kaon, and proton have been made for timelike momentum transfer of |Q(2)| = 13.48 GeV(2) by the reaction e(+)e(-) --> h(+)h(-). The measurements are the first ever with identified pions and kaons of |Q(2)| > 4 GeV(2), with the results F(13.48 GeV(2)) = 0.075 +/- 0.008(stat) +/- 0.005(syst) and F(K)(13.48 GeV(2)) = 0.063 +/- 0.004(stat) +/- 0.001(syst). The result for the proton, assuming G(p)(E) = G(p)(M), is G(p)(M)(13.48 GeV(2)) = 0.014 +/- 0.002(stat) +/- 0.001(syst), which is in agreement with earlier results.

Overview and Scientific Agenda of Global Precipitation Mission

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, Eric A.; Einaudi, Franco (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

This paper addresses the status of the Global Precipitation Mission (GPM) currently planned for launch in the 2007-2008 time frame. The GPM notional design involves a 9-member satellite constellation, one of which wilt be an advanced TRMM-like "core" satellite carrying a dual-frequency Ku-Ka band radar (DFPR) and a TMI-like radiometer. The other eight members of the constellation will be considered daughters of the core satellite, each carrying some type of passive microwave radiometer measuring across the 10.7 - 85 GHz ,frequency range - likely to include a combination of lightweight satellites and co-existing operational/Experimental satellites carrying passive microwave radiometers (i.e., SSM/I and AMSR-E & -F). The constellation is designed to provide no worse than 3-hour sampling at any spot on the globe using sun-synchronous orbit architecture for the daughter satellites, with the core satellite providing relevant measurements on internal cloud-precipitation microphysical processes and the "training-calibrating" information for retrieval algorithms used on daughter satellite measurements. The GPM is organized internationally, currently involving a partnership between NASA in the US, NASDA in Japan, and ESA in Europe (representing the European community nations). The mission is expected to involve additional international participants, sister agencies to the mainstream space agencies, and a diverse collection scientists from academia, government, and the private sector, A critical element in understanding the scientific thinking which has motivated the GPM project is an understanding of what scientific problems TRMM has and has not been able to address and at what scales. The TRMM satellite broke important scientific ground because it carried to space an array of rain-sensitive instruments, two of which were specifically designed for physical precipitation retrieval. These were the 9-channel TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI) and the 13.8 GHz Precipitation Radar (PR). By the same token, because TRMM is a single satellite in a low inclination, low altitude, non-sun-synchronous orbit, it cannot provide global coverage or regular diurnal sampling. These features are essential for many current scientific inquiries involving physical processes of climate and the global water cycle, the modeling of hydrometeorological-biogeochemical cycling, and coupled land-atmosphere/ocean-atmosphere exchanges. Moreover, TRMM has not been able to retrieve explicit properties of the drop size distribution (DSD), a final major barrier to making accurate rain measurements, because the single frequency TRMM radar cannot measure differential reflectivity. which is a minimal requirement for attacking rain retrieval within the framework of extinction cross-section-dependency. GPM is expected to surmount much of the DSD retrieval problem because its core satellite wilt have the capacity to make differential reflectivity measurements with its Ku-Ka band radar (13.6 - 35 GHz) called DFPR - being developed by NASDA/CRL in Japan. This paper will provide an overview of the above issues as well as present a discussion on the expected measurement improvements.

Global Precipitation Measurement Poster

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Azarbarzin, Art

2010-01-01

This poster presents an overview of the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) constellation of satellites which are designed to measure the Earth's precipitation. It includes the schedule of launches for the various satellites in the constellation, and the coverage of the constellation, It also reviews the mission capabilities, and the mission science objectives.

VISAGE Visualization for Integrated Satellite, Airborne and Ground-Based Data Exploration

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Conover, Helen; Berendes, Todd; Naeger, Aaron; Maskey, Manil; Gatlin, Patrick; Wingo, Stephanie; Kulkarni, Ajinkya; Gupta, Shivangi; Nagaraj, Sriraksha; Wolff, David;

Results from the Water Flow Test of the Tank 37 Backflush Valve

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Fowley, M.D.

2002-11-01

A flow test was conducted in the Thermal Fluids Lab with the Tank 37 Backflush Valve to determine the pressure drop of water flow through the material transfer port. The flow rate was varied from 0 to 100 gpm. The pressure drop through the Backflush Valve for flow rates of 20 and 70 gpm was determined to be 0.18 and 1.77 feet of H2O, respectively. An equivalent length of the Backflush Valve was derived from the flow test data. The equivalent length was used in a head loss calculation for the Tank 37 Gravity Drain Line. The calculation estimated themore » flow rate that would fill the line up to the Separator Tank, and the additional flow rate that would fill the Separator Tank. The viscosity of the fluid used in the calculation was 12 centipoise. Two specific gravities were investigated, 1.4 and 1.8. The Gravity Drain Line was assumed to be clean, unobstructed stainless steel pipe. The flow rate that would fill the line up to the Separator Tank was 73 and 75 gpm for the 1.4 or 1.8 specific gravity fluids, respectively. The flow rate that would fill the Separator Tank was 96 and 100 gpm for the 1.4 or 1.8 specific gravity fluids, respectively. These results indicate that concentrate will not back up into the Separator Tank during evaporator normal operation, 15-25 gpm, or pot liftout, 70 gpm. A noteworthy observation during the flow test was water pouring from the holes in the catheterization tube. Water poured from the holes at 25 gpm and above. Data from the water flow test indicates that at 25 gpm the pressure drop through the Backflush Valve is 0.26 ft of H2O. A concentrate with a specific gravity of 1.8 and a viscosity of 12 cp will produce the same pressure drop at 20 gpm. This implies that concentrate from the evaporator may spill out into the BFV riser during a transfer.« less

Cold Season Ground Validation Activities in support of GPM

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hudak, D. R.; Petersen, W. A.

2012-12-01

A fundamental component of the next-generation global precipitation data products that will be addressed by the GPM mission is the hydrologic cycle at higher latitudes. In this respect, falling snow represents a primary contribution to regional atmospheric and terrestrial water budgets. The current study provides provide information on the precipitation microphysics and processes associated with cold season precipitation and precipitating cloud systems across multiple scales. It also addresses the ability of in-situ ground-based sensors as well as multi-frequency active and passive microwave sensors to detect and estimate falling snow, and more generally to contribute to our knowledge and understanding of the complete global water cycle. The work supports the incorporation of appropriate physics into GPM snowfall retrieval algorithms and the development of improved ground validation techniques for GPM product evaluation. Important information for developing GPM falling snow retrieval algorithms will be provided by a field campaign that took place in the winter of 2011/12 in the Great Lakes area of North America, termed the GPM Cold Season Precipitation Experiment (GCPEx). GCPEx represented a collaboration among the NASA, Environment Canada (EC), the Canadian Space Agency and several US, Canadian and European universities. The data collection strategy for GCPEx was coordinated, stacked high-altitude and in-situ cloud aircraft missions sampling within a broader network of ground-based volumetric observations and measurements. The NASA DSC-8 research aircraft provided a platform for the downward-viewing dual-frequency radar and multi-frequency radiometer observations. The University of North Dakota Citation and the Canadian NRC Convair-580 aircraft provided in-situ profiles of cloud and precipitation microphysics using a suite of optical array probes and bulk measurement instrumentation. Ground sampling was focused about a densely-instrumented central location that is well situated within both mid-latitude synoptic and lake-effect snowfall regimes. The instrumentation suite at CARE included active remote sensing observations as follows: W, Ku, and X-band vertically pointing radars, a Ku and Ka-band dual polarization full scanning radar, and nearby C-band dual polarization, scanning radar. The passive remote sensing suite includes a triple channel profiling microwave radiometer (10, 21, 36 GHz), and a dual channel polarization radiometer (89 and 150 GHz). In-situ measurements at CARE include a 2D video disdrometer, the Precipitation Video Imager, digital photography and a number of other technologies that estimate instantaneous precipitation rate. GCPEX collected ground-based data on 22 distinct precipitation events, 2 rain, 3 mixed and 17 snow. For 16 of these events, there were also aircraft observations. In addition, there were two clear air flights. The presentation will provide an overview of the data collection. It will also summarize the ground-based event precipitation estimates from various sensors as compared to a manual double fence reference to assess measurement uncertainties. Examples will be presented from radar and aircraft in-situ data highlighting the variability of snowfall characteristics relative to the synoptic context. Plans for ongoing validation studies with the WMO Solid Precipitation Intercomparison Experiment beginning in 2013 will be described.

Small System Use of a Solid Arsenic Oxidizing Media in Place of Chemical Oxidation to Enhance Arsenic Removals

EPA Science Inventory

As part of the USEPA Arsenic Demonstration Program, an arsenic removal adsorptive media treatment system (10 gpm) was installed at Head Start School in Buckeye Lake, Ohio on June 28, 2006. The source water (ground water) contained around 20 µg/L of arsenic, existing predominatel...

Citizen Environmental Science in Support of Educatio

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Butler, D. M.; Cavalier, D.; Potter, S.; Wagner, R.; Wegner, K.; Hammonds, J.

2016-12-01

Through two grants, a partnership among SciStarter, ECO-Schools, the GLOBE Program, and Youth Learning as Citizen Environmental Scientists has recruited, trained, and equipped over 100 US schools, youth groups and other citizen scientists to take several environmental measurements - surface soil moisture and temperature, precipitation, and clouds. Implementation by some has begun but many more will start implementation in the fall. These local measurements may be compared with data from the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP), Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM), and other satellite missions. The measurement protocols of GLOBE specify how these data are collected so as to produce reliable data that are intercomparable across space and time. GLOBE also provides the information infrastructure for storing these data and making them openly available. This presentation will examine the initial results of this effort in terms of participation, student and professional data use, and educational benefits.

New Global Precipitation Products and Data Service Updates at the NASA GES DISC

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Liu, Z.; Ostrenga, D.; Savtchenko, A.; DeShong, B.; Greene, M.; Vollmer, B.; Kempler, S.

2016-01-01

This poster describes recent updates of the ongoing GPM data service activities at the NASA Goddard Earth Sciences (GES) Data and Information Services Center(DISC) to facilitate access and exploration of GPM, TRMM and other NASA precipitation datasets for the global community. The poster contains -Updates on GPM products and data services -New features in Giovanni for precipitation data visualization -Precipitation data and service outreach activities.

Thermo- and pH-responsive polymer brushes-grafted gigaporous polystyrene microspheres as a high-speed protein chromatography matrix.

PubMed

Qu, Jian-Bo; Xu, Yu-Liang; Liu, Jun-Yi; Zeng, Jing-Bin; Chen, Yan-Li; Zhou, Wei-Qing; Liu, Jian-Guo

2016-04-08

Dual thermo- and pH-responsive chromatography has been proposed using poly(N-isopropylacrylamide-co-butyl methacrylate-co-N,N-dimethylaminopropyl acrylamide) (P(NIPAM-co-BMA-co-DMAPAAM)) brushes grafted gigaporous polystyrene microspheres (GPM) as matrix. Atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) initiator was first coupled onto GPM through Friedel-Crafts acylation with 2-bromoisobutyryl bromide. The dual-responsive polymer brushes were then grafted onto GPM via surface-initiated ATRP. The surface composition, gigaporous structure, protein adsorption and dual-responsive chromatographic properties of the matrix (GPM-P(NIPAM-co-BMA-co-DMAPAAM) were characterized in detail. Results showed that GPM were successfully grafted with thermoresponsive cationic polymer brushes and that the gigaporous structure was well maintained. A column packed with GPM-P(NIPAM-co-BMA-co-DMAPAAM presented low backpressure, good permeability and appreciable thermo-responsibility. By changing pH of the mobile phase and temperature of the column in turn, the column can separate three model proteins at the mobile phase velocity up to 2528cmh(-1). A separation mechanism of this matrix was also proposed. All results indicate that the dual thermo- and pH-responsive chromatography matrix has great potentials in 'green' high-speed protein chromatography. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

In Situ Microphysical and Scattering Properties of Falling Snow in GPM-GCPEx

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Duffy, G.; Nesbitt, S. W.; McFarquhar, G. M.; Poellot, M.; Chandrasekar, C. V.; Hudak, D. R.

2013-12-01

The Global Precipitation Measurement Cold-season Precipitation Experiment (GPM-GCPEx) field campaign was conducted near Egbert, Ontario, Canada in January-February 2012 to study the physical characteristics and microwave radiative properties of the column of hydrometeors in cold season precipitation events. Extensive in situ aircraft profiling was conducted with the University of North Dakota (UND) Citation aircraft within the volume of several remote sensing instruments within a wide variety of precipitation events, from snow to freezing drizzle. Several of the primary goals of GCPEx include improving our understanding of the microphysical characteristics of falling snow and how those characteristics relate to the multi-wavelength radiative characteristics In this study, particle size distribution parameters, effective particle densities, and habit distributions are determined using in-situ cloud measurements obtained on the UND citation using the High Volume Precipitation Spectrometer, the Cloud Particle Imager, and the Cloud Imaging Probe. These quantities are matched compared to multi-frequency radar measurements from the Environment Canada King City C-Band and NASA D3R Ku-Ka Band dual polarization radars. These analysis composites provide the basis for direct evaluation of particle size distributions and observed multi-wavelength and multi-polarization radar observations, including radar reflectivity, differential reflectivity, and dual wavelength ratio) in falling snow at weather radar and GPM radar frequencies. Theoretical predictions from Mie, Rayleigh-Gans, and more complex snowflake aggregate scattering model predictions using observed particle size distributions are compared with observed radar scattering characteristics along the Citation flight track.

First results from comparison of rainfall estimations by GPM IMERG with rainfall measurements from the WegenerNet high density network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oo, Sungmin; Foelsche, Ulrich; Kirchengast, Gottfried; Fuchsberger, Jürgen

2016-04-01

The research level products of the Integrated Multi-Satellite Retrievals for Global Precipitation Measurement (IMERG "Final" run datasets) were compared with rainfall measurements from the WegenerNet high density network as part of ground validation (GV) projects of GPM missions. The WegenerNet network comprises 151 ground level weather stations in an area of 15 km × 20 km in south-eastern Austria (Feldbach region, ˜46.93° N, ˜15.90° E) designed to serve as a long-term monitoring and validation facility for weather and climate research and applications. While the IMERG provides rainfall estimations every half hour at 0.1° resolution, the WegenerNet network measures rainfall every 5 minutes at around 2 km2 resolution and produces 200 m × 200 m gridded datasets. The study was conducted on the domain of the WegenerNet network; eight IMERG grids are overlapped with the network, two of which are entirely covered by the WegenerNet (40 and 39 stations in each grid). We investigated data from April to September of the years 2014 to 2015; the date of first two years after the launch of the GPM Core Observatory. Since the network has a flexibility to work with various spatial and temporal scales, the comparison could be conducted on average-points to pixel basis at both sub-daily and daily timescales. This presentation will summarize the first results of the comparison and future plans to explore the characteristics of errors in the IMERG datasets.

Evaluation of GPM IMERG Early, Late, and Final rainfall estimates using WegenerNet gauge data in southeastern Austria

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

O, Sungmin; Foelsche, Ulrich; Kirchengast, Gottfried; Fuchsberger, Juergen; Tan, Jackson; Petersen, Walter A.

2017-12-01

The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Integrated Multi-satellite Retrievals for GPM (IMERG) products provide quasi-global (60° N-60° S) precipitation estimates, beginning March 2014, from the combined use of passive microwave (PMW) and infrared (IR) satellites comprising the GPM constellation. The IMERG products are available in the form of near-real-time data, i.e., IMERG Early and Late, and in the form of post-real-time research data, i.e., IMERG Final, after monthly rain gauge analysis is received and taken into account. In this study, IMERG version 3 Early, Late, and Final (IMERG-E,IMERG-L, and IMERG-F) half-hourly rainfall estimates are compared with gauge-based gridded rainfall data from the WegenerNet Feldbach region (WEGN) high-density climate station network in southeastern Austria. The comparison is conducted over two IMERG 0.1° × 0.1° grid cells, entirely covered by 40 and 39 WEGN stations each, using data from the extended summer season (April-October) for the first two years of the GPM mission. The entire data are divided into two rainfall intensity ranges (low and high) and two seasons (warm and hot), and we evaluate the performance of IMERG, using both statistical and graphical methods. Results show that IMERG-F rainfall estimates are in the best overall agreement with the WEGN data, followed by IMERG-L and IMERG-E estimates, particularly for the hot season. We also illustrate, through rainfall event cases, how insufficient PMW sources and errors in motion vectors can lead to wide discrepancies in the IMERG estimates. Finally, by applying the method of Villarini and Krajewski (2007), we find that IMERG-F half-hourly rainfall estimates can be regarded as a 25 min gauge accumulation, with an offset of +40 min relative to its nominal time.

Towards combining GPM and MFG observations to monitor near real time heavy precipitation at fine scale over India and nearby oceanic regions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mishra, Anoop; Rafiq, Mohammd

2017-12-01

This is the first attempt to merge highly accurate precipitation estimates from Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) with gap free satellite observations from Meteosat to develop a regional rainfall monitoring algorithm to estimate heavy rainfall over India and nearby oceanic regions. Rainfall signature is derived from Meteosat observations and is co-located against rainfall from GPM to establish a relationship between rainfall and signature for various rainy seasons. This relationship can be used to monitor rainfall over India and nearby oceanic regions. Performance of this technique was tested by applying it to monitor heavy precipitation over India. It is reported that our algorithm is able to detect heavy rainfall. It is also reported that present algorithm overestimates rainfall areal spread as compared to rain gauge based rainfall product. This deficiency may arise from various factors including uncertainty caused by use of different sensors from different platforms (difference in viewing geometry from MFG and GPM), poor relationship between warm rain (light rain) and IR brightness temperature, and weak characterization of orographic rain from IR signature. We validated hourly rainfall estimated from the present approach with independent observations from GPM. We also validated daily rainfall from this approach with rain gauge based product from India Meteorological Department (IMD). Present technique shows a Correlation Coefficient (CC) of 0.76, a bias of -2.72 mm, a Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) of 10.82 mm, Probability of Detection (POD) of 0.74, False Alarm Ratio (FAR) of 0.34 and a Skill score of 0.36 with daily rainfall from rain gauge based product of IMD at 0.25° resolution. However, FAR reduces to 0.24 for heavy rainfall events. Validation results with rain gauge observations reveal that present technique outperforms available satellite based rainfall estimates for monitoring heavy rainfall over Indian region.

A preliminary assessment of GPM-based multi-satellite precipitation estimates over a monsoon dominated region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Prakash, Satya; Mitra, Ashis K.; AghaKouchak, Amir; Liu, Zhong; Norouzi, Hamidreza; Pai, D. S.

2018-01-01

Following the launch of the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory, two advanced high resolution multi-satellite precipitation products namely, Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for GPM (IMERG) and Global Satellite Mapping of Precipitation (GSMaP) version 6 are released. A critical evaluation of these newly released precipitation data sets is very important for both the end users and data developers. This study provides a comprehensive assessment of IMERG research product and GSMaP estimates over India at a daily scale for the southwest monsoon season (June to September 2014). The GPM-based precipitation products are inter-compared with widely used TRMM Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA), and gauge-based observations over India. Results show that the IMERG estimates represent the mean monsoon rainfall and its variability more realistically than the gauge-adjusted TMPA and GSMaP data. However, GSMaP has relatively smaller root-mean-square error than IMERG and TMPA, especially over the low mean rainfall regimes and along the west coast of India. An entropy-based approach is employed to evaluate the distributions of the selected precipitation products. The results indicate that the distribution of precipitation in IMERG and GSMaP has been improved markedly, especially for low precipitation rates. IMERG shows a clear improvement in missed and false precipitation bias over India. However, all the three satellite-based rainfall estimates show exceptionally smaller correlation coefficient, larger RMSE, larger negative total bias and hit bias over the northeast India where precipitation is dominated by orographic effects. Similarly, the three satellite-based estimates show larger false precipitation over the southeast peninsular India which is a rain-shadow region. The categorical verification confirms that these satellite-based rainfall estimates have difficulties in detection of rain over the southeast peninsula and northeast India. These preliminary results need to be confirmed in other monsoon seasons in future studies when the fully GPM-based IMERG retrospectively processed data prior to 2014 are available.

Industrial training approach using GPM P5 Standard for Sustainability in Project Management: a framework for sustainability competencies in the 21st century

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Johan, Kartina; Mohd Turan, Faiz

2016-11-01

Malaysian Engineering Accreditation (Engineering Programme Accreditation Manual, 2007) requires all bachelor degree in engineering programmes to incorporate a minimum of two months industrial training in order for the programme to be accredited by the council. The industrial training has the objective to provide students on the insights of being an engineer at the workplace hence increasing their knowledge in employability skills prior to graduation. However the current structure of industrial training is not able to inculcate good leadership ability and prepare students with sustainability competencies needed in the era of Sustainable Development (SD). This paper aims to study project management methodology as a framework to create a training pathway in industrial training for students in engineering programs using Green Project Management (GPM) P5 standard for sustainability in project management. The framework involves students as interns, supervisors from both university and industry and also participation from NonProfit Organisation (NPO). The framework focus on the development of the student's competency in employability skills, lean leadership and sustainability competencies using experiential learning approach. Deliverables of the framework include internship report, professional sustainability report using GPM P5 standard and competency assessment. The post-industrial phase of the framework is constructed for students to be assessed collaboratively by the university, industry and the sustainability practitioner in the country. The ability for the interns to act as a change agent in sustainability practices is measured by the competency assessment and the quality of the sustainability report. The framework support the call for developing holistic students based on Malaysian Education Blueprint (Higher Education) 2015-2025 and address the gap between the statuses of engineering qualification to the sustainability competencies in the 21st century in particular by achieving the Sustainability Graduates (SG) attributes outlined in the framework.

A Preliminary Analysis of Precipitation Properties and Processes during NASA GPM IFloodS

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Carey, Lawrence; Gatlin, Patrick; Petersen, Walt; Wingo, Matt; Lang, Timothy; Wolff, Dave

2014-01-01

The Iowa Flood Studies (IFloodS) is a NASA Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) ground measurement campaign, which took place in eastern Iowa from May 1 to June 15, 2013. The goals of the field campaign were to collect detailed measurements of surface precipitation using ground instruments and advanced weather radars while simultaneously collecting data from satellites passing overhead. Data collected by the radars and other ground instruments, such as disdrometers and rain gauges, will be used to characterize precipitation properties throughout the vertical column, including the precipitation type (e.g., rain, graupel, hail, aggregates, ice crystals), precipitation amounts (e.g., rain rate), and the size and shape of raindrops. The impact of physical processes, such as aggregation, melting, breakup and coalescence on the measured liquid and ice precipitation properties will be investigated. These ground observations will ultimately be used to improve rainfall estimates from satellites and in particular the algorithms that interpret raw data for the upcoming GPM mission's Core Observatory satellite, which launches in 2014. The various precipitation data collected will eventually be used as input to flood forecasting models in an effort to improve capabilities and test the utility and limitations of satellite precipitation data for flood forecasting. In this preliminary study, the focus will be on analysis of NASA NPOL (S-band, polarimetric) radar (e.g., radar reflectivity, differential reflectivity, differential phase, correlation coefficient) and NASA 2D Video Disdrometers (2DVDs) measurements. Quality control and processing of the radar and disdrometer data sets will be outlined. In analyzing preliminary cases, particular emphasis will be placed on 1) documenting the evolution of the rain drop size distribution (DSD) as a function of column melting processes and 2) assessing the impact of range on ground-based polarimetric radar estimates of DSD properties.

Quantification of error associated with stormwater and wastewater flow measurement devices

EPA Science Inventory

A novel flow testbed has been designed to evaluate the performance of flumes as flow measurement devices. The newly constructed testbed produces both steady and unsteady flows ranging from 10 to 1500 gpm. Two types of flumes (Parshall and trapezoidal) are evaluated under differen...

Enhanced Preliminary Assessment

DTIC Science & Technology

1992-02-01

April 1960 for use as military housing. Construction of Building 400 , later to be named the Gates-Lord Hall for Major General Horatio Gates and...over 400 buildings concentrated in the southeastern portion of the post. This subsection provides a brief overview of these facilities. More detailed...between 100 and 400 gpm. This is in contrast to yields from the deeper bedrock wells, which range from as little as 30 gpm to as much as 1,200 gpm (ESE

The new Cloud Dynamics and Radiation Database algorithms for AMSR2 and GMI: exploitation of the GPM observational database for operational applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cinzia Marra, Anna; Casella, Daniele; Martins Costa do Amaral, Lia; Sanò, Paolo; Dietrich, Stefano; Panegrossi, Giulia

2017-04-01

Two new precipitation retrieval algorithms for the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 (AMSR2) and for the GPM Microwave Imager (GMI) are presented. The algorithms are based on the Cloud Dynamics and Radiation Database (CDRD) Bayesian approach and represent an evolution of the previous version applied to Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder (SSMIS) observations, and used operationally within the EUMETSAT Satellite Application Facility on support to Operational Hydrology and Water Management (H-SAF). These new products present as main innovation the use of an extended database entirely empirical, derived from coincident radar and radiometer observations from the NASA/JAXA Global Precipitation Measurement Core Observatory (GPM-CO) (Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar-DPR and GMI). The other new aspects are: 1) a new rain-no-rain screening approach; 2) the use of Empirical Orthogonal Functions (EOF) and Canonical Correlation Analysis (CCA) both in the screening approach, and in the Bayesian algorithm; 2) the use of new meteorological and environmental ancillary variables to categorize the database and mitigate the problem of non-uniqueness of the retrieval solution; 3) the development and implementations of specific modules for computational time minimization. The CDRD algorithms for AMSR2 and GMI are able to handle an extremely large observational database available from GPM-CO and provide the rainfall estimate with minimum latency, making them suitable for near-real time hydrological and operational applications. As far as CDRD for AMSR2, a verification study over Italy using ground-based radar data and over the MSG full disk area using coincident GPM-CO/AMSR2 observations has been carried out. Results show remarkable AMSR2 capabilities for rainfall rate (RR) retrieval over ocean (for RR > 0.25 mm/h), good capabilities over vegetated land (for RR > 1 mm/h), while for coastal areas the results are less certain. Comparisons with NASA GPM products, and with ground-based radar data, show that CDRD for AMSR2 is able to depict very well the areas of high precipitation over all surface types. Similarly, preliminary results of the application of CDRD for GMI are also shown and discussed, highlighting the advantage of the availability of high frequency channels (> 90 GHz) for precipitation retrieval over land and coastal areas.

Arsenic and Nitrate Removal from Drinking Water by Ion Exchange U.S. EPA Demonstration Project at Vale, OR - Final Performance Evaluation Report

EPA Science Inventory

As part of the EPA Arsenic Removal Technology Demonstration Program, a 540-gal/min (gpm) ion exchange (IX) system proposed by Kinetico was selected for demonstration at Vale, OR to remove arsenic and nitrate from a groundwater supply to meet their respective maximum contaminant l...

Heading Toward Launch with the Integrated Multi-Satellite Retrievals for GPM (IMERG)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Huffman, George J.; Bolvin, David T.; Nelkin, Eric J.; Adler, Robert F.

2012-01-01

The Day-l algorithm for computing combined precipitation estimates in GPM is the Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for GPM (IMERG). We plan for the period of record to encompass both the TRMM and GPM eras, and the coverage to extend to fully global as experience is gained in the difficult high-latitude environment. IMERG is being developed as a unified U.S. algorithm that takes advantage of strengths in the three groups that are contributing expertise: 1) the TRMM Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA), which addresses inter-satellite calibration of precipitation estimates and monthly scale combination of satellite and gauge analyses; 2) the CPC Morphing algorithm with Kalman Filtering (KF-CMORPH), which provides quality-weighted time interpolation of precipitation patterns following cloud motion; and 3) the Precipitation Estimation from Remotely Sensed Information using Artificial Neural Networks using a Cloud Classification System (PERSIANN-CCS), which provides a neural-network-based scheme for generating microwave-calibrated precipitation estimates from geosynchronous infrared brightness temperatures. In this talk we summarize the major building blocks and important design issues driven by user needs and practical data issues. One concept being pioneered by the IMERG team is that the code system should produce estimates for the same time period but at different latencies to support the requirements of different groups of users. Another user requirement is that all these runs must be reprocessed as new IMERG versions are introduced. IMERG's status at meeting time will be summarized, and the processing scenario in the transition from TRMM to GPM will be laid out. Initially, IMERG will be run with TRMM-based calibration, and then a conversion to a GPM-based calibration will be employed after the GPM sensor products are validated. A complete reprocessing will be computed, which will complete the transition from TMPA.

System engineering approach to GPM retrieval algorithms

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Rose, C. R.; Chandrasekar, V.

2004-01-01

System engineering principles and methods are very useful in large-scale complex systems for developing the engineering requirements from end-user needs. Integrating research into system engineering is a challenging task. The proposed Global Precipitation Mission (GPM) satellite will use a dual-wavelength precipitation radar to measure and map global precipitation with unprecedented accuracy, resolution and areal coverage. The satellite vehicle, precipitation radars, retrieval algorithms, and ground validation (GV) functions are all critical subsystems of the overall GPM system and each contributes to the success of the mission. Errors in the radar measurements and models can adversely affect the retrieved output values. Groundmore » validation (GV) systems are intended to provide timely feedback to the satellite and retrieval algorithms based on measured data. These GV sites will consist of radars and DSD measurement systems and also have intrinsic constraints. One of the retrieval algorithms being studied for use with GPM is the dual-wavelength DSD algorithm that does not use the surface reference technique (SRT). The underlying microphysics of precipitation structures and drop-size distributions (DSDs) dictate the types of models and retrieval algorithms that can be used to estimate precipitation. Many types of dual-wavelength algorithms have been studied. Meneghini (2002) analyzed the performance of single-pass dual-wavelength surface-reference-technique (SRT) based algorithms. Mardiana (2003) demonstrated that a dual-wavelength retrieval algorithm could be successfully used without the use of the SRT. It uses an iterative approach based on measured reflectivities at both wavelengths and complex microphysical models to estimate both No and Do at each range bin. More recently, Liao (2004) proposed a solution to the Do ambiguity problem in rain within the dual-wavelength algorithm and showed a possible melting layer model based on stratified spheres. With the No and Do calculated at each bin, the rain rate can then be calculated based on a suitable rain-rate model. This paper develops a system engineering interface to the retrieval algorithms while remaining cognizant of system engineering issues so that it can be used to bridge the divide between algorithm physics an d overall mission requirements. Additionally, in line with the systems approach, a methodology is developed such that the measurement requirements pass through the retrieval model and other subsystems and manifest themselves as measurement and other system constraints. A systems model has been developed for the retrieval algorithm that can be evaluated through system-analysis tools such as MATLAB/Simulink.« less

Systematical estimation of GPM-based global satellite mapping of precipitation products over China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Haigen; Yang, Bogang; Yang, Shengtian; Huang, Yingchun; Dong, Guotao; Bai, Juan; Wang, Zhiwei

2018-03-01

As the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory satellite continues its mission, new version 6 products for Global Satellite Mapping of Precipitation (GSMaP) have been released. However, few studies have systematically evaluated the GSMaP products over mainland China. This study quantitatively evaluated three GPM-based GSMaP version 6 precipitation products for China and eight subregions referring to the Chinese daily Precipitation Analysis Product (CPAP). The GSMaP products included near-real-time (GSMaP_NRT), microwave-infrared reanalyzed (GSMaP_MVK), and gauge-adjusted (GSMaP_Gau) data. Additionally, the gauge-adjusted Integrated Multi-Satellite Retrievals for Global Precipitation Measurement Mission (IMERG_Gau) was also assessed and compared with GSMaP_Gau. The analyses of the selected daily products were carried out at spatiotemporal resolutions of 1/4° for the period of March 2014 to December 2015 in consideration of the resolution of CPAP and the consistency of the coverage periods of the satellite products. The results indicated that GSMaP_MVK and GSMaP_NRT performed comparably and underdetected light rainfall events (< 5 mm/day) in the northwest and northeast of China. All the statistical metrics of GSMaP_MVK were slightly improved compared with GSMaP_NRT in spring, autumn, and winter, whereas GSMaP_NRT demonstrated superior Pearson linear correlation coefficient (CC), fractional standard error (FSE), and root-mean-square error (RMSE) metrics during the summer. Compared with GSMaP_NRT and GSMaP_MVK, GSMaP_Gau possessed significantly improved metrics over mainland China and the eight subregions and performed better in terms of CC, RMSE, and FSE but underestimated precipitation to a greater degree than IMERG_Gau. As a quantitative assessment of the GPM-era GSMaP products, these validation results will supply helpful references for both end users and algorithm developers. However, the study findings need to be confirmed over a longer future study period when the longer-period IMERG retrospectively-processed data are available.

Hydrologic Evaluation of Integrated Multi-satellite Retrivals for GPM over Nanliu River Basin in Southern China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhenqing, L.; Sheng, C.; Chaoying, H.

2017-12-01

The core satellite of Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission was launched on 27 February2014 with two core sensors dual-frequency precipitation radar (DPR) and microwave imager (GMI). The algorithm of Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission (IMERG) blends the advantages of currently most popular satellite-based quantitative precipitation estimates (QPE) algorithms, i.e. TRMM Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA), Climate Prediction Center morphing technique (CMORPH) ADDIN EN.CITE ADDIN EN.CITE.DATA , Precipitation Estimation from Remotely Sensed Information using Artificial Neural Networks-Cloud Classification System (PERSIANN-CCS).Therefore, IMERG is deemed to be the state-of-art precipitation product with high spatio-temporal resolution of 0.1°/30min. The real-time and post real-time IMERG products are now available online at https://stormpps.gsfc.nasa.gov/storm. Early studies about assessment of IMERG with gauge observations or analysis products show that the current version GPM Day-1 product IMERG demonstrates promising performance over China [1], Europe [2], and United States [3]. However, few studies are found to study the IMERG' potentials of hydrologic utility.In this study, the real-time and final run post real-time IMERG products are hydrologically evaluated with gauge analysis product as reference over Nanliu River basin (Fig.1) in Southern China since March 2014 to February 2017 with Xinanjiang model. Statistics metrics Relative Bias (RB), Root-Mean-Squared Error (RMSE), Correlation Coefficient (CC), Probability Of Detection (POD), False Alarm Ratio (FAR), Critical Success Index (CSI), and Nash-Sutcliffe (NSCE) index will be used to compare the stream flow simulated with IMERG to the observed stream flow. This timely hydrologic evaluation is expected to offer insights into IMERG' potentials in hydrologic utility and thus provide useful feedback to the IMERG algorithm developers and the hydrologic users.

Data Analysis of GPM Constellation Satellites-IMERG and ERA-Interim precipitation products over West of Iran

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sharifi, Ehsan; Steinacker, Reinhold; Saghafian, Bahram

2016-04-01

Precipitation is a critical component of the Earth's hydrological cycle. The primary requirement in precipitation measurement is to know where and how much precipitation is falling at any given time. Especially in data sparse regions with insufficient radar coverage, satellite information can provide a spatial and temporal context. Nonetheless, evaluation of satellite precipitation is essential prior to operational use. This is why many previous studies are devoted to the validation of satellite estimation. Accurate quantitative precipitation estimation over mountainous basins is of great importance because of their susceptibility to hazards. In situ observations over mountainous areas are mostly limited, but currently available satellite precipitation products can potentially provide the precipitation estimation needed for meteorological and hydrological applications. One of the newest and blended methods that use multi-satellites and multi-sensors has been developed for estimating global precipitation. The considered data set known as Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals (IMERG) for GPM (Global Precipitation Measurement) is routinely produced by the GPM constellation satellites. Moreover, recent efforts have been put into the improvement of the precipitation products derived from reanalysis systems, which has led to significant progress. One of the best and a worldwide used model is developed by the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). They have produced global reanalysis daily precipitation, known as ERA-Interim. This study has evaluated one year of precipitation data from the GPM-IMERG and ERA-Interim reanalysis daily time series over West of Iran. IMERG and ERA-Interim yield underestimate the observed values while IMERG underestimated slightly and performed better when precipitation is greater than 10mm. Furthermore, with respect to evaluation of probability of detection (POD), threat score (TS), false alarm ratio (FAR) and probability of false detection (POFD) IMERG yields a better value of POD, TS, FAR and POFD in comparison to era-Interim. Overall, ERA-Interim product produced fewer robust results when compared to IMERG.

Evaluating the Global Precipitation Measurement mission with NOAA/NSSL Multi-Radar Multisensor: current status and future directions.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kirstetter, P. E.; Petersen, W. A.; Gourley, J. J.; Kummerow, C.; Huffman, G. J.; Turk, J.; Tanelli, S.; Maggioni, V.; Anagnostou, E. N.; Hong, Y.; Schwaller, M.

2017-12-01

Accurate characterization of uncertainties in space-borne precipitation estimates is critical for many applications including water budget studies or prediction of natural hazards at the global scale. The GPM precipitation Level II (active and passive) and Level III (IMERG) estimates are compared to the high quality and high resolution NEXRAD-based precipitation estimates derived from the NOAA/NSSL's Multi-Radar, Multi-Sensor (MRMS) platform. A surface reference is derived from the MRMS suite of products to be accurate with known uncertainty bounds and measured at a resolution below the pixel sizes of any GPM estimate, providing great flexibility in matching to grid scales or footprints. It provides an independent and consistent reference research framework for directly evaluating GPM precipitation products across a large number of meteorological regimes as a function of resolution, accuracy and sample size. The consistency of the ground and space-based sensors in term of precipitation detection, typology and quantification are systematically evaluated. Satellite precipitation retrievals are further investigated in terms of precipitation distributions, systematic biases and random errors, influence of precipitation sub-pixel variability and comparison between satellite products. Prognostic analysis directly provides feedback to algorithm developers on how to improve the satellite estimates. Specific factors for passive (e.g. surface conditions for GMI) and active (e.g. non uniform beam filling for DPR) sensors are investigated. This cross products characterization acts as a bridge to intercalibrate microwave measurements from the GPM constellation satellites and propagate to the combined and global precipitation estimates. Precipitation features previously used to analyze Level II satellite estimates under various precipitation processes are now intoduced for Level III to test several assumptions in the IMERG algorithm. Specifically, the contribution of Level II is explicitly characterized and a rigorous characterization is performed to migrate across scales fully understanding the propagation of errors from Level II to Level III. Perpectives are presented to advance the use of uncertainty as an integral part of QPE for ground-based and space-borne sensors

New Developments for Physically-based Falling Snow Retrievals over Land in Preparation for GPM

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jackson, Gail S.; Tokay, Ali; Kramer, Anne W.; Hudak, David

2008-01-01

The NASA Global Precipitation Measurement mission (GPM) concept centers on deploying a Core spacecraft carrying a dual-frequency precipitation radar and a microwave radiometric imager with channels from 10 to 183 GHz to serve as a precipitation physics observatory and a calibration reference to unify a constellation of dedicated and operational passive microwave sensors. Because of the extended orbit of the Core (plus or minus 65 deg) and the enhanced dual frequency radar and high frequency radiometer, GPM will be able to sense falling snow precipitation and light rain over land. Accordingly, GPM has partnered with the Canadian CloudSat/CALIPSO Validation Project (C3VP) to obtain observations to provide one of several important ground-based validation data sets around which the falling snow models and retrieval algorithms can be further developed and tested. In this work we compare and correlate the long time series (Nov.'06 - March '07) measurements of precipitation rate from parsivels to the passive (89, 150, 183 plus or minus 1, plus or minus 3, plus or minus 7 GHz) observations of NOAA's AMSU-B radiometer. We separate the comparisons into categories of no precipitation, liquid rain and falling snow precipitation. We found that there are similar TBs (especially at 89 and 150 GHz) for cases with falling snow and for non-precipitating cases. The comparisons indicate that surface emissivity contributions to the satellite observed TB over land can add uncertainty in detecting and estimating falling snow. The newest results show that by computing brightness temperatures based on CARE radiosonde data and a rough estimate of surface emissivity show that the cloud ice scattering signal in the AMSU-B data is detected. That is the differences in computed TB and AMSU-B TB for precipitating and non-precipitating cases are unique such that the precipitating and non-precipitating cases can be identified. These results require that the radiosonde releases are within an hour of the AMSU-B data. Forest fraction, snow cover, and measured emissivities were combined to calculate the surface emissivities.

GMI Spin Mechanism Assembly Design, Development, and Test Results

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Woolaway, Scott; Kubitschek, Michael; Berdanier, Barry; Newell, David; Dayton, Chris; Pellicciotti, Joseph W.

2012-01-01

The GMI Spin Mechanism Assembly (SMA) is a precision bearing and power transfer drive assembly mechanism that supports and spins the Global Microwave Imager (GMI) instrument at a constant rate of 32 rpm continuously for the 3 year plus mission life. The GMI instrument will fly on the core Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) spacecraft and will be used to make calibrated radiometric measurements at multiple microwave frequencies and polarizations. The GPM mission is an international effort managed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to improve climate, weather, and hydro-meteorological predictions through more accurate and frequent precipitation measurements [1]. Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corporation (BATC) was selected by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) to design, build, and test the GMI instrument. The SMA design has to meet a challenging set of requirements and is based on BATC space mechanisms heritage and lessons learned design changes made to the WindSat BAPTA mechanism that is currently operating on orbit and has recently surpassed 8 years of Flight operation.

Design, Development and Testing of the GMI Reflector Deployment Assembly

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Guy, Larry; Foster, Mike; McEachen, Mike; Pellicciotti, Joseph; Kubitschek, Michael

2011-01-01

The GMI Reflector Deployment Assembly (RDA) is an articulating structure that accurately positions and supports the main reflector of the Global Microwave Imager (GMI) throughout the 3 year mission life. The GMI instrument will fly on the core Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) spacecraft and will be used to make calibrated radiometric measurements at multiple microwave frequencies and polarizations. The GPM mission is an international effort managed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to improve climate, weather, and hydrometeorological predictions through more accurate and frequent precipitation measurements1. Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corporation (BATC) was selected by NASA Goddard to design, build, and test the GMI instrument. The RDA was designed and manufactured by ATK Aerospace Systems Group to meet a number of challenging packaging and performance requirements. ATK developed a flight-like engineering development unit (EDU) and two flight mechanisms that have been delivered to BATC. This paper will focus on driving GMI instrument system requirements, the RDA design, development, and test activities performed to demonstrate that requirements have been met.

Global Microwave Imager (GMI) Spin Mechanism Assembly Design, Development, and Performance Test Results

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kubitschek, Michael; Woolaway, Scott; Guy, Larry; Dayton, Chris; Berdanier, Barry; Newell, David; Pellicciotti, Joseph W.

2011-01-01

The GMI Spin Mechanism Assembly (SMA) is a precision bearing and power transfer drive assembly mechanism that supports and spins the Global Microwave Imager (GMI) instrument at a constant rate of 32 rpm continuously for the 3 year plus mission life. The GMI instrument will fly on the core Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) spacecraft and will be used to make calibrated radiometric measurements at multiple microwave frequencies and polarizations. The GPM mission is an international effort managed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to improve climate, weather, and hydro-meteorological predictions through more accurate and frequent precipitation measurements [1]. Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corporation (BATC) was selected by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) to design, build, and test the GMI instrument. The SMA design has to meet a challenging set of requirements and is based on BATC space mechanisms heritage and lessons learned design changes made to the WindSat BAPTA mechanism that is currently operating on-orbit and has recently surpassed 8 years of Flight operation.

Assessing the Impact of Pre-gpm Microwave Precipitation Observations in the Goddard WRF Ensemble Data Assimilation System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chambon, Philippe; Zhang, Sara Q.; Hou, Arthur Y.; Zupanski, Milija; Cheung, Samson

2013-01-01

The forthcoming Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission will provide next generation precipitation observations from a constellation of satellites. Since precipitation by nature has large variability and low predictability at cloud-resolving scales, the impact of precipitation data on the skills of mesoscale numerical weather prediction (NWP) is largely affected by the characterization of background and observation errors and the representation of nonlinear cloud/precipitation physics in an NWP data assimilation system. We present a data impact study on the assimilation of precipitation-affected microwave (MW) radiances from a pre-GPM satellite constellation using the Goddard WRF Ensemble Data Assimilation System (Goddard WRF-EDAS). A series of assimilation experiments are carried out in a Weather Research Forecast (WRF) model domain of 9 km resolution in western Europe. Sensitivities to observation error specifications, background error covariance estimated from ensemble forecasts with different ensemble sizes, and MW channel selections are examined through single-observation assimilation experiments. An empirical bias correction for precipitation-affected MW radiances is developed based on the statistics of radiance innovations in rainy areas. The data impact is assessed by full data assimilation cycling experiments for a storm event that occurred in France in September 2010. Results show that the assimilation of MW precipitation observations from a satellite constellation mimicking GPM has a positive impact on the accumulated rain forecasts verified with surface radar rain estimates. The case-study on a convective storm also reveals that the accuracy of ensemble-based background error covariance is limited by sampling errors and model errors such as precipitation displacement and unresolved convective scale instability.

Evaluation of 95 gpm Inductors for Aqueous Film Forming Foam,

DTIC Science & Technology

1984-04-30

AQUEOUS FILM FORMING FOAM BACKGROUND/INTRODUCTION Early History The use of Aqueous Film Forming Foam ( AFFF ...vadIdniybybok46141 SECURITY CLASSIFICATION~ OF THIS PAGE 11. TITL (Include Secuit Cuaif~los) EVALUATION 0F795 GPM INDUCTORS FOR AQUEOUS FILM FORMING ...AD-A141 242 EVALUATION OF 95 GPM INDUCORG SEOR AQUEOUS FIL FORMING 1/GAM U) HUGHES ASSOCI A F S NC KEN S INO ON M0AD A14 24 RN GIE ETAL 3 00PR

Artificial recharge to a freshwater-sensitive brackish-water sand aquifer, Norfolk, Virginia

USGS Publications Warehouse

Brown, Donald L.; Silvey, William Dudley

1977-01-01

Fresh water was injected into a brackish-water sand for storage and retrieval. The initial injection rate of 400 gpm decreased to 70 gpm during test 3. The specific capacity of the well decreased also, from 15.4 to 0.93 gpm. Current-meter surveys indicated uniform reduction in hydraulic conductivity of all contributing zones in the aquifer. Hydraulic and chemical data indicate this was caused by dispersion of the interstitial clay upon introduction of the calcium bicarbonate water into the sodium chloride bearing sand aquifer. The clay dispersion also caused particulate rearrangement and clogging of well screen. A pre-flush of 0.2 N calcium chloride solution injected in front of the fresh water at the start of test 4 stabilized the clay. However, it did not reverse the particulate clogging that permanently reduced permeability and caused sanding during redevelopment. Clogging can be prevented by stabilization of the clay using commercially available trivalent aluminum compounds. Test 1 and test 2 showed that 85 percent of the water injected can be recovered, and the water meets U.S. Public Health Standards. Storage of fresh water in a brackish-water aquifer appears feasible provided proper control measures are used. (Woodard-USGS)

Global Precipitation Measurement - Report 9 Core Coverage Trade Space Analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mailhe, Laurie; Schiff, Conrad; Mendelsohn, Chad; Everett, David; Folta, David

2002-01-01

This paper summarizes the GPM-Core coverage trade space analysis. The goal of this analysis was to determine the GPM-Core sensitivity to changes in altitude and inclination for the three onboard instruments: the radiometer, the KU band radar and the KA band radar. This study will enable a better choice of the nominal GPM-Core orbit as well as the optimal size of the maintenance box (+/-1 km, +/-5 km..). For this work, we used two different figures-of-merit: (1) the time required to cover 100% of the +/-65 deg latitude band and (2) the coverage obtained for a given propagation time (7 days and 30 days). The first figure-of-merit is used for the radiometer as it has a sensor cone half-angle between 3 to 5 times bigger than the radars. Thus, we anticipate that for this instrument the period of the orbit (i.e. altitude) will be the main driver and that the 100% coverage value will be reached within less than a week. The second figure-of-merit is used for the radar instruments as they have small sensor cone half-angle and will, in some cases, never reach the 100% coverage threshold point.

Physical Validation of GPM Retrieval Algorithms Over Land: An Overview of the Mid-Latitude Continental Convective Clouds Experiment (MC3E)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Petersen, Walter A.; Jensen, Michael P.

2011-01-01

The joint NASA Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) -- DOE Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Midlatitude Continental Convective Clouds Experiment (MC3E) was conducted from April 22-June 6, 2011, centered on the DOE-ARM Southern Great Plains Central Facility site in northern Oklahoma. GPM field campaign objectives focused on the collection of airborne and ground-based measurements of warm-season continental precipitation processes to support refinement of GPM retrieval algorithm physics over land, and to improve the fidelity of coupled cloud resolving and land-surface satellite simulator models. DOE ARM objectives were synergistically focused on relating observations of cloud microphysics and the surrounding environment to feedbacks on convective system dynamics, an effort driven by the need to better represent those interactions in numerical modeling frameworks. More specific topics addressed by MC3E include ice processes and ice characteristics as coupled to precipitation at the surface and radiometer signals measured in space, the correlation properties of rainfall and drop size distributions and impacts on dual-frequency radar retrieval algorithms, the transition of cloud water to rain water (e.g., autoconversion processes) and the vertical distribution of cloud water in precipitating clouds, and vertical draft structure statistics in cumulus convection. The MC3E observational strategy relied on NASA ER-2 high-altitude airborne multi-frequency radar (HIWRAP Ka-Ku band) and radiometer (AMPR, CoSMIR; 10-183 GHz) sampling (a GPM "proxy") over an atmospheric column being simultaneously profiled in situ by the University of North Dakota Citation microphysics aircraft, an array of ground-based multi-frequency scanning polarimetric radars (DOE Ka-W, X and C-band; NASA D3R Ka-Ku and NPOL S-bands) and wind-profilers (S/UHF bands), supported by a dense network of over 20 disdrometers and rain gauges, all nested in the coverage of a six-station mesoscale rawinsonde network. As an exploratory effort to examine land-surface emissivity impacts on retrieval algorithms, and to demonstrate airborne soil moisture retrieval capabilities, the University of Tennessee Space Institute Piper aircraft carrying the MAPIR L-band radiometer was also flown during the latter half of the experiment in coordination with the ER-2. The observational strategy provided a means to sample the atmospheric column in a redundant framework that enables inter-calibration and constraint of measured and retrieved precipitation characteristics such as particle size distributions, or water contents- all within the umbrella of "proxy" satellite measurements (i.e., the ER-2). Complimenting the precipitation sampling framework, frequent and coincident launches of atmospheric soundings (e.g., 4-8/day) then provided a much larger mesoscale view of the thermodynamic and winds environment, a data set useful for initializing cloud models. The datasets collected represent a variety cloud and precipitation types including isolated cumulus clouds, severe thunderstorms, mesoscale convective systems, and widespread regions of light to moderate stratiform precipitation. We will present the MC3E experiment design, an overview of operations, and a summary of preliminary results.

Combining Low-Energy Electrical Resistance Heating with Biotic and Abiotic Reactions for Treatment of Chlorinated Solvent DNAPL Source Areas

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-01-01

5 2.1.2 In Situ Bioremediation ...Technology Certification Program gpm gallons per minute ISB in situ bioremediation JBLM Joint Base Lewis-McChord mmol millimole MROD Mount...EXECUTIVE SUMMARY BACKGROUND The applicability of in situ groundwater remedies such as in situ bioremediation (ISB) or zero valent iron (ZVI) reduction

A Plan for Measuring Climatic Scale Global Precipitation Variability: The Global Precipitation Mission

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, Eric A.; Einaudi, Franco (Technical Monitor)

2000-01-01

The outstanding success of the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) stemmed from a near flawless launch and deployment, a highly successful measurement campaign, achievement of all original scientific objectives before the mission life had ended, and the accomplishment of a number of unanticipated but important additional scientific advances. This success and the realization that satellite rainfall datasets are now a foremost tool in the understanding of decadal climate variability has helped motivate a comprehensive global rainfall measuring mission, called 'The Global Precipitation Mission' (GPM). The intent of this mission is to address looming scientific questions arising in the context of global climate-water cycle interactions, hydrometeorology, weather prediction, the global carbon budget, and atmosphere-biosphere-cryosphere chemistry. This paper addresses the status of that mission currently planed for launch in the early 2007 time frame. The GPM design involves a nine-member satellite constellation, one of which will be an advanced TRMM-like 'core' satellite carrying a dual-frequency Ku-Ka band radar (df-PR) and a TMI-like radiometer. The other eight members of the constellation can be considered drones to the core satellite, each carrying some type of passive microwave radiometer measuring across the 10.7-85 GHz frequency range, likely based on both real and synthetic aperture antenna technology and to include a combination of new lightweight dedicated GPM drones and both co-existing operational and experimental satellites carrying passive microwave radiometers (i.e., SSM/l, AMSR, etc.). The constellation is designed to provide a minimum of three-hour sampling at any spot on the globe using sun-synchronous orbit architecture, with the core satellite providing relevant measurements on internal cloud precipitation microphysical processes. The core satellite also enables 'training' and 'calibration' of the drone retrieval process. Additional information is contained in the original extended abstract.

The extratropical transition of Tropical Storm Cindy from a GLM, ISS LIS and GPM perspective

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Heuscher, L.; Gatlin, P. N.; Petersen, W. A.; Liu, C.; Cecil, D. J.

2017-12-01

The distribution of lightning with respect to tropical convective precipitation systems has been well established in previous studies, and more recently by the successful Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM). However, TRMM did not provide information about precipitation features pole-ward of ±38° latitude. Hence not much is known about the evolution of lightning within extra-tropical cyclones traversing the mid-latitudes, especially its oceans. To facilitate such studies we have combined lightning data from the Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) onboard GOES-16 and the Lightning Imaging Sensor (LIS) onboard the International Space Station (ISS) together with precipitation features obtained from the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission constellation of satellites. We used this lightning-enriched precipitation feature dataset to investigate the lightning and precipitation characteristics of Tropical Storm Cindy (20 June - 24 June 2017) from its organization in the central Gulf of Mexico to its landfall along the northern Gulf and transition to an extra-tropical cyclone. We analyzed lightning observations from GLM and ISS LIS in relation to microwave brightness temperatures from GPM constellation satellite overpasses of Cindy. We find that the 37 and 89 GHz brightness temperatures decreased as Cindy strengthened and continued to decrease after landfall and as Cindy took on more baroclinic characteristics during which time its overall lightning activity increased by a factor of six. In this regard, the study provides a new observationally-based view of the tropical to extra-tropical transition and its impact on lightning production.

Development of the GPM Observatory Thermal Vacuum Test Model

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yang, Kan; Peabody, Hume

2012-01-01

A software-based thermal modeling process was documented for generating the thermal panel settings necessary to simulate worst-case on-orbit flight environments in an observatory-level thermal vacuum test setup. The method for creating such a thermal model involved four major steps: (1) determining the major thermal zones for test as indicated by the major dissipating components on the spacecraft, then mapping the major heat flows between these components; (2) finding the flight equivalent sink temperatures for these test thermal zones; (3) determining the thermal test ground support equipment (GSE) design and initial thermal panel settings based on the equivalent sink temperatures; and (4) adjusting the panel settings in the test model to match heat flows and temperatures with the flight model. The observatory test thermal model developed from this process allows quick predictions of the performance of the thermal vacuum test design. In this work, the method described above was applied to the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) core observatory spacecraft, a joint project between NASA and the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) which is currently being integrated at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center for launch in Early 2014. From preliminary results, the thermal test model generated from this process shows that the heat flows and temperatures match fairly well with the flight thermal model, indicating that the test model can simulate fairly accurately the conditions on-orbit. However, further analysis is needed to determine the best test configuration possible to validate the GPM thermal design before the start of environmental testing later this year. Also, while this analysis method has been applied solely to GPM, it should be emphasized that the same process can be applied to any mission to develop an effective test setup and panel settings which accurately simulate on-orbit thermal environments.

Evaluating Precipitation Observed in Complex Terrain During GPM Field Campaigns with the SIMBA Data-Fusion Tool

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wingo, S. M.; Petersen, W. A.; Gatlin, P. N.; Marks, D. A.; Wolff, D. B.; Pabla, C. S.

2017-12-01

The versatile SIMBA (System for Integrating Multi-platform data to Build the Atmospheric column) precipitation data-fusion framework produces an atmospheric column data product with multi-platform observations set into a common 3-D grid, affording an efficient starting point for multi-sensor comparisons and analysis that can be applied to any region. Supported data sources include: ground-based scanning and profiling radars (S-, X-, Ku-, K-, and Ka-band), multiple types of disdrometers and rain gauges, the GPM Core Observatory's Microwave Imager (GMI, 10-183 GHz) and Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR, Ka/Ku-band), as well as thermodynamic soundings and the Multi-Radar/Multi-Sensor QPE product. SIMBA column data files provide a unique way to evaluate the complete vertical profile of precipitation. Two post-launch (GPM Core in orbit) field campaigns focused on different facets of the GPM mission: the Olympic Mountains Experiment (OLYMPEX) was geared toward winter season (November-February) precipitation in Pacific frontal systems and their transition from the coastal to mountainous terrain of northwest Washington, while the Integrated Precipitation and Hydrology Experiment (IPHEx) sampled warm season (April-June) precipitation and supported hydrologic applications in the southern Appalachians and eastern North Carolina. Both campaigns included multiple orographic precipitation enhancement episodes. SIMBA column products generated for select OLYMPEX and IPHEx events will be used to evaluate spatial variability and vertical profiles of precipitation and drop size distribution parameters derived and/or observed by space- and ground-based sensors. Results will provide a cursory view of how well the space-based measurements represent what is observed from the ground below and an indication to how the terrain in both regions impacts the characteristics of precipitation within the column and reaching the ground.

Evaluating Precipitation Observed in Complex Terrain During GPM Field Campaigns with the SIMBA Data-Fusion Tool

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wingo, S. M.; Petersen, W. A.; Gatlin, P. N.; Marks, D. A.; Wolff, D. B.; Pabla, C. S.

2016-12-01

The versatile SIMBA (System for Integrating Multi-platform data to Build the Atmospheric column) precipitation data-fusion framework produces an atmospheric column data product with multi-platform observations set into a common 3-D grid, affording an efficient starting point for multi-sensor comparisons and analysis that can be applied to any region. Supported data sources include: ground-based scanning and profiling radars (S-, X-, Ku-, K-, and Ka-band), multiple types of disdrometers and rain gauges, the GPM Core Observatory's Microwave Imager (GMI, 10-183 GHz) and Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR, Ka/Ku-band), as well as thermodynamic soundings and the Multi-Radar/Multi-Sensor QPE product. SIMBA column data files provide a unique way to evaluate the complete vertical profile of precipitation. Two post-launch (GPM Core in orbit) field campaigns focused on different facets of the GPM mission: the Olympic Mountains Experiment (OLYMPEX) was geared toward winter season (November-February) precipitation in Pacific frontal systems and their transition from the coastal to mountainous terrain of northwest Washington, while the Integrated Precipitation and Hydrology Experiment (IPHEx) sampled warm season (April-June) precipitation and supported hydrologic applications in the southern Appalachians and eastern North Carolina. Both campaigns included multiple orographic precipitation enhancement episodes. SIMBA column products generated for select OLYMPEX and IPHEx events will be used to evaluate spatial variability and vertical profiles of precipitation and drop size distribution parameters derived and/or observed by space- and ground-based sensors. Results will provide a cursory view of how well the space-based measurements represent what is observed from the ground below and an indication to how the terrain in both regions impacts the characteristics of precipitation within the column and reaching the ground.

Web-Based Geospatial Visualization of GPM Data with CesiumJS

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lammers, Matt

2018-01-01

Advancements in the capabilities of JavaScript frameworks and web browsing technology have made online visualization of large geospatial datasets such as those coming from precipitation satellites viable. These data benefit from being visualized on and above a three-dimensional surface. The open-source JavaScript framework CesiumJS (http://cesiumjs.org), developed by Analytical Graphics, Inc., leverages the WebGL protocol to do just that. This presentation will describe how CesiumJS has been used in three-dimensional visualization products developed as part of the NASA Precipitation Processing System (PPS) STORM data-order website. Existing methods of interacting with Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission data primarily focus on two-dimensional static images, whether displaying vertical slices or horizontal surface/height-level maps. These methods limit interactivity with the robust three-dimensional data coming from the GPM core satellite. Integrating the data with CesiumJS in a web-based user interface has allowed us to create the following products. We have linked with the data-order interface an on-the-fly visualization tool for any GPM/partner satellite orbit. A version of this tool also focuses on high-impact weather events. It enables viewing of combined radar and microwave-derived precipitation data on mobile devices and in a way that can be embedded into other websites. We also have used CesiumJS to visualize a method of integrating gridded precipitation data with modeled wind speeds that animates over time. Emphasis in the presentation will be placed on how a variety of technical methods were used to create these tools, and how the flexibility of the CesiumJS framework facilitates creative approaches to interact with the data.

Safehold Attitude Determination Approach for GPM

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fitzpatrick, Henry; DeWeese, Keith

2012-01-01

Spacecraft sating designs generally have minimal goals with loose pointing requirements. Safe pointing orientations for three-axis stabilized spacecraft are usually chosen to put the spacecraft into a thermally safe and power-positive orientation. In addition, safe mode designs are required to be simple and reliable. This simplicity lends itself to the usage of analog sun sensors, because digital sun sensors will add unwanted complexity to the safe hold mode. The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission Core Observatory will launch into lower earth orbit (LEO) at an inclination of 65 degrees. The GPM instrument suite consists of an active radar system and a passive microwave imager to provide the next-generation global observations of rain and snow. The complexity and precision of these instruments along with the operational constraints of the mission result in tight pointing requirements during all phases of the mission. To ensure the instruments are not damaged during spacecraft safing, thermal constraints dictate that the solar pointing orientation must be maintained to better than 6.5 degrees. This requirement is outside the capabilities of a typical analog sun sensor suite, primarily due to the effects of Earth's albedo. To ensure mission success, a new analog sensor, along with the appropriate algorithms, is needed. This paper discusses the design issues involving albedo effects on spacecraft pointing and the development of a simple, low-cost analog sensor and algorithm that will address the needs of the GPM mission. In addition, the algorithms are designed to be easily integrated into the existing attitude determination software by using common interfaces. The sensor design is based on a heritage, commercial off-the-shelf analog sun sensors with a limited field-of-view to reduce the effects of Earth's albedo. High fidelity simulation results are presented that demonstrate the efficacy of the design.

Detection Thresholds of Falling Snow From Satellite-Borne Active and Passive Sensors

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Skofronick-Jackson, Gail M.; Johnson, Benjamin T.; Munchak, S. Joseph

2013-01-01

There is an increased interest in detecting and estimating the amount of falling snow reaching the Earths surface in order to fully capture the global atmospheric water cycle. An initial step toward global spaceborne falling snow algorithms for current and future missions includes determining the thresholds of detection for various active and passive sensor channel configurations and falling snow events over land surfaces and lakes. In this paper, cloud resolving model simulations of lake effect and synoptic snow events were used to determine the minimum amount of snow (threshold) that could be detected by the following instruments: the W-band radar of CloudSat, Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR)Ku- and Ka-bands, and the GPM Microwave Imager. Eleven different nonspherical snowflake shapes were used in the analysis. Notable results include the following: 1) The W-band radar has detection thresholds more than an order of magnitude lower than the future GPM radars; 2) the cloud structure macrophysics influences the thresholds of detection for passive channels (e.g., snow events with larger ice water paths and thicker clouds are easier to detect); 3) the snowflake microphysics (mainly shape and density)plays a large role in the detection threshold for active and passive instruments; 4) with reasonable assumptions, the passive 166-GHz channel has detection threshold values comparable to those of the GPM DPR Ku- and Ka-band radars with approximately 0.05 g *m(exp -3) detected at the surface, or an approximately 0.5-1.0-mm * h(exp -1) melted snow rate. This paper provides information on the light snowfall events missed by the sensors and not captured in global estimates.

Correlation between fabrication factor and superconducting properties of the Tl-and-Bi-based high-Tc superconductor

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Maki, Naoki; Okada, Michiya; Doi, Toshiya J.; Kanai, Tsuneyuki; Sato, Junichi; Higashiyama, Kazutoshi

1995-01-01

Large critical current densities (J(sub c)) were obtained in c axis oriented Tl-1 223/Ag composite tapes fabricated by spraying methods without a vacuum. Transport measurements at 77K under a zero field indicated a J(sub c) of 9 x 10(exp 4) A/sq cm and 7 x 10(exp 3) A/sq cm at 1T for the tapes fabricated by spray pyrolysis. The novel GPM method was also applied for Bi-2212/Ag PIT composite wire, and found to be very effective for improving the distribution of voids, which caused from the melt-solidifying process. The GPM showed a marked effect for obtaining homogeneous long wire. A 1 T class coil was successfully fabricated with monocore wire.

Global Precipitation Measurement, Validation, and Applications Integrated Hydrologic Validation to Improve Physical Precipitation Retrievals for GPM

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Peters-Lidar, Christa D.; Tian, Yudong; Kenneth, Tian; Harrison, Kenneth; Kumar, Sujay

2011-01-01

Land surface modeling and data assimilation can provide dynamic land surface state variables necessary to support physical precipitation retrieval algorithms over land. It is well-known that surface emission, particularly over the range of frequencies to be included in the Global Precipitation Measurement Mission (GPM), is sensitive to land surface states, including soil properties, vegetation type and greenness, soil moisture, surface temperature, and snow cover, density, and grain size. In order to investigate the robustness of both the land surface model states and the microwave emissivity and forward radiative transfer models, we have undertaken a multi-site investigation as part of the NASA Precipitation Measurement Missions (PMM) Land Surface Characterization Working Group. Specifically, we will demonstrate the performance of the Land Information System (LIS; http://lis.gsfc.nasa.gov; Peters-Lidard et aI., 2007; Kumar et al., 2006) coupled to the Joint Center for Satellite Data Assimilation (JCSDA's) Community Radiative Transfer Model (CRTM; Weng, 2007; van Deist, 2009). The land surface is characterized by complex physical/chemical constituents and creates temporally and spatially heterogeneous surface properties in response to microwave radiation scattering. The uncertainties in surface microwave emission (both surface radiative temperature and emissivity) and very low polarization ratio are linked to difficulties in rainfall detection using low-frequency passive microwave sensors (e.g.,Kummerow et al. 2001). Therefore, addressing these issues is of utmost importance for the GPM mission. There are many approaches to parameterizing land surface emission and radiative transfer, some of which have been customized for snow (e.g., the Helsinki University of Technology or HUT radiative transfer model;) and soil moisture (e.g., the Land Surface Microwave Emission Model or LSMEM).

The utility of satellite precipitation products for hydrologic prediction in topographically complex regions: The Chehalis River Basin, WA as a case study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cao, Q.; Mehran, A.; Lettenmaier, D. P.; Mass, C.; Johnson, N.

2015-12-01

Accurate measurements of precipitation are of great importance in hydrologic predictions especially for floods, which are a pervasive natural hazard. One of the primary objectives of Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission is to provide a basis for hydrologic predictions using satellite sensors. A major advance in GPM relative to the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) is that it observes atmospheric river (AR) events, most of which have landfall too far north to be tracked by TRMM. These events are responsible for most major floods along the U.S. West Coast. We address the question of whether, for hydrologic modeling purposes, it is better to use precipitation products derived directly from GPM and/or other precipitation fields from weather models that have assimilated satellite data. Our overall strategy is to compare different methods for prediction of flood and/or high flow events by different forcings on the hydrologic model. We examine four different configurations of the Distroibute Hydrology Soil Vegetation Model (DHSVM) over the Chehalis River Basin that use a) precipitation forcings based on gridded station data; b) precipitation forcings based on NWS WSR-88D data, c) forcings based from short-term precipitation forecasts using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) mesoscale atmospheric model, and d) satellite-based precipitation estimates (TMPA and IMERG). We find that in general, biases in the radar and satellite products result in much larger errors than with either gridded station data or WRF forcings, but if these biases are removed, comparable performance in flood predictions can be achieved by Satellite-based precipitation estimates (TMPA and IMERG).

Summary groundwater resources of Centre County, Pennsylvania

USGS Publications Warehouse

Wood, Charles R.

1980-01-01

The northwest third of Centre County lies in the Appalachian Plateaus physiographic province. The higher altitudes are underlain by the Conemaugh, Allegheny, and Pottsville Groups, which consist of sandstone, shale, and thin limestone and coal beds. The average yield of nondomestic wells in the Allegheny Group is 20 gpm (gallons per minute) and that in the Pottsville Group 100 gpm. Water from wells in these groups commonly has a high concentration of iron. Most of the rest of the Appalachian Plateaus province is underlain by the Burgoon Sandstone. The Burgoon yields soft water, and the average yield of nondomestic wells is 70 gpm.

Characterizing the Performance of Gas-Permeable Membranes as an Ammonia Recovery Strategy from Anaerobically Digested Dairy Manure

PubMed Central

Fillingham, Melanie; Singh, Jessica; Burtt, Stephen; Crolla, Anna; Kinsley, Chris; MacDonald, J. Douglas

2017-01-01

Capturing ammonia from anaerobically digested manure could simultaneously decrease the adverse effects of ammonia inhibition on biogas production, reduce reactive nitrogen (N) loss to the environment, and produce mineral N fertilizer as a by-product. In this study, gas permeable membranes (GPM) were used to capture ammonia from dairy manure and digestate by the diffusion of gaseous ammonia across the membrane where ammonia is captured by diluted acid, forming an aqueous ammonium salt. A lab-scale prototype using tubular expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE) GPM was used to (1) characterize the effect of total ammonium nitrogen (TAN) concentration, temperature, and pH on the ammonia capture rate using GPM, and (2) to evaluate the performance of a GPM system in conditions similar to a mesophilic anaerobic digester. The GPM captured ammonia at a rate between 2.2 and 6.3% of gaseous ammonia in the donor solution per day. Capture rate was faster in anaerobic digestate than raw manure. The ammonia capture rate could be predicted using non-linear regression based on the factors of total ammonium nitrogen concentration, temperature, and pH. This use of membranes shows promise in reducing the deleterious impacts of ammonia on both the efficiency of biogas production and the release of reactive N to the environment. PMID:28991162

Consistency Between Convection Allowing Model Output and Passive Microwave Satellite Observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bytheway, J. L.; Kummerow, C. D.

2018-01-01

Observations from the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) core satellite were used along with precipitation forecasts from the High Resolution Rapid Refresh (HRRR) model to assess and interpret differences between observed and modeled storms. Using a feature-based approach, precipitating objects were identified in both the National Centers for Environmental Prediction Stage IV multisensor precipitation product and HRRR forecast at lead times of 1, 2, and 3 h at valid times corresponding to GPM overpasses. Precipitating objects were selected for further study if (a) the observed feature occurred entirely within the swath of the GPM Microwave Imager (GMI) and (b) the HRRR model predicted it at all three forecast lead times. Output from the HRRR model was used to simulate microwave brightness temperatures (Tbs), which were compared to those observed by the GMI. Simulated Tbs were found to have biases at both the warm and cold ends of the distribution, corresponding to the stratiform/anvil and convective areas of the storms, respectively. Several experiments altered both the simulation microphysics and hydrometeor classification in order to evaluate potential shortcomings in the model's representation of precipitating clouds. In general, inconsistencies between observed and simulated brightness temperatures were most improved when transferring snow water content to supercooled liquid hydrometeor classes.

Fast-neutron and gamma-ray imaging with a capillary liquid xenon converter coupled to a gaseous photomultiplier

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Israelashvili, I.; Coimbra, A. E. C.; Vartsky, D.; Arazi, L.; Shchemelinin, S.; Caspi, E. N.; Breskin, A.

2017-09-01

Gamma-ray and fast-neutron imaging was performed with a novel liquid xenon (LXe) scintillation detector read out by a Gaseous Photomultiplier (GPM). The 100 mm diameter detector prototype comprised a capillary-filled LXe converter/scintillator, coupled to a triple-THGEM imaging-GPM, with its first electrode coated by a CsI UV-photocathode, operated in Ne/5%CH4 at cryogenic temperatures. Radiation localization in 2D was derived from scintillation-induced photoelectron avalanches, measured on the GPM's segmented anode. The localization properties of 60Co gamma-rays and a mixed fast-neutron/gamma-ray field from an AmBe neutron source were derived from irradiation of a Pb edge absorber. Spatial resolutions of 12± 2 mm and 10± 2 mm (FWHM) were reached with 60Co and AmBe sources, respectively. The experimental results are in good agreement with GEANT4 simulations. The calculated ultimate expected resolutions for our application-relevant 4.4 and 15.1 MeV gamma-rays and 1-15 MeV neutrons are 2-4 mm and ~ 2 mm (FWHM), respectively. These results indicate the potential applicability of the new detector concept to Fast-Neutron Resonance Radiography (FNRR) and Dual-Discrete-Energy Gamma Radiography (DDEGR) of large objects.

Geographical Distribution of Thundersnow and their Properties from GPM Ku-band Radar

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adhikari, A.; Liu, C.

2017-12-01

Lightning in snow and freezing rain are relatively uncommon, compared to the warm season thunderstorm. These events can be identified by lightning with the surface temperature colder than 0oC, or named as "cold lightning", A six-years of "cold lightning" characteristics and climatology, including seasonal, diurnal, and surface temperature distribution, are generated after collocating WWLLN and NLDN lightning with ERA-Interim 2 meter temperature. The thundersnow cases are further identified with all vertical temperature profile below 0oC, and the freezing rain cases have temperature warmer than 4oC somewhere in the column above the freezing surface. The statistics of thundersnow events from WWLLN and NLDN are compared over the United States (US). Though with different detection efficiency, WWLLN and NLDN demonstrate almost identical geographical distribution of thundersnow over the US. Taking the full advantage of the Global Precipitation Measuring Mission (GPM) Ku band radar, Thunder Snow Features (TSFs) are defined with contiguous area of non-zero near surface snow precipitation derived from Ku radar along with the collocated WWLLN lightning strikes. Though only a small number of TSFs are identified with three year GPM data, all TSFs have maximum radar reflectivity above 30 dBZ at temperature colder than -10oC, which indicates the importance of non-inductive charging in these events.

Comparison of High Resolution Quantitative Extreme Precipitation Estimation from GPM Dual-frequency Radar and S-band Radar Observation over Southern China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, A.; Chen, S.; Fan, S.; Min, C.

2017-12-01

Precipitation is one of the basic elements of regional and global climate change. Not only does the precipitation have a great impact on the earth's hydrosphere, but also plays a crucial role in the global energy balance. S-band ground-based dual-polarization radar has the excellent performance of identifying the different phase states of precipitation, which can dramatically improve the accuracy of hail identification and quantitative precipitation estimation (QPE). However, the ground-based radar cannot measure the precipitation in mountains, sparsely populated plateau, desert and ocean because of the ground-based radar void. The Unites States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) have launched the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) for almost three years. GPM is equipped with a GPM Microwave Imager (GMI) and a Dual-frequency (Ku- and Ka-band) Precipitation Radar (DPR) that covers the globe between 65°S and 65°N. The main parameters and the detection method of DPR are different from those of ground-based radars, thus, the DPR's reliability and capability need to be investigated and evaluated by the ground-based radar. This study compares precipitation derived from the ground-based radar measurement to that derived from the DPR's observations. The ground-based radar is a S-band dual-polarization radar deployed near an airport in the west of Zhuhai city. The ground-based quantitative precipitation estimates are with a high resolution of 1km×1km×6min. It shows that this radar covers the whole Pearl River Delta of China, including Hong Kong and Macao. In order to quantify the DPR precipitation quantification capabilities relative to the S-band radar, statistical metrics used in this study are as follows: the difference (Dif) between DPR and the S-band radar observation, root-mean-squared error (RMSE) and correlation coefficient (CC). Additionally, Probability of Detection (POD) and False Alarm Ratio (FAR) are used to further evaluate the rainfall capacity of the DPR. The comparisons performed between the DPR and the S-band radar are expected to provide a useful reference not only for algorithm developers but also the end users in hydrology, ecology, weather forecast service and so on.

Activities in GPM Education and Public Outreach

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kirschbaum, Dalia

2011-01-01

This presentation will discuss the diverse and exciting activities planned for the GPM mission. I will present of our Education and Public Outreach (E/PO) strategy and will then outline our plans for some of the unique initiatives we are developing through this effort.

Sequence variations and protein expression levels of the two immune evasion proteins Gpm1 and Pra1 influence virulence of clinical Candida albicans isolates.

PubMed

Luo, Shanshan; Hipler, Uta-Christina; Münzberg, Christin; Skerka, Christine; Zipfel, Peter F

2015-01-01

Candida albicans, the important human fungal pathogen uses multiple evasion strategies to control, modulate and inhibit host complement and innate immune attack. Clinical C. albicans strains vary in pathogenicity and in serum resistance, in this work we analyzed sequence polymorphisms and variations in the expression levels of two central fungal complement evasion proteins, Gpm1 (phosphoglycerate mutase 1) and Pra1 (pH-regulated antigen 1) in thirteen clinical C. albicans isolates. Four nucleotide (nt) exchanges, all representing synonymous exchanges, were identified within the 747-nt long GPM1 gene. For the 900-nt long PRA1 gene, sixteen nucleotide exchanges were identified, which represented synonymous, as well as non-synonymous exchanges. All thirteen clinical isolates had a homozygous exchange (A to G) at position 73 of the PRA1 gene. Surface levels of Gpm1 varied by 8.2, and Pra1 levels by 3.3 fold in thirteen tested isolates and these differences influenced fungal immune fitness. The high Gpm1/Pra1 expressing candida strains bound the three human immune regulators more efficiently, than the low expression strains. The difference was 44% for Factor H binding, 51% for C4BP binding and 23% for plasminogen binding. This higher Gpm1/Pra1 expressing strains result in enhanced survival upon challenge with complement active, Factor H depleted human serum (difference 40%). In addition adhesion to and infection of human endothelial cells was increased (difference 60%), and C3b surface deposition was less effective (difference 27%). Thus, variable expression levels of central immune evasion protein influences immune fitness of the human fungal pathogen C. albicans and thus contribute to fungal virulence.

The NASA GPM Iowa Flood Studies Experiment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Petersen, W. A.; Krajewski, W. F.; Peters-Lidard, C. D.; Rutledge, S. A.; Wolff, D. B.

2013-12-01

The overarching objective of NASA Global Precipitation Measurement Mission (GPM) integrated hydrologic ground validation (GV) is to provide a better understanding of the strengths and limitations of the satellite products, in the context of hydrologic applications. Accordingly, the NASA GPM GV program recently completed the first of several hydrology-oriented field efforts: the Iowa Flood Studies (IFloodS) experiment. IFloodS was conducted in central Iowa during the months of April-June, 2013. IFloodS science objectives focused on: a) The collection of reference multi-parameter radar, rain gauge, disdrometer, soil moisture, and hydrologic network measurements to quantify the physical character and space/time variability of rain (e.g., rates, drop size distributions, processes), land surface- state and hydrologic response; b) Application of the ground reference measurements to assessment of satellite-based rainfall estimation uncertainties; c) Propagation of both ground and satellite rainfall estimation uncertainties in coupled hydrologic prediction models to assess impacts on predictive skill; and d) Evaluation of rainfall properties such as rate and accumulation relative to basin hydrologic characteristics in modeled flood genesis. IFloodS observational objectives were achieved via deployments of the NASA NPOL S-band and D3R Ka/Ku-band dual-polarimetric radars (operating in coordinated scanning modes), four University of Iowa X-band dual-polarimetric radars, four Micro Rain Radars, a network of 25 paired rain gauge platforms with attendant soil moisture and temperature probes, a network of six 2D Video and 14 Parsivel disdrometers, and 15 USDA-ARS rain gauge and soil-moisture stations (collaboration with the USDA-ARS and NASA Soil Moisture Active-Passive mission). The aforementioned platforms complemented existing operational WSR-88D S-band polarimetric radar, USGS streamflow, and Iowa Flood Center-affiliated stream monitoring and rainfall measurements. Coincident low-earth orbiter microwave, geostationary infrared, and derived satellite-algorithm rainfall products were also archived during the experiment. Twice daily NASA Unified Weather Research and Forecasting model simulations were conducted to provide weather forecast guidance and a coupled atmospheric/land-surface model simulation benchmark. During the experiment the IFloodS observational domain experienced heavy rainfall (> 250-300 mm) and significant flooding. Deployed observational assets, especially the research radars performed well throughout the experiment, sampling a broad range of precipitation system types including multi-day mixtures of rain and snow, warm-season mesoscale convective systems, and supercell thunderstorms. The variety of regimes and large rain accumulations sampled creates a rich source of data for testing both satellite products and coupled atmospheric, land system, and hydrologic models. In this study we will provide an overview of the IFloodS experiment, datasets, and preliminary observational results.

Use of GPM Data Products in SERVIR Hydrological Applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Limaye, A. S.; Mithieu, F.; Gurung, D. R.; Blankenship, C. B.; Crosson, W. L.; Anderson, E. R.; Flores, A.; Delgado, F.; Stanton, K.; Irwin, D.

2015-12-01

Availability of reliable precipitation data is a major challenge for SERVIR, a joint USAID-NASA project aimed at improving the environmental decision-making capacity of developing countries. GPM data products are fulfilling that challenge through frequent, high spatial resolution precipitation products over regional scales. SERVIR is using the products in different ways. First, SERVIR is using those in hydrologic modeling over Eastern Africa and in Hindu Kush Himalaya. SERVIR's distributed hydrologic modeling capability is helping the hydrological and meteorological departments in SERVIR regions, or Hubs, identify local watershed deserving immediate attention - such as recurring floods. Additionally, SERVIR technical implementers in the Hubs are building capacities of the departments and ministries in their member countries to effectively use the GPM products. SERVIR also provides an easy access for efficient integration of GPM products in web map services. This presentation will highlight ongoing collaborations and results generated through collaborative partnership among the water resources and hydrometeorology departments in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Namibia, and Bhutan, SERVIR Hubs, and SERVIR Applied Sciences Team projects

Development of microbial genome-probing microarrays using digital multiple displacement amplification of uncultivated microbial single cells.

PubMed

Chang, Ho-Won; Sung, Youlboong; Kim, Kyoung-Ho; Nam, Young-Do; Roh, Seong Woon; Kim, Min-Soo; Jeon, Che Ok; Bae, Jin-Woo

2008-08-15

A crucial problem in the use of previously developed genome-probing microarrays (GPM) has been the inability to use uncultivated bacterial genomes to take advantage of the high sensitivity and specificity of GPM in microbial detection and monitoring. We show here a method, digital multiple displacement amplification (MDA), to amplify and analyze various genomes obtained from single uncultivated bacterial cells. We used 15 genomes from key microbes involved in dichloromethane (DCM)-dechlorinating enrichment as microarray probes to uncover the bacterial population dynamics of samples without PCR amplification. Genomic DNA amplified from single cells originating from uncultured bacteria with 80.3-99.4% similarity to 16S rRNA genes of cultivated bacteria. The digital MDA-GPM method successfully monitored the dynamics of DCM-dechlorinating communities from different phases of enrichment status. Without a priori knowledge of microbial diversity, the digital MDA-GPM method could be designed to monitor most microbial populations in a given environmental sample.

USSR Report Machine Tools and Metalworking Equipment.

DTIC Science & Technology

1986-04-22

directors decided to teach the Bulat a new trade. This generator is now used to strengthen high-speed cutting mills by hardening them in a medium of...modules (GPM) and flexible production complexes ( GPK ). The flexible automated line is usually used for mass production of components. Here the...of programmable coordinates (x^ithout grip) 5 4 Method of programming teaching Memory capacity of robot system, points 300 Positioning error, mm

Pilot Field Demonstration of Alternative Fuels in Force Projection Petroleum and Water Distribution Equipment

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-09-04

They included two Force Projection Technology (FPT) diesel driven pumping assemblies of 350 and 600 gallons per minute (GPM), and the Advanced...Army Tank Automotive Research Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC). They included two Force Projection Technology (FPT) diesel driven...research programs. The first two systems identified were Force Projection Technology (FPT) diesel -driven pumping assemblies of 350 and 600 gallons per

Global Precipitation Measurement: GPM Microwave Imager (GMI) Algorithm Development Approach

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stocker, Erich Franz

2009-01-01

This slide presentation reviews the approach to the development of the Global Precipitation Measurement algorithm. This presentation includes information about the responsibilities for the development of the algorithm, and the calibration. Also included is information about the orbit, and the sun angle. The test of the algorithm code will be done with synthetic data generated from the Precipitation Processing System (PPS).

Evaluation of Mixed-Phase Microphysics Within Winter Storms using Field Data and In Situ Observations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Colle, Brian A.; Yu, Ruyi; Molthan, Andrew L.; Nesbitt, Stephen

2014-01-01

It is hypothesized that microphysical predictions have greater uncertainties/errors when there are complex interactions that result from mixedphased processes like riming. Use Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission ground validation studies in Ontario, Canada to verify and improve parameterizations

Quantifying Errors in TRMM-Based Multi-Sensor QPE Products Over Land in Preparation for GPM

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Peters-Lidard, Christa D.; Tian, Yudong

2011-01-01

Determining uncertainties in satellite-based multi-sensor quantitative precipitation estimates over land of fundamental importance to both data producers and hydro climatological applications. ,Evaluating TRMM-era products also lays the groundwork and sets the direction for algorithm and applications development for future missions including GPM. QPE uncertainties result mostly from the interplay of systematic errors and random errors. In this work, we will synthesize our recent results quantifying the error characteristics of satellite-based precipitation estimates. Both systematic errors and total uncertainties have been analyzed for six different TRMM-era precipitation products (3B42, 3B42RT, CMORPH, PERSIANN, NRL and GSMap). For systematic errors, we devised an error decomposition scheme to separate errors in precipitation estimates into three independent components, hit biases, missed precipitation and false precipitation. This decomposition scheme reveals hydroclimatologically-relevant error features and provides a better link to the error sources than conventional analysis, because in the latter these error components tend to cancel one another when aggregated or averaged in space or time. For the random errors, we calculated the measurement spread from the ensemble of these six quasi-independent products, and thus produced a global map of measurement uncertainties. The map yields a global view of the error characteristics and their regional and seasonal variations, reveals many undocumented error features over areas with no validation data available, and provides better guidance to global assimilation of satellite-based precipitation data. Insights gained from these results and how they could help with GPM will be highlighted.

Inter-comparison of Precipitation Estimation Derived from GPM Dual-frequency Radar and CSU-CHILL Radar

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, S.; Chen, H.; Hu, J.; Zhang, A.; Min, C.

2017-12-01

It is more than 3 years since the launch of Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) core satellite on February 27 2014. This satellite carries two core sensors, i.e. dual-frequency precipitation radar (DPR) and microwave imager (GMI). These two sensors are of the state-of- the-art sensors that observe the precipitation over the globe. The DPR level-2 product provides both precipitation rates and phases. The precipitation phase information can help advance global hydrological cycle modeling, particularly crucial for high-altitude and high latitude regions where solid precipitation is the dominated source of water. However, people are still in short of the reliability and accuracy of DPR level-2 product. Assess the performance and uncertainty of precipitation retrievals derived from the core sensor dual-frequency precipitation radar (DPR) on board the satellite is needed for the precipitation algorithm developers and the end users in hydrology, weather, meteorology, and hydro-related communities. In this study, the precipitation estimation derived from DPR is compared with that derived from CSU-CHILL National Weather Radar from March 2014 to October 2017. The CSU-CHILL radar is located in Greeley, CO, and is an advanced, transportable dual-polarized dual-wavelength (S- and X-band) weather radar. The system and random errors of DPR in measuring precipitation will be analyzed as a function of the precipitation rate and precipitation type (liquid and solid). This study is expected to offer insights into performance of the most advanced sensor and thus provide useful feedback to the algorithm developers as well as the GPM data end users.

Design, Development and Testing of the GMI Launch Locks

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sexton, Adam; Dayton, Chris; Wendland, Ron; Pellicciotti, Joseph

2011-01-01

Ball Aerospace will deliver the GPM Microwave Imager (GMI), to NASA as one of the 3 instruments to fly on the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission, for launch in 2013. The radiometer, when deployed, is over 8 feet tall and rotates at 32 revolutions per minute (RPM) can be described as a collection of mechanisms working to achieve its scientific objectives. This collection precisely positions a 1.2 meter reflector to a 48.5 degree off nadir angle while rotating, transferring electrical power and signals to and from the RF receivers, designs two very stable calibration sources, and provides the structural integrity of all the components. There are a total of 7 launch restraints coupling across the moving and stationary elements of the structure,. Getting from design to integration will be the focus of this paper.

Genome puzzle master (GPM): an integrated pipeline for building and editing pseudomolecules from fragmented sequences.

PubMed

Zhang, Jianwei; Kudrna, Dave; Mu, Ting; Li, Weiming; Copetti, Dario; Yu, Yeisoo; Goicoechea, Jose Luis; Lei, Yang; Wing, Rod A

2016-10-15

Next generation sequencing technologies have revolutionized our ability to rapidly and affordably generate vast quantities of sequence data. Once generated, raw sequences are assembled into contigs or scaffolds. However, these assemblies are mostly fragmented and inaccurate at the whole genome scale, largely due to the inability to integrate additional informative datasets (e.g. physical, optical and genetic maps). To address this problem, we developed a semi-automated software tool-Genome Puzzle Master (GPM)-that enables the integration of additional genomic signposts to edit and build 'new-gen-assemblies' that result in high-quality 'annotation-ready' pseudomolecules. With GPM, loaded datasets can be connected to each other via their logical relationships which accomplishes tasks to 'group,' 'merge,' 'order and orient' sequences in a draft assembly. Manual editing can also be performed with a user-friendly graphical interface. Final pseudomolecules reflect a user's total data package and are available for long-term project management. GPM is a web-based pipeline and an important part of a Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) which can be easily deployed on local servers for any genome research laboratory. The GPM (with LIMS) package is available at https://github.com/Jianwei-Zhang/LIMS CONTACTS: jzhang@mail.hzau.edu.cn or rwing@mail.arizona.eduSupplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press.

Early Examples from the Integrated Multi-Satellite Retrievals for GPM (IMERG)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huffman, George; Bolvin, David; Braithwaite, Daniel; Hsu, Kuolin; Joyce, Robert; Kidd, Christopher; Sorooshian, Soroosh; Xie, Pingping

2014-05-01

The U.S. GPM Science Team's Day-1 algorithm for computing combined precipitation estimates as part of GPM is the Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for GPM (IMERG). The goal is to compute the best time series of (nearly) global precipitation from "all" precipitation-relevant satellites and global surface precipitation gauge analyses. IMERG is being developed as a unified U.S. algorithm drawing on strengths in the three contributing groups, whose previous work includes: 1) the TRMM Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA); 2) the CPC Morphing algorithm with Kalman Filtering (K-CMORPH); and 3) the Precipitation Estimation from Remotely Sensed Information using Artificial Neural Networks using a Cloud Classification System (PERSIANN-CCS). We review the IMERG design and development, plans for testing, and current status. Some of the lessons learned in running and reprocessing the previous data sets include the importance of quality-controlling input data sets, strategies for coping with transitions in the various input data sets, and practical approaches to retrospective analysis of multiple output products (namely the real- and post-real-time data streams). IMERG output will be illustrated using early test data, including the variety of supporting fields, such as the merged-microwave and infrared estimates, and the precipitation type. We end by considering recent changes in input data specifications, the transition from TRMM-based calibration to GPM-based, and further "Day 2" development.

TRMM Data Improvement as Part of the GPM Data Processing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stocker, Erich F.; Ji, Y.; Kwiatkowski, J.; Kelley, O.; Stout, J.; Woltz, L.

2016-01-01

NASA has a long standing commitment to the improvement of its mission datasets. Indeed, data reprocessing is always built into the plans, schedule and budget for the mission data processing system. However, in addition to these ongoing mission reprocessing, NASA also supports a final reprocessing of all the data for a mission upon its completion (known as Phase F). TRMM Phase F started with the end of the TRMM mission in June of 2015. This last reprocessing has two overall goals: improvement of the TRMM mission data products; incorporation of the 17+ years of TRMM data into the ongoing NASA/JAXA GPM data processing. The first goal guarantees that the latest algorithms used for precipitation retrievals will also be used in reprocessing the TRMM data. The second goal ensures that as GPM algorithms are improved, the entire TRMM data will always be reprocessed with each GPM reprocessing. In essence TRMM becomes another of the GPM constellation satellites. This paper will concentrate on presenting the improvements to TMI level 1 data including calibration, geolocation, and emissive antenna corrections. It will describe the format changes that will occur how the TMI level 1C product will be intercalibrated using GMI as the reference calibration. It will also provide an overview of changes in the precipitation radar products as well as the combined TMIPR product.

Clinical decision support for genetically guided personalized medicine: a systematic review

PubMed Central

Welch, Brandon M

2013-01-01

Objective To review the literature on clinical decision support (CDS) for genetically guided personalized medicine (GPM). Materials and Methods MEDLINE and Embase were searched from 1990 to 2011. The manuscripts included were summarized, and notable themes and trends were identified. Results Following a screening of 3416 articles, 38 primary research articles were identified. Focal areas of research included family history-driven CDS, cancer management, and pharmacogenomics. Nine randomized controlled trials of CDS interventions for GPM were identified, seven of which reported positive results. The majority of manuscripts were published on or after 2007, with increased recent focus on genotype-driven CDS and the integration of CDS within primary clinical information systems. Discussion Substantial research has been conducted to date on the use of CDS to enable GPM. In a previous analysis of CDS intervention trials, the automatic provision of CDS as a part of routine clinical workflow had been identified as being critical for CDS effectiveness. There was some indication that CDS for GPM could potentially be effective without the CDS being provided automatically, but we did not find conclusive evidence to support this hypothesis. Conclusion To maximize the clinical benefits arising from ongoing discoveries in genetics and genomics, additional research and development is recommended for identifying how best to leverage CDS to bridge the gap between the promise and realization of GPM. PMID:22922173

GPM observations of a tropical-like hailstorm over the Mediterranean Sea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cinzia Marra, Anna; Panegrossi, Giulia; Casella, Daniele; Sanò, Paolo; Dietrich, Stefano; Baldini, Luca; Petracca, Marco; Porcù, Federico

2016-04-01

In the last years tropical-like precipitation systems, i.e., with large horizontal extent, tropical cyclone features (i.e., Medicanes), or characterized by very deep and intense convection, have become more and more frequent also at mid-latitudes. On September 05, 2015 a violent hailstorm hit the Gulf and the city of Naples in Italy. The storm was caused by a southward plunge of the jet stream that carved into Western Europe, sending an upper disturbance into the Italian peninsula. That instability, associated with high Sea Surface Temperature (SST), and low-level convergence, stirred up an impressive severe thunderstorm with intense lightning activity and strong winds, that started developing around 0600 UTC over the Thyrrenian Sea off the coast of Naples, and reached maturity by 0637 UTC, hitting the coast around 0900 UTC, moving inland afterwards, until its complete dissipation around 1200 UTC. The storm dropped 5-8 cm diameter hailstones along its path over the sea, and in Pozzuoli, near Naples. Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) SEVIRI VIS/IR images show the extremely rapid development of the thunderstorm, with cloud-top temperatures (at 10.8 μm) dropping from 270 K at 0657 UTC to the extremely low value of 205 K at 0637 UTC (65 K in 40 minutes). The occurrence of a very well defined convective overshooting top is evidenced by the VIS images. Sounding at Pratica di Mare station (180 km NE of Naples) at 0000 UTC shows the tropopause height at about 13.5 km and the typical "loaded gun" features providing a strong capping inversion inhibiting the premature release of the convective instability: moist air in the boundary layer, due to the low-level southerly flow, with warm and dry air aloft. The LINET ground-based lightning detection network registered over 37000 strokes between 0500 and 1200 UTC. During its mature phase, at 0845 UTC, the hailstorm was captured by one overpass of Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) satellite launched in February 2014. The GPM Core Observatory (GPM-CO), equipped with the GPM Microwave Imager (GMI), the most advanced multichannel conical-scanning microwave radiometer available, and with the Ka/Ku band Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR), provides unique measurements of extremely rare, tropical-like features of the storm. Close-in-time observations of the hailstorm are also available from the AMSU/MHS radiometers (MetOp-A overpass at 0834 UTC and MetOp-B overpass at 0929 UTC). DPR shows vertical extension of more than 16 km a.s.l. and with tropical-like reflectivity values (40dBZ top height at 14 km and 20 dBZ top height at 16 km, sign of strong updraft, supporting large ice hydrometeors), confirming the presence of a deep overshooting above the 13.5 km tropopause. GMI observations show strong brightness temperature (TB) depressions, with the 37GHz, 89GHz, and 166GHz as low as 97K, 67K, and 87K, respectively, similar in both V and H channels (sign of round shaped ice hydrometeors). Such low values of TB are extremely unusual ad mid latitudes, and can be measured only thanks to the high-resolution capability of GMI. The analysis of the TB differences in the three AMSU/MHS 183 GHz water vapor channels, usually applied to tropical convective clouds, confirms the presence of convective overshooting. Around the time of the GMI (and AMSU/MHS) overpass (between 08:30 and 09:00 UTC), the LINET registered about 5000 lightning strokes (3500 intracloud), another indication of the severity of the storm. In this study GPM observations will be thoroughly analyzed and discussed, along with the analysis of other spaceborne and ground-based measurements, providing observational evidence of the severity and rarity of this type of storm at mid-latitudes.

Groundwater withdrawal impacts in a karst area

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Destephen, R. A.; Benson, C. P.

1993-12-01

During a 3000-gpm pump test on a groundwater supply well in Augusta County, Virginia, residential properties were impacted. The impacts included lowered farm pond water levels, development of a sinkhole, and water level decrease in residential wells. A study was performed to assess whether a lower design yield was possible with minimal impacts on adjacent property. This study included a 48-h 1500-gpm pump test that evaluated impacts due to: (1) sinkhole development and potential damage to homes, (2) loss of water in residential wells, and (3) water-quality degradation. Spring flows, residential well levels, survey monuments, and water quality were monitored. Groundwater and surface water testing included inorganic water-quality parameters and microbiological parameters. The latter included particulate analyses, Giardia cysts, and coliforms, which were used to evaluate the connection between groundwater and local surface waterbodies. Although results of the study indicated a low potential for structural damage due to future sinkhole activity, it showed that the water quality of some residential wells might be degraded. Because particulate analyses confirmed that groundwater into the supply well is under the direct influence of surface water, it was recommended that certain residents be placed on an alternate water supply prior to production pumping and that filtration be provided for the well in accordance with the Surface Water Treatment Rule. A mitigation plan was implemented. This plan included crack surveys, a long-term settlement station monitoring program, and limitation of the groundwater withdrawal rate to 1.0 million gallons per day (mgd) and maximum production rate to 1500 gpm.

Remote Sensing of Precipitation from Space

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stocker, Erich Franz

2010-01-01

This slide presentation reviews the use of remote sensing of precipitation from satellite observations. The purpose of the presentation is to introduce the three prime instrument types for measuring precipitation from space, give an overview of the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) and the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission, provides examples of how measurements from space can be used, and provides simple, high level scenarios for how remote sensed precipitation data can be used by planners and managers.

Typhoon Maysak

NASA Image and Video Library

2015-03-31

ISS043E078143 (03/31/2015) --- Astronauts on board the International Space Station captured this image on Mar. 31, 2015 of the category 5 super Typhoon Maysak which is headed toward the Philippines. The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) and Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) satellites, both co-managed by NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, captured rainfall and cloud data that revealed heavy rainfall and high thunderstorms in the strengthening storm.

Diurnal Variation of Tropical Ice Cloud Microphysics inferred from Global Precipitation Measurement Microwave Imager (GPM-GMI)'s Polarimetric Measurement

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gong, J.; Zeng, X.; Wu, D. L.; Li, X.

2017-12-01

Diurnal variation of tropical ice cloud has been well observed and examined in terms of the area of coverage, occurring frequency, and total mass, but rarely on ice microphysical parameters (habit, size, orientation, etc.) because of lack of direct measurements of ice microphysics on a high temporal and spatial resolutions. This accounts for a great portion of the uncertainty in evaluating ice cloud's role on global radiation and hydrological budgets. The design of Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission's procession orbit gives us an unprecedented opportunity to study the diurnal variation of ice microphysics on the global scale for the first time. Dominated by cloud ice scattering, high-frequency microwave polarimetric difference (PD, namely the brightness temperature difference between vertically- and horizontally-polarized paired channel measurements) from the GPM Microwave Imager (GMI) has been proven by our previous study to be very valuable to infer cloud ice microphysical properties. Using one year of PD measurements at 166 GHz, we found that cloud PD exhibits a strong diurnal cycle in the tropics (25S-25N). The peak PD amplitude varies as much as 35% over land, compared to only 6% over ocean. The diurnal cycle of the peak PD value is strongly anti-correlated with local ice cloud occurring frequency and the total ice mass with a leading period of 3 hours for the maximum correlation. The observed PD diurnal cycle can be explained by the change of ice crystal axial ratio. Using a radiative transfer model, we can simulate the observed 166 GHz PD-brightness temperature curve as well as its diurnal variation using different axial ratio values, which can be caused by the diurnal variation of ice microphysical properties including particle size, percentage of horizontally-aligned non-spherical particles, and ice habit. The leading of the change of PD ahead of ice cloud mass and occurring frequency implies the important role microphysics play in the formation and dissipation processes of ice clouds and frozen precipitations.

OLYMPEX: A Global Precipitation Mission (GPM) Ground Validation Campaign on the Olympic Peninsula in the Pacific Northwest

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McMurdie, L. A.; Houze, R.; Lundquist, J. D.; Mass, C.; Petersen, W. A.; Schwaller, M.

2014-12-01

The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission was successfully launched at 1837 UTC 27 February 2014 with the first space-borne Ku/Ka band Dual Frequency Precipitation Radar and a passive microwave radiometer (channels ranging from 10-183 GHz). The primary objective of the Core satellite is to measure rain and snow globally, determine its 3D structure, and act as the calibration satellite for a constellation of GPM passive microwave satellites. In order to assess how remotely sensed precipitation can be applied to a range of data applications, ground validation (GV) field campaigns are crucial. As such, the Olympic Mountains Experiment (OLYMPEX) is planned for November 2015 - February 2016. The Olympic Peninsula in Washington State is an ideal location to conduct a GV campaign. It is situated within an active mid-latitude winter storm track and receives among the highest annual precipitation amounts in North America. In one compact area, the Olympic peninsula ranges from ocean to coast to land to mountains. It contains a permanent snowfield and numerous associated river basins. This unique venue will enable the field campaign to monitor both upstream precipitation characteristics and processes over the ocean and their modification over complex terrain. The scientific goals of the OLYMPEX field campaign include physical validation of satellite algorithms, precipitation mechanisms in complex terrain, hydrological applications, and modeling studies. In order to address these goals, a wide variety of existing and new observations are planned. These include surface observing networks of meteorological stations, rain and snow gauges, surface microphysical measurements, and snowpack surveys. Several radars will be deployed including the NASA S-Band dual-polarimetric and NASA Dual-Frequency Dual-Polarimetric Doppler radars, the Canadian x-band radar, and other mobile radars. Several instrumented aircraft are likely to participate such as the NASA DC-8 and the University of North Dakota Citation. The aircraft measurements will determine upstream thermodynamic and moisture conditions, sample particle types and sizes, and act as a proxy for the satellite itself. The ground-based measurements will test how well the satellite proxy measurements determine the rain and snow over complex terrain.

Master Plan: Lake Barkley, Cumberland River, Kentucky - Tennessee.

DTIC Science & Technology

1983-01-01

VASE 2 LOISVLLE7, DIXON GPM INGTAt PARK 28 PT. MA6AC STT PARR-*BCOLUMBUS BELMONT BATTLE ST PARK 10 REELFOOT LAKE STATV P-’ t ELYFREST STATE PAP, 01.6T...Plan: Lake garkley,Cumberland River, 3 Kentucky - Tennessee. Master Plan Update. 6. PERFORMING ORG. REPORT NUMBER 7- AUTHOR(s) 8. CONTRACT OR GRANT...block number) Lake Barkley, Kentucky. Interpretative programs. Cumberland River Recreation. Land Between the Lakes . Master Plan. 20. ABSTRACT (Continue

Installation Restoration Program. Phase 1 - Records Search, Homestead AFB, Florida

DTIC Science & Technology

1983-08-01

con- ducted on a weekly basis. Since the early 1970’s, water and Aqueous . Film Forming Foam ( AFFF ) have been the main extinguishing agents used. Fuels...were occasionally disposed of at the site. Typically, water and AFFF were used as fire extinguishing agents. The site received a HARM score of 66. This...project activities include designs for Owens-Corning Fiberglas; 36,000 gpm neutralization facilities for FC Corporation; wastewater reclamation facilities

Transition to Operations Plans for GPM Datasets

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zavodsky, Bradley; Jedlovec, Gary; Case, Jonathan; Leroy, Anita; Molthan, Andrew; Bell, Jordan; Fuell, Kevin; Stano, Geoffrey

2013-01-01

Founded in 2002 at the National Space Science Technology Center at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL. Focused on transitioning unique NASA and NOAA observations and research capabilities to the operational weather community to improve short-term weather forecasts on a regional and local scale. NASA directed funding; NOAA funding from Proving Grounds (PG). Demonstrate capabilities experimental products to weather applications and societal benefit to prepare forecasters for the use of data from next generation of operational satellites. Objective of this poster is to highlight SPoRT's research to operations (R2O) paradigm and provide examples of work done by the team with legacy instruments relevant to GPM in order to promote collaborations with groups developing GPM products.

blessing ceremony for the rocket

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-02-27

The H-IIA No. 23 rocket that will carry the GPM Core Observatory into space arrived at Tanegashima Space Center on Jan. 20, 2014. The rocket has two stages, an lower first stage that, with the help of two solid rocket boosters gets them off the ground, and an upper second stage that lights up a few minutes after launch to boost the satellite the rest of the way to orbit. The launch services provider, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), immediately began assembling the rocket. On Jan. 22, the GPM team in Tanegashima was invited to participate in a blessing ceremony for the rocket. Lynette Marbley, the Instruments Chief Safety and Mission Assurance Officer for GPM, represented the NASA team.

A Prognostic Methodology for Precipitation Phase Detection using GPM Microwave Observations —With Focus on Snow Cover

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Takbiri, Z.; Ebtehaj, A.; Foufoula-Georgiou, E.; Kirstetter, P.

2017-12-01

Improving satellite retrieval of precipitation requires increased understanding of its passive microwave signature over different land surfaces. Passive microwave signals over snow-covered surfaces are notoriously difficult to interpret because they record both emission from the land below and absorption/scattering from the liquid/ice crystals. Using data from the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) core satellite, we demonstrate that the microwave brightness temperatures of rain and snowfall shifts from a scattering to an emission regime from summer to winter, due to expansion of the less emissive snow cover underneath. We present evidence that the combination of low- (10-19 GHz) and high-frequency (89-166 GHz) channels provides the maximum amount of information for snowfall detection. The study also examines a prognostic nearest neighbor matching method for the detection of precipitation and its phase from passive microwave observations using GPM data. The nearest neighbor uses the weighted Euclidean distance metric to search through an a priori database that is populated with coincident GPM radiometer and radar data as well as ancillary snow cover fraction. The results demonstrate prognostic capabilities of the proposed method in detection of terrestrial snowfall. At the global scale, the average probability of hit and false alarm reaches to 0.80 and remains below 0.10, respectively. Surprisingly, the results show that the snow cover may help to better detect precipitation as the detection rate of terrestrial precipitation is increased from 0.75 (no snow cover) to 0.84 (snow-covered surfaces). For solid precipitation, this increased rate of detection is larger than its liquid counterpart by almost 8%. The main reasons are found to be related to the multi-frequency capabilities of the nearest neighbor matching that can properly isolate the atmospheric signal from the background emission and the fact that the precipitation can exhibit an emission-like (warmer than surface) signature over fresh snow cover.

Genome puzzle master (GPM): an integrated pipeline for building and editing pseudomolecules from fragmented sequences

PubMed Central

Zhang, Jianwei; Kudrna, Dave; Mu, Ting; Li, Weiming; Copetti, Dario; Yu, Yeisoo; Goicoechea, Jose Luis; Lei, Yang; Wing, Rod A.

2016-01-01

Abstract Motivation: Next generation sequencing technologies have revolutionized our ability to rapidly and affordably generate vast quantities of sequence data. Once generated, raw sequences are assembled into contigs or scaffolds. However, these assemblies are mostly fragmented and inaccurate at the whole genome scale, largely due to the inability to integrate additional informative datasets (e.g. physical, optical and genetic maps). To address this problem, we developed a semi-automated software tool—Genome Puzzle Master (GPM)—that enables the integration of additional genomic signposts to edit and build ‘new-gen-assemblies’ that result in high-quality ‘annotation-ready’ pseudomolecules. Results: With GPM, loaded datasets can be connected to each other via their logical relationships which accomplishes tasks to ‘group,’ ‘merge,’ ‘order and orient’ sequences in a draft assembly. Manual editing can also be performed with a user-friendly graphical interface. Final pseudomolecules reflect a user’s total data package and are available for long-term project management. GPM is a web-based pipeline and an important part of a Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) which can be easily deployed on local servers for any genome research laboratory. Availability and Implementation: The GPM (with LIMS) package is available at https://github.com/Jianwei-Zhang/LIMS Contacts: jzhang@mail.hzau.edu.cn or rwing@mail.arizona.edu Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. PMID:27318200

Effects of dialectical behaviour therapy-mindfulness training on emotional reactivity in borderline personality disorder: preliminary results.

PubMed

Feliu-Soler, Albert; Pascual, Juan C; Borràs, Xavier; Portella, Maria J; Martín-Blanco, Ana; Armario, Antonio; Alvarez, Enric; Pérez, Víctor; Soler, Joaquim

2014-01-01

Emotional dysregulation has been proposed as a hallmark of borderline personality disorder (BPD). Mindfulness techniques taught in dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT) appear to be effective in reducing affective symptoms and may enhance emotion regulation in BPD patients. In the present study, we assessed whether 10 weeks of DBT-mindfulness (DBT-M) training added to general psychiatric management (GPM) could improve emotion regulation in BPD patients. A total of 35 patients with BPD were included and sequentially assigned to GPM (n = 17) or GPM plus DBT-M (n = 18). Participants underwent a negative emotion induction procedure (presentation of standardized unpleasant images) both pre-intervention and post-intervention. Clinical evaluation was also performed before and after treatment. No differences were observed in emotional response at the post-treatment session. However, patients in the DBT-M group showed greater improvement in clinical symptoms. Formal mindfulness practice was positively correlated with clinical improvements and lower self-reported emotional reactivity. Our preliminary results suggest that mindfulness training reduces some psychiatric symptoms but may not have a clear effect on how patients respond to emotional stimuli in an experimental setting. No clear effect of mindfulness training was observed on emotional response to a negative emotion induction procedure. Application of the DBT-M module jointly to GPM induced better clinical outcomes than GPM alone. Formal mindfulness practice showed a positive impact on emotion regulation and clinical improvement. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Ground and Space Radar Volume Matching and Comparison Software

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Morris, Kenneth; Schwaller, Mathew

2010-01-01

This software enables easy comparison of ground- and space-based radar observations. The software was initially designed to compare ground radar reflectivity from operational, ground based Sand C-band meteorological radars with comparable measurements from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite s Precipitation Radar (PR) instrument. The software is also applicable to other ground-based and space-based radars. The ground and space radar volume matching and comparison software was developed in response to requirements defined by the Ground Validation System (GVS) of Goddard s Global Precipitation Mission (GPM) project. This software innovation is specifically concerned with simplifying the comparison of ground- and spacebased radar measurements for the purpose of GPM algorithm and data product validation. This software is unique in that it provides an operational environment to routinely create comparison products, and uses a direct geometric approach to derive common volumes of space- and ground-based radar data. In this approach, spatially coincident volumes are defined by the intersection of individual space-based Precipitation Radar rays with the each of the conical elevation sweeps of the ground radar. Thus, the resampled volume elements of the space and ground radar reflectivity can be directly compared to one another.

Facilitating the Easy Use of Earth Observation Data in Earth System Models through CyberConnector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Di, L.; Sun, Z.; Zhang, C.

2017-12-01

Earth system models (ESM) are an important tool used to understand the Earth system and predict its future states. On other hand, Earth observations (EO) provides the current state of the system. EO data are very useful in ESM initialization, verification, validation, and inter-comparison. However, EO data often cannot directly be consumed by ESMs because of the syntactic and semantic mismatches between EO products and ESM requirements. In order to remove the mismatches, scientists normally spend long time to customize EO data for ESM consumption. CyberConnector, a NSF EarthCube building block, is intended to automate the data customization so that scientists can be relieved from the laborious EO data customization. CyberConnector uses web-service-based geospatial processing models (GPM) as the mechanism to automatically customize the EO data into the right products in the right form needed by ESMs. It can support many different ESMs through its standard interfaces. It consists of seven modules: GPM designer, GPM binder, GPM runner, GPM monitor, resource register, order manager, and result display. In CyberConnector, EO data instances and GPMs are independent and loosely coupled. A modeler only needs to create a GPM in the GMP designer for EO data customization. Once the modeler specifies a study area, the designed GPM will be activated and take the temporal and spatial extents as constraints to search the data sources and customize the available EO data into the ESM-acceptable form. The execution of GMP is completely automatic. Currently CyberConnector has been fully developed. In order to validate the feasibility, flexibility, and ESM independence of CyberConnector, three ESMs from different geoscience disciplines, including the Cloud-Resolving Model (CRM), the Finite Volume Coastal Ocean Model (FVCOM), and the Community Multiscale Air Quality Model (CMAQ), have been experimented with CyberConnector through closely collaborating with modelers. In the experiment, the time of traditional manual operation and CyberConnector operation was compared and other benefits were identified. The result indicates that CyberConnector can save about 80% of data customization time. In addition, it can simplify the steps to plug in a data source into an ESM and lower the entry barriers for beginners to use EO data in ESMs.

ENSO Precipitation Variations as Seen by GPM and TRMM Radar and Passive Microwave Observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adler, R. F.; Wang, J. J.

2017-12-01

Tropical precipitation variations related to ENSO are the largest-scale such variations both spatially and in magnitude and are also the main driver of surface temperature-surface rainfall relationships on the inter-annual scale. GPM (and TRMM before it) provide a unique capability to examine these relations with both the passive and active microwave approaches. Documenting the phase and magnitudes of these relationships are important to understand these large-scale processes and to validate climate models. However, as past research by the authors have shown, the results of these relations have been different for passive vs. radar retrievals. In this study we re-examine these relations with the new GPM Version 5 products, focusing on the 2015-2016 El Nino event. The recent El Nino peaked in Dec. 2015 through Feb. 2016 with the usual patterns of precipitation anomalies across the Tropics as evident in both the GPM GMI and the Near Surface (NS) DPR (single frequency) retrievals. Integrating both the rainfall anomalies and the SST anomalies over the entire tropical ocean area (25N-25S) and comparing how they vary as a function of time on a monthly scale during the GPM era (2014-2017), the radar-based results show contrasting results to those from the GMI-based (and GPCP) results. The passive microwave data (GMI and GPCP) indicates a slope of 17%/C for the precipitation variations, while the radar NS indicates about half that ( 8%/C). This NS slope is somewhat less than calculated before with GPM's V4 data, but is larger than obtained with TRMM PR data ( 0%/C) for an earlier period during the TRMM era. Very similar results as to the DPR NS calculations are also obtained for rainfall at 2km and 4km altitude and for the Combined (DPR + GMI) product. However, at 6km altitude, although the reflectivity and rainfall magnitudes are much less than at lower altitudes, the slope of the rainfall/SST relation is 17%/C, the same as calculated with the passive microwave data. The reasons for these differences are explored and lead to conclusions that the radar-based estimates of surface rainfall with GPM have limitations (and are negatively biased) in relatively intense rainfall and this leads to an underestimation of large-scale rainfall under El Nino conditions, where more oceanic rainfall, and more intense rainfall are prevalent.

GPM SLH: Convective Latent Heating Estimated with GPM Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Takayabu, Y. N.; Hamada, A.; Yokoyama, C.; Ikuta, Y.; Shige, S.; Yamaji, M.; Kubota, T.

2017-12-01

Three dimensional diabatic heating distribution plays essential roles to determine large-scale circulation, as well as to generate mesoscale circulation associated with tropical convection (e.g. Hartmann et al., 1984; Houze et al. 1982). For mid-latitude systems also, diabatic heating contributes to generate PVs resulting in, for example, explosive intensifications of mid-lattitude storms (Boettcher and Wernli, 2011). Previously, with TRMM PR data, we developed a Spectral Latent Heating algorithm (SLH; Shige et al. 2004, etc.) for 36N-36S region. It was based on the spectral LH tables produced from a simulation utilizing the Goddard Cloud Ensemble Model forced with the TOGA-COARE data. With GPM DPR, the observation region is extended to 65N-65S. Here, we introduce a new version of SLH algorithm which is applicable also to the mid-latitude precipitation. A new global GPM SLH ver.5 product is released as one of NASA/JAXA GPM standard products on July 11, 2017. For GPM SLH mid-latitude algorithm, we employ the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA)'s high resolution (horizontally 2km) Local Forecast Model (LFM) to construct the LUTs. With collaborations of JMA's forecast group, forecast data for 8 extratropical cyclone cases are collected and utilized. For mid-latitude precipitation, we have to deal with large temperature gradients and complex relationship between the freezing level and cloud base levels. LUTs are constructed for LH, Q1-QR, and Q2 (Yanai et al. 1973), for six different precipitation types: Convective and shallow stratiform LUTs are made against precipitation top heights. For deep stratiform and other precipitation, LUTs are made against maximum precipitation to handle the unknown cloud-bases. Finally, three-dimensional convective latent heating is retrieved, utilizing the LUTs and precipitation profile data from GPM 2AKu. We can confirm that retrieved LH looks very similar to simulated LH, for a consistency check. We also confirm a good continuities of mean LH distributions between tropics and mid-latitudes in horizontal as well as in vertical. Further analysis results will also be presented. Acknowledgments: This research was supported by JAXA PMM RA8 and the Environment Research and Technology Development Fund (2-1503) of Environmental Restoration and Conservation Agency.

Error threshold inference from Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) satellite rainfall data and interpolated ground-based rainfall measurements in Metro Manila

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ampil, L. J. Y.; Yao, J. G.; Lagrosas, N.; Lorenzo, G. R. H.; Simpas, J.

2017-12-01

The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission is a group of satellites that provides global observations of precipitation. Satellite-based observations act as an alternative if ground-based measurements are inadequate or unavailable. Data provided by satellites however must be validated for this data to be reliable and used effectively. In this study, the Integrated Multisatellite Retrievals for GPM (IMERG) Final Run v3 half-hourly product is validated by comparing against interpolated ground measurements derived from sixteen ground stations in Metro Manila. The area considered in this study is the region 14.4° - 14.8° latitude and 120.9° - 121.2° longitude, subdivided into twelve 0.1° x 0.1° grid squares. Satellite data from June 1 - August 31, 2014 with the data aggregated to 1-day temporal resolution are used in this study. The satellite data is directly compared to measurements from individual ground stations to determine the effect of the interpolation by contrast against the comparison of satellite data and interpolated measurements. The comparisons are calculated by taking a fractional root-mean-square error (F-RMSE) between two datasets. The results show that interpolation improves errors compared to using raw station data except during days with very small amounts of rainfall. F-RMSE reaches extreme values of up to 654 without a rainfall threshold. A rainfall threshold is inferred to remove extreme error values and make the distribution of F-RMSE more consistent. Results show that the rainfall threshold varies slightly per month. The threshold for June is inferred to be 0.5 mm, reducing the maximum F-RMSE to 9.78, while the threshold for July and August is inferred to be 0.1 mm, reducing the maximum F-RMSE to 4.8 and 10.7, respectively. The maximum F-RMSE is reduced further as the threshold is increased. Maximum F-RMSE is reduced to 3.06 when a rainfall threshold of 10 mm is applied over the entire duration of JJA. These results indicate that IMERG performs well for moderate to high intensity rainfall and that the interpolation remains effective only when rainfall exceeds a certain threshold value. Over Metro Manila, an F-RMSE threshold of 0.5 mm indicated better correspondence between ground measured and satellite measured rainfall.

The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Spacecraft Power System Design and Orbital Performance

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dakermanji, George; Burns, Michael; Lee, Leonine; Lyons, John; Kim, David; Spitzer, Thomas; Kercheval, Bradford

2016-01-01

The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) spacecraft was jointly developed by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). It is a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) spacecraft launched on February 27, 2014. The spacecraft is in a circular 400 Km altitude, 65 degrees inclination nadir pointing orbit with a three year basic mission life. The solar array consists of two sun tracking wings with cable wraps. The panels are populated with triple junction cells of nominal 29.5% efficiency. One axis is canted by 52 degrees to provide power to the spacecraft at high beta angles. The power system is a Direct Energy Transfer (DET) system designed to support 1950 Watts orbit average power. The batteries use SONY 18650HC cells and consist of three 8s x 84p batteries operated in parallel as a single battery. The paper describes the power system design details, its performance to date and the lithium ion battery model that was developed for use in the energy balance analysis and is being used to predict the on-orbit health of the battery.

Overview of Japanese Earth observation programs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shimoda, Haruhisa; Honda, Yoshiaki

2017-09-01

Five programs, i.e. ASTER, GOSAT, GCOM-W1, GPM and ALOS-2 are going on in Japanese Earth Observation programs. ASTER has lost its short wave infrared channels. AMSR-E stopped its operation, but it started its operation from Sep. 2012 with slow rotation speed. It finally stopped on December 2015. GCOM-W1 was launched on 18, May, 2012 and is operating well as well as GOSAT. ALOS (Advanced Land Observing Satellite) was successfully launched on 24th Jan. 2006. ALOS carries three instruments, i.e., PRISM (Panchromatic Remote Sensing Instrument for Stereo Mapping), AVNIR-2 (Advanced Visible and Near Infrared Radiometer), and PALSAR (Phased Array L band Synthetic Aperture Radar). Unfortunately, ALOS has stopped its operation on 22nd, April, 2011 by power loss. GOSAT (Greenhouse Gas Observation Satellite) was successfully launched on 29, January, 2009. GOSAT carries 2 instruments, i.e. a green house gas sensor (TANSO-FTS) and a cloud/aerosol imager (TANSO-CAI). The main sensor is a Fourier transform spectrometer (FTS) and covers 0.76 to 15 μm region with 0.2 to 0.5 cm-1 resolution. SMILES (Superconducting Millimeter wave Emission Spectrometer) was launched on September 2009 to ISS and started the observation, but stopped its operation on April 2010. GPM (Global Precipitation Mission) core satellite was launched on Feb. 2014. GPM is a joint project with NASA and carries two instruments. JAXA has developed DPR (Dual frequency Precipitation Radar) which is a follow on of PR on TRMM. ALOS F/O satellites are divided into two satellites, i.e. SAR and optical satellites. The first one of ALOS F/O is called ALOS 2 and carries L-band SAR. It was launched on May 2014. JAXA is planning to launch follow on of optical sensors. It is now called Advanced Optical Satellite and the planned launch date is fiscal 2019. Other future satellites are GCOM-C1 (ADEOS-2 follow on), GOSAT-2 and EarthCare. GCOM-C1 will be launched on 2017 and GOSAT-2 will be launched on fiscal 2018. Another project is EarthCare. It is a joint project with ESA and JAXA is going to provide CPR (Cloud Profiling Radar). EarthCare will be launched on 2019.

Improving Aircraft Refueling Procedures at Naval Air Station Oceana

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-06-01

Station (NAS) Oceana, VA, using aircraft waiting time for fuel as a measure of performance. We develop a computer-assisted discrete-event simulation to...Station (NAS) Oceana, VA, using aircraft waiting time for fuel as a measure of performance. We develop a computer-assisted discrete-event simulation...server queue, with general interarrival and service time distributions gpm Gallons per minute JDK Java development kit M/M/1 Single-server queue

A study of atmospheric dispersion of radionuclides at a coastal site using a modified Gaussian model and a mesoscale sea breeze model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Venkatesan, R.; Mathiyarasu, R.; Somayaji, K. M.

Ground level concentration and sky-shine dose due to radioactive emissions from a nuclear power plant at a coastal site have been estimated using the standard Gaussian Plume Model (GPM) and the modified GPM suggested by Misra (Atmospheric Environment 14 (1980) 397), which incorporates fumigation effect under sea breeze condition. The difference in results between these two models is analysed in order to understand their significance and errors that would occur if proper choice were not made. Radioactive sky-shine dose from 41Ar, emitted from a 100 m stack of the nuclear plant is continuously recorded by environmental gamma dose monitors and the data is used to validate the modified GPM. It is observed that the dose values increase by a factor of about 2 times than those of the standard GPM estimates, up to a downwind distance of 6 km during sea breeze hours. In order to examine the dispersion of radioactive effluents in the mesoscale range, a sea breeze model coupled with a particle dispersion model is used. The deposited activity, thyroid dose and sky-shine radioactive dose are simulated for a range of 30 km. In this range, the plume is found to deviate from its straight-line trajectory, as otherwise assumed in GPM. A secondary maximum in the concentration and the sky-shine dose is also observed in the model results. These results are quite significant in realistically estimating the area affected under any unlikely event of an accidental release of radioactivity.

40 CFR Appendix C to Subpart S of... - Steady-State Short Test Standards

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... later model year light-duty vehicles at low altitude and 1982 and later model year vehicles at high altitude to which high altitude certification standards of 1.5 gpm HC and 15 gpm CO or less apply), short... model year light-duty trucks at low altitude and 1982 and later model year trucks at high altitude to...

Use of Seawater for Fighting Electrical Fires

DTIC Science & Technology

1989-05-25

56,300 microsiemens/cm, after mixing with the AFFF concentrate (3M Company’s FC 206 CE brand). In view of this similarity in conductivity, it is not...gpm Nozzle ... ...... 7 Feecon Dual Agent Nozzle, 95 gpm ... ...... 7 Portable AFFF Extinguisher .... ......... 7 EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES...29 Fresh Watet "Oest ..... .............. . 29 AFFF Test ...... .................. . 29 Proposed Type III Nozzle Test Results .... 29

46 CFR 154.1115 - Discharge.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... § 154.1115 Discharge. (a) The discharge density of each water spray system must be at least: (1) 10000 cm3/m2/min. (0.25 gpm/ft.2) over each horizontal surface; and (2) 4000 cm3/m2/min. (0.10 gpm/ft.2) against vertical surface, including the water rundown. (b) The water spray protection under § 154.1110 (d...

46 CFR 154.1115 - Discharge.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... § 154.1115 Discharge. (a) The discharge density of each water spray system must be at least: (1) 10000 cm3/m2/min. (0.25 gpm/ft.2) over each horizontal surface; and (2) 4000 cm3/m2/min. (0.10 gpm/ft.2) against vertical surface, including the water rundown. (b) The water spray protection under § 154.1110 (d...

46 CFR 154.1115 - Discharge.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... § 154.1115 Discharge. (a) The discharge density of each water spray system must be at least: (1) 10000 cm3/m2/min. (0.25 gpm/ft.2) over each horizontal surface; and (2) 4000 cm3/m2/min. (0.10 gpm/ft.2) against vertical surface, including the water rundown. (b) The water spray protection under § 154.1110 (d...

46 CFR 154.1115 - Discharge.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... § 154.1115 Discharge. (a) The discharge density of each water spray system must be at least: (1) 10000 cm3/m2/min. (0.25 gpm/ft.2) over each horizontal surface; and (2) 4000 cm3/m2/min. (0.10 gpm/ft.2) against vertical surface, including the water rundown. (b) The water spray protection under § 154.1110 (d...

46 CFR 154.1115 - Discharge.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... § 154.1115 Discharge. (a) The discharge density of each water spray system must be at least: (1) 10000 cm3/m2/min. (0.25 gpm/ft.2) over each horizontal surface; and (2) 4000 cm3/m2/min. (0.10 gpm/ft.2) against vertical surface, including the water rundown. (b) The water spray protection under § 154.1110 (d...

Use of coincident radar and radiometer observations from GPM, ATMS, and CloudSat for global spaceborne snowfall observation assessment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Panegrossi, Giulia; Casella, Daniele; Sanò, Paolo; Cinzia Marra, Anna; Dietrich, Stefano; Johnson, Benjamin T.; Kulie, Mark S.

2017-04-01

Snowfall is the main component of the global precipitation amount at mid and high latitudes, and improvement of global spaceborne snowfall quantitative estimation is one of the main goals of the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission. Advancements in snowfall detection and retrieval accuracy at mid-high latitudes are expected from both instruments on board the GPM Core Observatory (GPM-CO): the GMI, the most advanced conical precipitation radiometer with respect to both channel assortment and spatial resolution; and the Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) (Ka and Ku band). Moreover, snowfall monitoring is now possible by exploiting the high frequency channels (i.e. >100 GHz) available from most of the microwave radiometers in the GPM constellation providing good temporal coverage at mid-high latitudes (hourly or less). Among these, the Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS) onboard Suomi-NPP is the most advanced polar-orbiting cross track radiometer with 5 channels in the 183 GHz oxygen absorption band. Finally, CloudSat carries the W-band Cloud Profiling Radar (CPR) that has collected data since its launch in 2006. While CPR was primarily designed as a cloud remote sensing mission, its high-latitude coverage (up to 82° latitude) and high radar sensitivity ( -28 dBZ) make it very suitable for snowfall-related research. In this work a number of global datasets made of coincident observations of snowfall producing clouds from the spaceborne radars DPR and CPR and from the most advanced radiometers available (GMI and ATMS) have been created and analyzed. We will show the results of a study where CPR is used to: 1) assess snowfall detection and estimate capabilities of DPR; 2) analyze snowfall signatures in the high frequency channels of the passive microwave radiometers in relation to fundamental environmental conditions. We have estimated that DPR misses a very large fraction of snowfall precipitation (more than 90% of the events and around 70% of the precipitating snowfall mass), mostly because of sensitivity limits of the DPR and secondly because of the effect of side lobe clutter. We will show that improved DPR detection capabilities (> 50%) of the snowfall mass can be achieved by optimally combining Ku-band and Ka-band measured reflectivity and exploiting the weak signals related to snowfall. ATMS-CPR, GMI-CPR, and GMI-DPR coincident observations have been analyzed in order to study the multichannel brightness temperature signal related to snowfall. The main results of this study show that the high frequency channels (and the 183 GHz band channels in particular) can be successfully used to identify snowfall, but results depend strongly on proper identification of surface background and proper estimation of integrated water vapor content. In this context a new algorithm for surface classification using primarily ATMS (and GMI) low frequency channels, and identifying different snow-covered land surfaces and ice or broken-ice over ocean, is proposed and will be presented.

GPM Captures Hurricane Joaquin

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-12-08

Joaquin became a tropical storm Monday evening (EDT) midway between the Bahamas and Bermuda and has now formed into Hurricane Joaquin, the 3rd of the season--the difference is Joaquin could impact the US East Coast. NASA's GPM satellite captured Joaquin Tuesday, September 29th at 21:39 UTC (5:39 pm EDT). Credit: NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio Data provided by the joint NASA/JAXA GPM mission. Download/read more: svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/details.cgi?aid=4367 NASA image use policy. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. Follow us on Twitter Like us on Facebook Find us on Instagram

Using Field and Satellite Measurements to Improve Snow and Riming Processes in Cloud Resolving Models

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Colle, Brian A.; Molthan, Andrew L.

2013-01-01

The representation of clouds in climate and weather models is a driver in forecast uncertainty. Cloud microphysics parameterizations are challenged by having to represent a diverse range of ice species. Key characteristics of predicted ice species include habit and fall speed, and complex interactions that result from mixed-phased processes like riming. Our proposed activity leverages Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission ground validation studies to improve parameterizations

Installation Restoration Program, Phase II - Confirmation/Quantification Stage I, Moody Air Force Base, Georgia.

DTIC Science & Technology

1985-12-01

Confirmation/Quantification. Moody AFB- GA _____ S12. PERSONAL AUTHOR(S) .. ’ Steinberg J.A. and Thiess, W.G. 13.& TYPE OF REPORT 13b. TIME COVERED 14I. DATE...2.3.2 Soils On the high ground western portion of the base, the surface soils are mostly in the Tifton series. The soil profile consists of about 2 to...Florida Department of Environmental Regulation FWQS Florida Water Quality Standards gpd Gallons per day gpm Gallons per minute GC Gas chromatograph

Inventory of File nam.t00z.awiphi00.tm00.grib2

Science.gov Websites

Factor [non-dim] 041 50 mb HGT analysis Geopotential Height [gpm] 042 50 mb TMP analysis Temperature [K /kg] 052 50 mb RIME analysis Rime Factor [non-dim] 053 75 mb HGT analysis Geopotential Height [gpm SNMR analysis Snow Mixing Ratio [kg/kg] 064 75 mb RIME analysis Rime Factor [non-dim] 065 100 mb HGT

Intercomparison of spaceborne precipitation radars and its applications in examining precipitation-topography relationships in the Tibetan Plateau

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tang, G.; Gao, J.; Long, D.

2017-12-01

Precipitation is one of the most important components in the water and energy cycles. Spaceborne radars are considered the most direct technology for observing precipitation from space since 1998. This study compares and evaluates the only three existing spaceborne precipitation radars, i.e., the Ku-band precipitation radar (TRMM PR), the W-band Cloud Profiling Radar (CloudSat CPR), and the Ku/Ka-band Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (GPM DPR). In addition, TRMM PR and GPM DPR are evaluated against hourly rain gauge data in Mainland China. The Tibetan Plateau (TP) is known as the Earth's third pole where precipitation is affected profoundly by topography. However, ground gauges are extremely sparse in the TP, and spaceborne radars can provide valuable data with relatively high accuracy. The relationships between precipitation and topography over the TP are investigated using 17-year TRMM PR data and 2-year GPM DPR data, in combination with rain gauge data. Results indicate that: (1) DPR and PR agree with each other and correlate very well with gauges in Mainland China. DPR improves light precipitation detectability significantly compared with PR. However, DPR high sensitivity scans (HS) deviates from DPR normal and matched scans (NS and MS) and PR in the comparison based on global coincident events and rain gauges in China; (2) CPR outperforms the other two radars in terms of light precipitation detection. In terms of global snowfall estimation, DPR and CPR show very different global snowfall distributions originating from different frequencies, retrieval algorithms, and sampling characteristics; and (3) Precipitation generally decreases exponentially with increasing elevation in the TP. The precipitation-topography relationships are regressed using exponential fitting in seventeen river basins in the TP with good coefficients of determination. Due to the short time span of GPM DPR, the relationships based on GPM DPR data are less robust than those derived from TRMM PR data. The Level-3 precipitation products, i.e., GPM IMERG and GSMaP, can reproduce the general pattern on how precipitation varies with elevation but misrepresent some important details.

Access NASA Satellite Global Precipitation Data Visualization on YouTube

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Liu, Z.; Su, J.; Acker, J.; Huffman, G.; Vollmer, B.; Wei, J.; Meyer, D.

2017-01-01

Since the satellite era began, NASA has collected a large volume of Earth science observations for research and applications around the world. The collected and archived satellite data at 12 NASA data centers can also be used for STEM education and activities such as disaster events, climate change, etc. However, accessing satellite data can be a daunting task for non-professional users such as teachers and students because of unfamiliarity of terminology, disciplines, data formats, data structures, computing resources, processing software, programming languages, etc. Over the years, many efforts including tools, training classes, and tutorials have been developed to improve satellite data access for users, but barriers still exist for non-professionals. In this presentation, we will present our latest activity that uses a very popular online video sharing Web site, YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/), for accessing visualizations of our global precipitation datasets at the NASA Goddard Earth Sciences (GES) Data and Information Services Center (DISC). With YouTube, users can access and visualize a large volume of satellite data without the necessity to learn new software or download data. The dataset in this activity is a one-month animation for the GPM (Global Precipitation Measurement) Integrated Multi-satellite Retrievals for GPM (IMERG). IMERG provides precipitation on a near-global (60 deg. N-S) coverage at half-hourly time interval, providing more details on precipitation processes and development compared to the 3-hourly TRMM (Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission) Multisatellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA, 3B42) product. When the retro-processing of IMERG during the TRMM era is finished in 2018, the entire video will contain more than 330,000 files and will last 3.6 hours. Future plans include development of flyover videos for orbital data for an entire satellite mission or project. All videos, including the one-month animation, will be uploaded and available at the GES DISC site on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/user/NASAGESDISC).

STEAM CARRYUNDER MEASUREMENT BY MEANS OF TWO-PHASE PUMP PERFORMANCE

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Niemi, R.O.; Steamer, A.G.

1960-10-01

Pump tests were conducted at the Moss Landing Steam Separation Facility at operating pressures of 600 and 1000 psig to provide a method for determining the rate of steam carryunder. Pump power input and head were measured as functions of water flow and steam flow to the pump suction. The pump tested had a rated flow of 1700 gpm and a rated head of 148 feet. It was found that in this facility, steam carryander can be measured to 0.1% by measuring the recirculating water pump input power and Pump head. (auth)

The 20-22 January 2007 Snow Events over Canada: Microphysical Properties

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tao. W.K.; Shi, J.J.; Matsui, T.; Hao, A.; Lang, S.; Peters-Lidard, C.; Skofronick-Jackson, G.; Petersen, W.; Cifelli, R.; Rutledge, S.

2009-01-01

One of the grand challenges of the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission is to improve precipitation measurements in mid- and high-latitudes during cold seasons through the use of high-frequency passive microwave radiometry. Toward this end, the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model with the Goddard microphysics scheme is coupled with a Satellite Data Simulation Unit (WRF-SDSU) that has been developed to facilitate over-land snowfall retrieval algorithms by providing a virtual cloud library and microwave brightness temperature (Tb) measurements consistent with the GPM Microwave Imager (GMI). This study tested the Goddard cloud microphysics scheme in WRF for snowstorm events (January 20-22, 2007) that took place over the Canadian CloudSAT/CALIPSO Validation Project (C3VP) ground site (Centre for Atmospheric Research Experiments - CARE) in Ontario, Canada. In this paper, the performance of the Goddard cloud microphysics scheme both with 2ice (ice and snow) and 3ice (ice, snow and graupel) as well as other WRF microphysics schemes will be presented. The results are compared with data from the Environment Canada (EC) King Radar, an operational C-band radar located near the CARE site. In addition, the WRF model output is used to drive the Goddard SDSU to calculate radiances and backscattering signals consistent with direct satellite observations for evaluating the model results.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Jensen, Michael; Kollias, Pavlos; Giangrande, Scott

The Mid-latitude Continental Convective Clouds Experiment (MC3E) took place from April 22 through June 6, 2011, centered at the ARM Southern Great Plains site (http://www.arm.gov/sites/sgp) in northcentral Oklahoma. MC3E was a collaborative effort between the ARM Climate Research Facility and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA’s) Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission Ground Validation (GV) program. The campaign leveraged the largest ground-based observing infrastructure available in the central United States, including recent upgrades through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, combined with an extensive sounding array, remote sensing and in situ aircraft observations, and additional radar and inmore » situ precipitation instrumentation. The overarching goal of the campaign was to provide a three-dimensional characterization of convective clouds and precipitation for the purpose of improving the representation of convective lifecycle in atmospheric models and the reliability of satellite-based retrievals of precipitation.« less

Obtaining Self-Report Data from Cognitively Impaired Elders: Methodological Issues and Clinical Implications for Nursing Home Pain Assessment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fisher, Susan E.; Burgio, Louis D.; Thorn, Beverly E.; Hardin, J. Michael

2006-01-01

Purpose: We developed and evaluated an explicit procedure for obtaining self-report pain data from nursing home residents across a broad range of cognitive status, and we evaluated the consistency, stability, and concurrent validity of resident responses. Design and Methods: Using a modification of the Geriatric Pain Measure (GPM-M2), we…

Vessel Biofouling Prevention and Management Options Report

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-03-01

Marine Reserve GNPD Galapagos National Park Directorate gpm Gallons per minute HST™ Hull Surface Treatment HullBUG Hull Bio -Mimetic Underwater...operators and hull cleaning equipment vendors. 2 VESSEL STRUCTURES SUBJECT TO BIOFOULING All submerged areas of the hull, including appendages and niche...categorized as proactive (preventative) and reactive (removal). Preventative measures include hull coatings that present bio -toxic surfaces to the immediate

GMI Instrument Spin Balance Method, Optimization, Calibration, and Test

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ayari, Laoucet; Kubitschek, Michael; Ashton, Gunnar; Johnston, Steve; Debevec, Dave; Newell, David; Pellicciotti, Joseph

2014-01-01

The Global Microwave Imager (GMI) instrument must spin at a constant rate of 32 rpm continuously for the 3 year mission life. Therefore, GMI must be very precisely balanced about the spin axis and CG to maintain stable scan pointing and to minimize disturbances imparted to the spacecraft and attitude control on-orbit. The GMI instrument is part of the core Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) spacecraft and is used to make calibrated radiometric measurements at multiple microwave frequencies and polarizations. The GPM mission is an international effort managed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to improve climate, weather, and hydro-meteorological predictions through more accurate and frequent precipitation measurements. Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corporation (BATC) was selected by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center to design, build, and test the GMI instrument. The GMI design has to meet a challenging set of spin balance requirements and had to be brought into simultaneous static and dynamic spin balance after the entire instrument was already assembled and before environmental tests began. The focus of this contribution is on the analytical and test activities undertaken to meet the challenging spin balance requirements of the GMI instrument. The novel process of measuring the residual static and dynamic imbalances with a very high level of accuracy and precision is presented together with the prediction of the optimal balance masses and their locations.

GMI Instrument Spin Balance Method, Optimization, Calibration and Test

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ayari, Laoucet; Kubitschek, Michael; Ashton, Gunnar; Johnston, Steve; Debevec, Dave; Newell, David; Pellicciotti, Joseph

2014-01-01

The Global Microwave Imager (GMI) instrument must spin at a constant rate of 32 rpm continuously for the 3-year mission life. Therefore, GMI must be very precisely balanced about the spin axis and center of gravity (CG) to maintain stable scan pointing and to minimize disturbances imparted to the spacecraft and attitude control on-orbit. The GMI instrument is part of the core Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) spacecraft and is used to make calibrated radiometric measurements at multiple microwave frequencies and polarizations. The GPM mission is an international effort managed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to improve climate, weather, and hydro-meteorological predictions through more accurate and frequent precipitation measurements. Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corporation (BATC) was selected by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center to design, build, and test the GMI instrument. The GMI design has to meet a challenging set of spin balance requirements and had to be brought into simultaneous static and dynamic spin balance after the entire instrument was already assembled and before environmental tests began. The focus of this contribution is on the analytical and test activities undertaken to meet the challenging spin balance requirements of the GMI instrument. The novel process of measuring the residual static and dynamic imbalances with a very high level of accuracy and precision is presented together with the prediction of the optimal balance masses and their locations.

Global Precipitation Mission Visualization Tool

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schwaller, Mathew

2011-01-01

The Global Precipitation Mission (GPM) software provides graphic visualization tools that enable easy comparison of ground- and space-based radar observations. It was initially designed to compare ground radar reflectivity from operational, ground-based, S- and C-band meteorological radars with comparable measurements from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite's precipitation radar instrument. This design is also applicable to other groundbased and space-based radars, and allows both ground- and space-based radar data to be compared for validation purposes. The tool creates an operational system that routinely performs several steps. It ingests satellite radar data (precipitation radar data from TRMM) and groundbased meteorological radar data from a number of sources. Principally, the ground radar data comes from national networks of weather radars (see figure). The data ingested by the visualization tool must conform to the data formats used in GPM Validation Network Geometry-matched data product generation. The software also performs match-ups of the radar volume data for the ground- and space-based data, as well as statistical and graphical analysis (including two-dimensional graphical displays) on the match-up data. The visualization tool software is written in IDL, and can be operated either in the IDL development environment or as a stand-alone executable function.

Properties of Extreme Precipitation and Their Uncertainties in 3-year GPM Precipitation Radar Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, N.; Liu, C.

2017-12-01

Extreme high precipitation rates are often related to flash floods and have devastating impacts on human society and the environments. To better understand these rare events, 3-year Precipitation Features (PFs) are defined by grouping the contiguous areas with nonzero near-surface precipitation derived using Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Ku band Precipitation Radar (KuPR). The properties of PFs with extreme precipitation rates greater than 20, 50, 100 mm/hr, such as the geographical distribution, volumetric precipitation contribution, seasonal and diurnal variations, are examined. In addition to the large seasonal and regional variations, the rare extreme precipitation rates often have a larger contribution to the local total precipitation. Extreme precipitation rates occur more often over land than over ocean. The challenges in the retrieval of extreme precipitation might be from the attenuation correction and large uncertainties in the Z-R relationships from near-surface radar reflectivity to precipitation rates. These potential uncertainties are examined by using collocated ground based radar reflectivity and precipitation retrievals.

Inventory of File nam.t00z.awipak00.tm00.grib2

Science.gov Websites

Rime Factor [non-dim] 009 1 hybrid level HGT analysis Geopotential Height [gpm] 010 1 hybrid level TMP [kg/kg] 040 30 mb SNMR analysis Snow Mixing Ratio [kg/kg] 041 30 mb RIME analysis Rime Factor [non-dim Factor [non-dim] 054 75 mb HGT analysis Geopotential Height [gpm] 055 75 mb TMP analysis Temperature [K

The Impact of Urbanization on the Precipitation Component of the Water Cycle: A New Perspective

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shephard, J. Marshal

2002-01-01

It is estimated that by the year 2025, 60% of the world s population will live in cities (UNFP, 1999). As cities continue to grow, urban sprawl (e.g., the expansion of urban surfaces outward into rural surroundings) creates unique problems related to land use, transportation, agriculture, housing, pollution, and development. Urban expansion also has measurable impacts on environmental processes. Urban areas modify boundary layer processes through the creation of an urban heat island (UHI). The literature indicates that the signature of the urban heat island effect may be resolvable in rainfall patterns over and downwind of metropolitan areas. However, a recent U.S. Weather Research Program panel concluded that more observational and modeling research is needed in this area (Dabberdt et al. 2000). NASA and other agencies initiated programs such as the Atlanta Land-use Analysis: Temperature and Air Quality Project (ATLANTA) (Quattrochi et al. 1998) which aimed to identify and understand how urban heat islands impact the environment. However, a comprehensive assessment of the role of urban-induced rainfall in the global water and energy cycle (GWEC) and cycling of freshwater was not a primary focus of these efforts. NASA's Earth Science Enterprise (ESE) seeks to develop a scientific understanding of the Earth system and its response to natural or human-induced changes to enable improved prediction capability for climate, weather, and natural hazards (NASA, 2000). Within this mission, the ESE has three basic thrusts: science research to increase Earth system knowledge; an applications program to transfer science knowledge to practical use in society; and a technology program to enable new, better, and cheaper capabilities for observing the earth. Within this framework, a research program is underway to further address the co-relationship between land cover use and change (e.g. urban development) and its impact on key components of the GWEC (e.g., precipitation). This presentation discusses the feasibility of using the TRMM or GPM satellite to identify precipitation anomalies likely caused by urbanization (Shepherd et al. 2002). Recent results from analyses of TRMM data around several major U.S. cities (e.g. Dallas, Atlanta, Houston) will be discussed. The presentation also summarizes a NASA-funded research effort to investigate the phenomenon of urban-induced precipitation anomalies using TRMM (future GPM) satellite-based remote sensing, an intensive ground observation/validation effort near Atlanta, and coupled atmosphere-land numerical modeling techniques.

Capacity Building in Using NASA Remote Sensing for Water Resources and Disasters Management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mehta, A. V.; Podest, E.; Prados, A. I.

2017-12-01

The NASA Applied Remote Sensing Training Program (ARSET), a part of NASA's Applied Sciences Capacity Building program, empowers the global community through online and in-person training. The program focuses on helping policy makers, environmental managers, and other professionals, both domestic and international, use remote sensing in decision making. Since 2011, ARSET has provided more than 20 trainings in water resource and disaster management, including floods and droughts. This presentation will include an overview of the ARSET program, best practices for approaching trainings, feedback from participants, and examples of case studies from the trainings showing the application of GPM, SMAP, Landsat, Terra and Aqua (MODIS), and Sentinel (SAR) data. This presentation will also outline how ARSET can serve as a liaison between remote sensing applications developers and users in the areas of water resource and disaster management.

Middleware Evaluation and Benchmarking for Use in Mission Operations Centers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Antonucci, Rob; Waktola, Waka

2005-01-01

Middleware technologies have been promoted as timesaving, cost-cutting alternatives to the point-to-point communication used in traditional mission operations systems. However, missions have been slow to adopt the new technology. The lack of existing middleware-based missions has given rise to uncertainty about middleware's ability to perform in an operational setting. Most mission architects are also unfamiliar with the technology and do not know the benefits and detriments to architectural choices - or even what choices are available. We will present the findings of a study that evaluated several middleware options specifically for use in a mission operations system. We will address some common misconceptions regarding the applicability of middleware-based architectures, and we will identify the design decisions and tradeoffs that must be made when choosing a middleware solution. The Middleware Comparison and Benchmark Study was conducted at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center to comprehensively evaluate candidate middleware products, compare and contrast the performance of middleware solutions with the traditional point- to-point socket approach, and assess data delivery and reliability strategies. The study focused on requirements of the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission, validating the potential use of middleware in the GPM mission ground system. The study was jointly funded by GPM and the Goddard Mission Services Evolution Center (GMSEC), a virtual organization for providing mission enabling solutions and promoting the use of appropriate new technologies for mission support. The study was broken into two phases. To perform the generic middleware benchmarking and performance analysis, a network was created with data producers and consumers passing data between themselves. The benchmark monitored the delay, throughput, and reliability of the data as the characteristics were changed. Measurements were taken under a variety of topologies, data demands, and data characteristics, using several middleware products. All results were compared to systems using traditional point-to-point socket communication. By comparing performance results under Merent settings, inferences could be made about each middleware's ability to meet certain requirements of the GPM mission. The second phase simulated a middleware-based mission operations center. Actual mission support tools were either used or simulated to create real world demands on the middleware. Network and computer demands were watched closely to verify that no specific idiosyncrasies of mission operations activities would prove unsupportable by the middleware. In our presentation, we will address some commonly accepted misconceptions concerning middleware in mission support architectures. Specifically, we will focus on the perception that middleware solutions are too slow or impose too much overhead for real-time mission operations, and that middleware solutions are too expensive for small

Inventory of File nam.t00z.hawaiinest.hiresf06.tm00.gr

Science.gov Websites

Water Equivalent [kg/m^2/s] 628 surface NCPCP 3-6 hour acc Large-Scale Precipitation (non-convective [non-dim] 010 1 hybrid level HGT 6 hour fcst Geopotential Height [gpm] 011 1 hybrid level TMP 6 hour [non-dim] 056 50 mb HGT 6 hour fcst Geopotential Height [gpm] 057 50 mb TMP 6 hour fcst Temperature [K

Inventory of File nam.t00z.firewxnest.hiresf06.tm00.gr

Science.gov Websites

Water Equivalent [kg/m^2/s] 628 surface NCPCP 5-6 hour acc Large-Scale Precipitation (non-convective [non-dim] 010 1 hybrid level HGT 6 hour fcst Geopotential Height [gpm] 011 1 hybrid level TMP 6 hour [non-dim] 056 50 mb HGT 6 hour fcst Geopotential Height [gpm] 057 50 mb TMP 6 hour fcst Temperature [K

Inventory of File nam.t00z.alaskanest.hiresf06.tm00.gr

Science.gov Websites

Water Equivalent [kg/m^2/s] 628 surface NCPCP 3-6 hour acc Large-Scale Precipitation (non-convective [non-dim] 010 1 hybrid level HGT 6 hour fcst Geopotential Height [gpm] 011 1 hybrid level TMP 6 hour [non-dim] 056 50 mb HGT 6 hour fcst Geopotential Height [gpm] 057 50 mb TMP 6 hour fcst Temperature [K

Inventory of File nam.t00z.conusnest.hiresf06.tm00.gri

Science.gov Websites

Water Equivalent [kg/m^2/s] 628 surface NCPCP 3-6 hour acc Large-Scale Precipitation (non-convective [non-dim] 010 1 hybrid level HGT 6 hour fcst Geopotential Height [gpm] 011 1 hybrid level TMP 6 hour [non-dim] 056 50 mb HGT 6 hour fcst Geopotential Height [gpm] 057 50 mb TMP 6 hour fcst Temperature [K

Gain-phase modulation in chirped-pulse amplification

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shen, Yijie; Gao, Gan; Meng, Yuan; Fu, Xing; Gong, Mali

2017-10-01

The cross-modulation between the gain and chirped phase in chirped-pulse amplification (CPA) is theoretically and experimentally demonstrated. We propose a gain-phase coupled nonlinear Schrödinger equation (GPC-NLSE) for solving chirped-pulse propagation in a nonlinear gain medium involved in the gain-phase modulation (GPM) process. With the GPC-NLSE, the space-time-frequency-dependent gain, chirped phase, pulse, and spectrum evolutions can be precisely calculated. Moreover, a short-length high-gain Yb-doped fiber CPA experiment is presented in which a self-steepening distortion of the seed pulse is automatically compensated after amplification. This phenomenon can be explained by the GPM theory whereas conventional models cannot. The experimental results for the temporal and spectral intensities show excellent agreement with our theory. Our GPM theory paves the way for further investigations of the finer structures of the pulse and spectrum in CPA systems.

Precipitation from the GPM Microwave Imager and Constellation Radiometers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kummerow, Christian; Randel, David; Kirstetter, Pierre-Emmanuel; Kulie, Mark; Wang, Nai-Yu

2014-05-01

Satellite precipitation retrievals from microwave sensors are fundamentally underconstrained requiring either implicit or explicit a-priori information to constrain solutions. The radiometer algorithm designed for the GPM core and constellation satellites makes this a-priori information explicit in the form of a database of possible rain structures from the GPM core satellite and a Bayesian retrieval scheme. The a-priori database will eventually come from the GPM core satellite's combined radar/radiometer retrieval algorithm. That product is physically constrained to ensure radiometric consistency between the radars and radiometers and is thus ideally suited to create the a-priori databases for all radiometers in the GPM constellation. Until a robust product exists, however, the a-priori databases are being generated from the combination of existing sources over land and oceans. Over oceans, the Day-1 GPM radiometer algorithm uses the TRMM PR/TMI physically derived hydrometer profiles that are available from the tropics through sea surface temperatures of approximately 285K. For colder sea surface temperatures, the existing profiles are used with lower hydrometeor layers removed to correspond to colder conditions. While not ideal, the results appear to be reasonable placeholders until the full GPM database can be constructed. It is more difficult to construct physically consistent profiles over land due to ambiguities in surface emissivities as well as details of the ice scattering that dominates brightness temperature signatures over land. Over land, the a-priori databases have therefore been constructed by matching satellite overpasses to surface radar data derived from the WSR-88 network over the continental United States through the National Mosaic and Multi-Sensor QPE (NMQ) initiative. Databases are generated as a function of land type (4 categories of increasing vegetation cover as well as 4 categories of increasing snow depth), land surface temperature and total precipitable water. One year of coincident observations, generating 20 and 80 million database entries, depending upon the sensor, are used in the retrieval algorithm. The remaining areas such as sea ice and high latitude coastal zones are filled with a combination of CloudSat and AMSR-E plus MHS observations together with a model to create the equivalent databases for other radiometers in the constellation. The most noteworthy result from the Day-1 algorithm is the quality of the land products when compared to existing products. Unlike previous versions of land algorithms that depended upon complex screening routines to decide if pixels were precipitating or not, the current scheme is free of conditional rain statements and appears to produce rain rate with much greater fidelity than previous schemes. There results will be shown.

Comparison of GPM IMERG, TMPA 3B42 and PERSIANN-CDR satellite precipitation products over Malaysia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tan, Mou Leong; Santo, Harrif

2018-04-01

The launch of the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission has prompted the assessment of the newly released satellite precipitation products (SPPs) in different parts of the world. This study performed an initial comparison of three GPM IMERG products (IMERG_E, IMERG_L and IMERG_F) with its predecessor, the TMPA 3B42 and 3B42RT products, and a long-term PERSIANN-CDR product over Malaysia. The performance of six SPPs was evaluated using 501 precipitation gauges from 12 March 2014 to 29 February 2016. The annual, seasonal, monthly and daily precipitation measurements were validated using three widely used statistical metrics (CC, RMSE and RB). The precipitation detection capability (POD, FAR and CSI), probability density function (PDF) and the 2014-2015 flood event analysis were also considered in this assessment. The results show that all the SPPs perform well in annual and monthly precipitation measurements. The spatial variability of the total annual precipitation in 2015 is well captured by all six SPPs, with high precipitation amount in southern East Malaysia, and low precipitation amount in the middle part of Peninsular Malaysia. In contrast, all the SPPs show moderate correlation at daily precipitation estimations, with better performance during the northeast monsoon season. The performance of all the SPPs is better in eastern Peninsular Malaysia, but poorer in northern Peninsular Malaysia. All the SPPs have good precipitation detection ability, except the PERSIANN-CDR. All the SPPs underestimate the light (0-1 mm/day) and violent (> 50 mm/day) precipitation classes, but overestimate moderate and heavy (1-50 mm/day) precipitation classes. The IMERG is shown to have a better capability in detecting light precipitation (0-1 mm/day) compared to the other SPPs. The PERSIANN-CDR has the worst performance in capturing all the precipitation classes, with significant underestimation of light precipitation (0-1 mm/day) class and overestimation of moderate and heavy precipitation classes. The IMERG near-real time products with finer temporal and spatial resolutions can be regarded as a reliable precipitation source in studying the 2014-2015 flood event in Malaysia.

Ground-water geology of Karnes County, Texas

USGS Publications Warehouse

Anders, Robert B.

1963-01-01

Most of the usable ground water in Karnes County is of substandard quality; whereas water from the San Antonio River, although hard, is of excellent quality. Wells tapping the Carrizo may yield as much as 1,000 gpm in the northwestern part of the county; wells in the shallower formations may yield as much as 600 gpm in the most favorable areas, but in some places may yield only a few gallons per minute of water suitable only for stock.

A TRMM/GPM retrieval of the total mean generator current for the global electric circuit

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peterson, Michael; Deierling, Wiebke; Liu, Chuntao; Mach, Douglas; Kalb, Christina

2017-09-01

A specialized satellite version of the passive microwave electric field retrieval algorithm (Peterson et al., 2015) is applied to observations from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) and Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) satellites to estimate the generator current for the Global Electric Circuit (GEC) and compute its temporal variability. By integrating retrieved Wilson currents from electrified clouds across the globe, we estimate a total mean current of between 1.4 kA (assuming the 7% fraction of electrified clouds producing downward currents measured by the ER-2 is representative) to 1.6 kA (assuming all electrified clouds contribute to the GEC). These current estimates come from all types of convective weather without preference, including Electrified Shower Clouds (ESCs). The diurnal distribution of the retrieved generator current is in excellent agreement with the Carnegie curve (RMS difference: 1.7%). The temporal variability of the total mean generator current ranges from 110% on semi-annual timescales (29% on an annual timescale) to 7.5% on decadal timescales with notable responses to the Madden-Julian Oscillation and El Nino Southern Oscillation. The geographical distribution of current includes significant contributions from oceanic regions in addition to the land-based tropical chimneys. The relative importance of the Americas and Asia chimneys compared to Africa is consistent with the best modern ground-based observations and further highlights the importance of ESCs for the GEC.

WRF Simulations of the 20-22 January 2007 Snow Events over Eastern Canada: Comparison with In-Situ and Satellite Observations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shi, J. J.; Tao, W.-K.; Matsui, T.; Cifelli, R.; Huo, A.; Lang, S.; Tokay, A.; Peters-Lidard, C.; Jackson, G.; Rutledge, S.;

Development of ground-water supplies at Mississippi test facility, Hancock County, Mississippi

USGS Publications Warehouse

Newcome, Roy

1967-01-01

Potable and industrial water supplies at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Mississippi Test Facility in Hancock County, Miss., are obtained from large-capacity wells that tap southward-dipping water-bearing sands of Miocene and Pliocene age. The fresh-water-bearing section is 2,000-3,000 feet thick in the area, and individual aquifers are as thick as 450 feet. Aquifer thickness is not constant over large areas, however; and 100 feet is a more common thickness. Three wells installed for potable water supply are 1,434-1,524 feet deep and have produced 1,100-2,500 gpm (gallons per minute) by natural flow. Artesian pressure is sufficient to provide a static head as high as 90 feet above land surface. Planned use rate for two of the wells is about 600 gpm each and for the third, 1,250 gpm. Water for cooling Saturn rocket test-stand deflectors is obtained from three wells 1,873, 1,695, and 672 feet deep. The production rates of these wells are 3,100, 4,500, and 5,000 gpm, respectively; the wells are capable of supplying 7.5 million gallons in a 10-hour period (18 million gallons per day). Artesian head for the aquifers tapped by these wells ranges from 104 feet above land surface for the deepest aquifer to 15 feet for the shallowest. Aquifer transmissibilities determined in pumping tests range from 81,000 to 200,000 gallons per day per foot. Specific capacities of the wells range from a 15 to 47 gpm per foot of drawdown. Water from the supply wells is soft and of good quality. Dissolved solids range from 236 to 315 parts per million. The water is a sodium bicarbonate type, with high pH. The concentration of iron is less than 0.3 part per million. Water temperatures range from 79?F in the shallowest supply well to 100?F in the deepest.

Gpm Level 1 Science Requirements: Science and Performance Viewed from the Ground

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Petersen, W.; Kirstetter, P.; Wolff, D.; Kidd, C.; Tokay, A.; Chandrasekar, V.; Grecu, M.; Huffman, G.; Jackson, G. S.

2016-01-01

GPM meets Level 1 science requirements for rain estimation based on the strong performance of its radar algorithms. Changes in the V5 GPROF algorithm should correct errors in V4 and will likely resolve GPROF performance issues relative to L1 requirements. L1 FOV Snow detection largely verified but at unknown SWE rate threshold (likely < 0.5 –1 mm/hr/liquid equivalent). Ongoing work to improve SWE rate estimation for both satellite and GV remote sensing.

The Development and Design of a Prototype Ultra High Pressure P-19 Firefighting Vehicle

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-02-03

the energizing affects of a delivery pressure 4 times (approximately 1200 psi) the magnitude of the standard system at the bumper turret nozzle...permanently extinguish a fire. The onboard CAF system is capable of 300 gpm delivery of foam at approximately 165 psi out of the bumper turret, and a...hand line flowing 45 gpm at approximately 165 psi also. The dry chemical system is designed to flow approximately 7 pps from the bumper turret, and 5

MX Siting Investigation. Volume IIC. Geotechnical Report, Nellis Air Force Base Bombing and Gunnery Range (NBGR).

DTIC Science & Technology

1975-06-30

water holes in the mountain areas (Colton, 1965; Thordarson and Robinson, 1971; Winograd and others, 1971). Surface water conditions within NBGR are...gpm) to a maximum of over 400 gpm at Indian Spring ( Thordarson and Robinson, 1971). Most spring water not retained in catchments is lost to either...The earthquakes of Nevada and the tidal forces: Jour. Geophys. Research, v. 73, no. 18, p. 6013-6018. * Thordarson , W., and Robinson, B. P., 1971

National Climate Assessment

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-05-06

NASA Earth Science Division Director Michael Freilich shows meteorologists a model of the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory during a media event for the release of the Third U.S. National Climate Assessment, South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, May 6, 2014. NASA Earth-observing satellite observations and analysis by the NASA-supported research community underlie many of the findings in the new climate change assessment. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

The administration of renoprotective agents extends warm ischemia in a rat model.

PubMed

Cohen, Jacob; Dorai, Thambi; Ding, Cheng; Batinic-Haberle, Ines; Grasso, Michael

2013-03-01

Extended warm ischemia time during partial nephrectomy leads to considerable renal injury. Using a rat model of renal ischemia, we examined the ability of a unique renoprotective cocktail to ameliorate warm ischemia-reperfusion injury and extend warm ischemia time. A warm renal ischemia model was developed using Sprague-Dawley rats, clamping the left renal artery for 40, 50, 60, and 70 minutes, followed by 48 hours of reperfusion. An improved renoprotective cocktail referred to as I-GPM (a mixture of specific renoprotective growth factors, porphyrins, and mitochondria-protecting amino acids) was administered -24 hours, 0 hours, and +24 hours after surgery. At 48 hours, both kidneys were harvested and examined with hematoxylin and eosin and periodic acid-Schiff stains for the analysis of renal tubular necrosis. Creatinine, protein, and gene expression levels were also analyzed to evaluate several ischemia-specific and antioxidant response markers. I-GPM treated kidneys showed significant reversal of morphologic changes and a significant reduction in specific ischemic markers lipocalin-2, galectin-3, GRP-78, and HMGB1 compared with ischemic controls. These experiments also showed an upregulation of the stress response protein, heat shock protein (HSP)-70, as well as the phosphorylated active form of the transcription factor, heat shock factor (HSF)-1. In addition, quantitative RT-PCR analyses revealed a robust upregulation of several antioxidant pathway response genes in I-GPM treated animals. By histopathologic and several molecular measures, our unique renoprotective cocktail mitigated ischemia-reperfusion injury. Our cocktail minimized oxidative stress in an ischemic kidney rat model while at the same time protecting the global parenchymal function during extended periods of ischemia.

Version 4 IMERG: Investigating Runs and High Latitudes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huffman, G. J.; Bolvin, D. T.; Braithwaite, D.; Hsu, K. L.; Joyce, R.; Kidd, C.; Nelkin, E. J.; Sorooshian, S.; Tan, J.; Xie, P.

2016-12-01

The Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for GPM (IMERG) merged precipitation product is being computed by the U.S. Global Precipitation Measurement mission (GPM) science team, based on intercalibrated estimates from the international constellation of precipitation-relevant satellites and other data. Recently, GPM upgraded the precipitation retrieval algorithms applied to individual sensors, and following that, IMERG was upgraded to Version 4. These data sets are computed at the half hour, 0.1° x 0.1° resolution over the latitude belt 60°N-S. Various latency requirements for different users are accommodated by computing IMERG in three "Runs" - Early, Late, and Final (5 hours, 15 hours, and 2.5 months after observation time, respectively). The near-real-time Early and Late Runs and the research-quality Final Run incorporate increasing amounts of data; examples will highlight the contribution that additional data make for each Run. From Early to Late, the addition of backward propagated data in the Late allows temporally weighted interpolation of forward and backward propagated precipitation, rather than the forward-only extrapolation in the Early. From Late to Final, the major addition is the direct use of monthly precipitation gauge analysis (the Global Precipitation Climatology Centre's Monitoring Analysis), which mitigates the satellite biases over land for the Early and Late. In addition, the new capabilities of the input algorithms at higher latitudes will be discussed, both during the snow season and the summer rain season. These inputs have a dominant role in determining the utility of IMERG in all seasons. Rainfall over non-frozen surface is reasonably well represented, while precipitation over frozen surfaces is still a topic of active research.

Understanding the Global Water and Energy Cycle Through Assimilation of Precipitation-Related Observations: Lessons from TRMM and Prospects for GPM

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hou, Arthur; Zhang, Sara; daSilva, Arlindo; Li, Frank; Atlas, Robert (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

Understanding the Earth's climate and how it responds to climate perturbations relies on what we know about how atmospheric moisture, clouds, latent heating, and the large-scale circulation vary with changing climatic conditions. The physical process that links these key climate elements is precipitation. Improving the fidelity of precipitation-related fields in global analyses is essential for gaining a better understanding of the global water and energy cycle. In recent years, research and operational use of precipitation observations derived from microwave sensors such as the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Microwave Imager and Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I) have shown the tremendous potential of using these data to improve global modeling, data assimilation, and numerical weather prediction. We will give an overview of the benefits of assimilating TRMM and SSM/I rain rates and discuss developmental strategies for using space-based rainfall and rainfall-related observations to improve forecast models and climate datasets in preparation for the proposed multi-national Global Precipitation Mission (GPM).

NASA's Integrated Instrument Simulator Suite for Atmospheric Remote Sensing from Spaceborne Platforms (ISSARS) and Its Role for the ACE and GPM Missions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tanelli, Simone; Tao, Wei-Kuo; Hostetler, Chris; Kuo, Kwo-Sen; Matsui, Toshihisa; Jacob, Joseph C.; Niamsuwam, Noppasin; Johnson, Michael P.; Hair, John; Butler, Carolyn;

The Effect of Attending Good Psychiatric Management (GPM) Workshops on Attitudes Toward Patients With Borderline Personality Disorder.

PubMed

Keuroghlian, Alex S; Palmer, Brian A; Choi-Kain, Lois W; Borba, Christina P C; Links, Paul S; Gunderson, John G

2016-08-01

The effect that attending a 1-day workshop on Good Psychiatric Management (GPM) had on attitudes about borderline personality disorder (BPD) was assessed among 297 clinicians. Change was recorded by comparing before and after scores on a 9-item survey previously developed to assess the effects of workshops on Systems Training for Emotional Predictability and Problem Solving (STEPPS). Participants reported decreased inclination to avoid borderline patients, dislike of borderline patients, and belief that BPD's prognosis is hopeless, as well as increased feeling of competence, belief that borderline patients have low self-esteem, feeling of being able to make a positive difference, and belief that effective psychotherapies exist. Less clinical experience was related to an increased feeling of competence and belief that borderline patients have low self-esteem. These findings were compared to those from the STEPPS workshop. This assessment demonstrates GPM's potential for training clinicians to meet population-wide needs related to borderline personality disorder.

Remaining Useful Life Prediction for Lithium-Ion Batteries Based on Gaussian Processes Mixture

PubMed Central

Li, Lingling; Wang, Pengchong; Chao, Kuei-Hsiang; Zhou, Yatong; Xie, Yang

2016-01-01

The remaining useful life (RUL) prediction of Lithium-ion batteries is closely related to the capacity degeneration trajectories. Due to the self-charging and the capacity regeneration, the trajectories have the property of multimodality. Traditional prediction models such as the support vector machines (SVM) or the Gaussian Process regression (GPR) cannot accurately characterize this multimodality. This paper proposes a novel RUL prediction method based on the Gaussian Process Mixture (GPM). It can process multimodality by fitting different segments of trajectories with different GPR models separately, such that the tiny differences among these segments can be revealed. The method is demonstrated to be effective for prediction by the excellent predictive result of the experiments on the two commercial and chargeable Type 1850 Lithium-ion batteries, provided by NASA. The performance comparison among the models illustrates that the GPM is more accurate than the SVM and the GPR. In addition, GPM can yield the predictive confidence interval, which makes the prediction more reliable than that of traditional models. PMID:27632176

Evaluation of the Sarex (trade name) 5-gpm oil-water separator, Type B. Final report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Musa, G.D.

1986-06-01

This report covers an investigation conducted to evaluate the operational effectiveness of the Sarex 5 GPM Oil-Water Separator, Type B. The results of this study indicate that the Sarex 5 GPM Oil-Water Separator, Type B, is an effective method for the removal of crude oil from feedwater. The Sarex 5 GPM Oil-Water Separator Type B, could be operated under field conditions. An efficient and effective oil-water separator device is imperative in certain areas of the world where crude-oil contaminated feedwater is found. The presence of crude oil in the feedwater adversely affects the performance of the reverse osmosis water-purification unitsmore » (ROWPUs) used by the Army and Marines to purify fresh, brackish, and salt water. Both the 600 GPH ROWPU and the 150,000 GPD ROWPU use multi-media and cartridge filters for the removal of suspended solids from the feedwater before they enter the reverse-osmosis membranes. Removal of the crude oil, which affixes to the filters, is accomplished by a laborious cleaning process or by replacement of the filters. Crude oil or a derived soluble oil passing the filters and entering the reverse osmosis elements would result in decreased production rate, degradation of the membrane elements, and decreased quality of product water. Thus, satisfactory operation of the ROWPU in this scenario is dependent upon an efficient and effective oil-water separator device.« less

Assimilation of all-weather GMI and ATMS observations into HWRF

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moradi, I.; Evans, F.; McCarty, W.; Marks, F.; Eriksson, P.

2017-12-01

We propose a novel Bayesian Monte Carlo Integration (BMCI) technique to retrieve the profiles of temperature, water vapor, and cloud liquid/ice water content from microwave cloudy measurements in the presence of TCs. These retrievals then can either be directly used by meteorologists to analyze the structure of TCs or be assimilated to provide accurate initial conditions for the NWP models. The technique is applied to the data from the Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS) onboard Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP) and Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Microwave Imager (GMI).

Typhoon Maysak

NASA Image and Video Library

2015-03-31

ISS043E078169 (03/31/2015) --- This close up of the huge Typhoon Maysak "eye" of the category 5 (hurricane status on the Saffir-Simpson Wind Scale) was captured by astronauts on board the International Space Station Mar. 31, 2015. The massive Typhoon is headed toward the Philippines and expected to land on the upcoming Easter weekend. The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) and Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) satellites, both co-managed by NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, captured rainfall and cloud data that revealed very heavy rainfall and high thunderstorms in the still strengthening storm.

Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission Development Status

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Azarbarzin, Ardeshir Art

2011-01-01

Mission Objective: (1) Improve scientific understanding of the global water cycle and fresh water availability (2) Improve the accuracy of precipitation forecasts (3) Provide frequent and complete sampling of the Earth s precipitation Mission Description (Class B, Category I): (1) Constellation of spacecraft provide global precipitation measurement coverage (2) NASA/JAXA Core spacecraft: Provides a microwave radiometer (GMI) and dual-frequency precipitation radar (DPR) to cross-calibrate entire constellation (3) 65 deg inclination, 400 km altitude (4) Launch July 2013 on HII-A (5) 3 year mission (5 year propellant) (6) Partner constellation spacecraft.

Does GPM-based multi-satellite precipitation enhance rainfall estimates over Pakistan and Bolivia arid regions?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hussain, Y.; Satgé, F.; Bonnet, M. P.; Pillco, R.; Molina, J.; Timouk, F.; Roig, H.; Martinez-Carvajal, H., Sr.; Gulraiz, A.

2016-12-01

Arid regions are sensitive to rainfall variations which are expressed in the form of flooding and droughts. Unfortunately, those regions are poorly monitored and high quality rainfall estimates are still needed. The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission released two new satellite rainfall products named Integrated Multisatellite Retrievals GPM (IMERG) and Global Satellite Mapping of Precipitation version 6 (GSMaP-v6) bringing the possibility of accurate rainfall monitoring over these countries. This study assessed both products at monthly scale over Pakistan considering dry and wet season over the 4 main climatic zones from 2014 to 2016. With similar climatic conditions, the Altiplano region of Bolivia is considered to quantify the influence of big lakes (Titicaca and Poopó) in rainfall estimates. For comparison, the widely used TRMM-Multisatellite Precipitation Analysis 3B43 (TMPA-3B43) version 7 is also involved in the analysis to observe the potential enhancement in rainfall estimate brought by GPM products. Rainfall estimates derived from 110 rain-gauges are used as reference to compare IMERG, GSMaP-v6 and TMPA-3B43 at the 0.1° and 0.25° spatial resolution. Over both regions, IMERG and GSMaP-v6 capture the spatial pattern of precipitation as well as TMPA-3B43. All products tend to over estimates rainfall over very arid regions. This feature is even more marked during dry season. However, during this season, both reference and estimated rainfall remain very low and do not impact seasonal water budget computation. On a general way, IMERG slightly outperforms TMPA-3B43 and GSMaP-v6 which provides the less accurate rainfall estimate. The TMPA-3B43 rainfall underestimation previously found over Lake Titicaca is still observed in IMERG estimates. However, GSMaP-v6 considerably decreases the underestimation providing the most accurate rainfall estimate over the lake. MOD11C3 Land Surface Temperature (LST) and ASTER Global Emissivity Dataset reveal strong LST and Emissivity anomaly over the lake in comparison with surrounding lands. These anomalies should explain rainfall underestimations tendency over this lake. LST and Emissivity of lake Poopó are closest to surrounding land and the slight observed rainfall overestimation appears to be related to the very arid context of the region.

Aircraft Wing Fuel Tank Environmental Simulator Tests for Evaluation of Antimisting Fuels.

DTIC Science & Technology

1984-10-01

C.*: % _ _ _.__ _ o During boost pump operation, strands of a gel-like, semi-transparent material were observed on the free surface of the fuel and...Boeing Materials Technology (BMT) laboratory to measure the water content of the fuel samples is described in appendix C. 2.5.3 Water Ingestion Results...Jet A pump at 8 gpm 32 .. . . ... . . . . . . . -%tr. go*7 .*.**.*.*..* -*.... * . . recuroed for each fueling increment. From these data a height

National Dam Inspection Program. Broadford Run Dam. Little Youghiogheny River Site Number 6. (NDI I.D. Number MD-361) Ohio River Basin. Broadford Run. Garrett County, Maryland. Phase I Inspection Report,

DTIC Science & Technology

1979-07-01

lines, offset by 4 ft. These grout lines were drilled and grouted by the split spacing method along the centerline of the dam. Three stage grouting was...estimated as 656,000 gallons per day (450 gpm), as computed by the Darcy Short Path Method . Permeable zones in the bedrock foundation were also encountered...upstream and downstream embankments was evaluated at Sta. 11+75 (maximum section) using the Swedish Circular Arc Method . The analyses considered a 48

Preparing Precipitation Data Access, Value-added Services and Scientific Exploration Tools for the Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for GPM (IMERG)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ostrenga, D.; Liu, Z.; Kempler, S. J.; Vollmer, B.; Teng, W. L.

2013-12-01

The Precipitation Data and Information Services Center (PDISC) (http://disc.gsfc.nasa.gov/precipitation or google: NASA PDISC), located at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) Earth Sciences (GES) Data and Information Services Center (DISC), is home of the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) data archive. For over 15 years, the GES DISC has served not only TRMM, but also other space-based, airborne-based, field campaign and ground-based precipitation data products to the precipitation community and other disciplinary communities as well. The TRMM Multi-Satellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA) products are the most popular products in the TRMM product family in terms of data download and access through Mirador, the GES-DISC Interactive Online Visualization ANd aNalysis Infrastructure (Giovanni) and other services. The next generation of TMPA, the Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for GPM (IMERG) to be released in 2014 after the launch of GPM, will be significantly improved in terms of spatial and temporal resolutions. To better serve the user community, we are preparing data services and samples are listed below. To enable scientific exploration of Earth science data products without going through complicated and often time consuming processes, such as data downloading, data processing, etc., the GES DISC has developed Giovanni in consultation with members of the user community, requesting quick search, subset, analysis and display capabilities for their specific data of interest. For example, the TRMM Online Visualization and Analysis System (TOVAS, http://disc2.nascom.nasa.gov/Giovanni/tovas/) has proven extremely popular, especially as additional datasets have been added upon request. Giovanni will continue to evolve to accommodate GPM data and the multi-sensor data inter-comparisons that will be sure to follow. Additional PDISC tool and service capabilities being adapted for GPM data include: An on-line PDISC Portal (includes user guide, etc.); Data ingest, processing, distribution from on-line archive; Google-like Mirador data search and access engine; electronic distribution, Subscriptions; Uses semantic technology to help manage large amounts of multi-sensor data and their relationships; Data drill down and search capabilities; Data access through various web services, i.e., OPeNDAP, GDS, WMS, WCS; Conversion into various formats, e.g., netCDF, HDF, KML (for Google Earth), ascii; Exploration, visualization and statistical online analysis through Giovanni; Visualization and analysis of L2 data profiles and maps; Generation of derived products, such as, daily products; Parameter and spatial subsetting; Time and temporal aggregation; Regridding; Data version control and provenance; Data Stewardship - Continuous archive verification; Documentation; Science support for proper data usage, help desk; Monitoring services for applications; Expertise in data related standards and interoperability. This presentation will further describe the data services at the PDISC that are currently being utilized by precipitation science and application researchers, and the preparation plan for IMERG. Comments and feedback are welcome.

Crowd-Sourcing with K-12 citizen scientists: The Continuing Evolution of the GLOBE Program

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Murphy, T.; Wegner, K.; Andersen, T. J.

2016-12-01

Twenty years ago, the Internet was still in its infancy, citizen science was a relatively unknown term, and the idea of a global citizen science database was unheard of. Then the Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) Program was proposed and this all changed. GLOBE was one of the first K-12 citizen science programs on a global scale. An initial large scale ramp-up of the program was followed by the establishment of a network of partners in countries and within the U.S. Now in the 21st century, the program has over 50 protocols in atmosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere and pedosphere, almost 140 million measurements in the database, a visualization system, collaborations with NASA satellite mission scientists (GPM, SMAP) and other scientists, as well as research projects by GLOBE students. As technology changed over the past two decades, it was integrated into the program's outreach efforts to existing and new members with the result that the program now has a strong social media presence. In 2016, a new app was launched which opened up GLOBE and data entry to citizen scientists of all ages. The app is aimed at fresh audiences, beyond the traditional GLOBE K-12 community. Groups targeted included: scouting organizations, museums, 4H, science learning centers, retirement communities, etc. to broaden participation in the program and increase the number of data available to students and scientists. Through the 20 years of GLOBE, lessons have been learned about changing the management of this type of large-scale program, the use of technology to enhance and improve the experience for members, and increasing community involvement in the program.

Validation of estimation algorithm of dual frequency precipitation radar (DPR) onboard on the GPM satellite, using in situ data over the Mantaro valley, Peruvian Andes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Silva, Y.; Villalobos, E.; Chavez, S. P.

2016-12-01

The measurement of precipitation by remote sensing requires comparison and validation with in situ observations. Therefore, in the present study we validate the estimation of precipitation from the dual frequency radar (DPR) onboard the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) core satellite, in particular the parameters a and b used by the empirical relationship between the measured reflectivity factor (Z) by the DPR and estimated rate rain (R) and we compare them with the parameters calculated from an optical disdrometer and filter paper technique. The product level is 2A from the DPR which consists of two radars of precipitation and cloud (Ku and Ka band) which provides three-dimensional information of hydrometers with high horizontal resolution (0.05 degrees). The analyzed data was from November 2014 to March 2015, the wet season in the study region. The rainfall measured by the filter paper constrain the analysis to the stratiform type, so we have selected the same type of rainfall for the DPR and the disdrometer, based in rainfall intensity less than 1 mm/h. The obteined parameter values are: for the Ku-band radar (a=0.200 and b=0.669), Ka-band radar (a=0.015 and b=0.675), for filter paper technique (a=0.017 and b=0.671) and disdrometer (a=0.027 and b=0.698). These results show that there are a slight differences in the b parameter, while the differences are greater for the a parameter.

An Initial Assessment of the Surface Reference Technique Applied to Data from the Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) on the GPM Satellite

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Meneghini, Robert; Kim, Hyokyung; Liao, Liang; Jones, Jeffrey A.; Kwiatkowski, John M.

2015-01-01

It has long been recognized that path-integrated attenuation (PIA) can be used to improve precipitation estimates from high-frequency weather radar data. One approach that provides an estimate of this quantity from airborne or spaceborne radar data is the surface reference technique (SRT), which uses measurements of the surface cross section in the presence and absence of precipitation. Measurements from the dual-frequency precipitation radar (DPR) on the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) satellite afford the first opportunity to test the method for spaceborne radar data at Ka band as well as for the Ku-band-Ka-band combination. The study begins by reviewing the basis of the single- and dual-frequency SRT. As the performance of the method is closely tied to the behavior of the normalized radar cross section (NRCS or sigma(0)) of the surface, the statistics of sigma(0) derived from DPR measurements are given as a function of incidence angle and frequency for ocean and land backgrounds over a 1-month period. Several independent estimates of the PIA, formed by means of different surface reference datasets, can be used to test the consistency of the method since, in the absence of error, the estimates should be identical. Along with theoretical considerations, the comparisons provide an initial assessment of the performance of the single- and dual-frequency SRT for the DPR. The study finds that the dual-frequency SRT can provide improvement in the accuracy of path attenuation estimates relative to the single-frequency method, particularly at Ku band.

Utilizing NASA Earth Observations to Assess Landslide Characteristics and Devlelop Susceptibility and Exposure Maps in Malawi

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Klug, M.; Cissell, J.; Grossman, M.

2017-12-01

Malawi has become increasingly prone to landslides in the past few decades. This can be attributed to the terrain, types of soil and vegetation, increased human interference, and heavy flooding after long periods of drought. In addition to the floods and droughts, landslides cause extra stress to farmlands, thus exacerbating the current food security crisis in the country. It can be difficult to pinpoint just how many people are affected by landslides in Malawi because landslides often occur in rural areas or are grouped with other disasters, such as floods or earthquakes. This project created a Landslide Susceptibility Map to assess landslide-prone areas in Malawi using variables such as slope, distance to roads, distance to streams, soil type, and precipitation. These variables were derived using imagery from Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI), Shuttle Radar Topography Mission Version 3 (SRTM-v3), Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM), and Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellites. Furthermore, this project created a Landslide Exposure Map to estimate how much of the local population lives in susceptible areas by intersecting population data with the Landslide Susceptibility Map. Additionally, an assessment of GPM and TRMM precipitation measurements was generated to better understand the reliability of both measurements for landslide monitoring. Finally, this project updated NASA SERVIR's Global Landslide Catalog (GLC) for Malawi by using WorldView data from Google Earth and Landsat 8 OLI. These end products were used by NASA SERVIR and the Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development (RCMRD) for aiding in disaster management throughout Malawi.

Assessment of global precipitation measurement satellite products over Saudi Arabia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mahmoud, Mohammed T.; Al-Zahrani, Muhammad A.; Sharif, Hatim O.

2018-04-01

Most hydrological analysis and modeling studies require reliable and accurate precipitation data for successful simulations. However, precipitation measurements should be more representative of the true precipitation distribution. Many approaches and techniques are used to collect precipitation data. Recently, hydrometeorological and climatological applications of satellite precipitation products have experienced a significant improvement with the emergence of the latest satellite products, namely, the Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission (IMERG) products, which can be utilized to estimate and analyze precipitation data. This study focuses on the validation of the IMERG early, late and final run rainfall products using ground-based rain gauge observations throughout Saudi Arabia for the period from October 2015 to April 2016. The accuracy of each IMERG product is assessed using six statistical performance measures to conduct three main evaluations, namely, regional, event-based and station-based evaluations. The results indicate that the early run product performed well in the middle and eastern parts as well as some of the western parts of the country; meanwhile, the satellite estimates for the other parts fluctuated between an overestimation and an underestimation. The late run product showed an improved accuracy over the southern and western parts; however, over the northern and middle parts, it showed relatively high errors. The final run product revealed significantly improved precipitation estimations and successfully obtained higher accuracies over most parts of the country. This study provides an early assessment of the performance of the GPM satellite products over the Middle East. The study findings can be used as a beneficial reference for the future development of the IMERG algorithms.

Assessing Applications of GPM and IMERG Passive Microwave Rain Rates in Modeling and Operational Forecasting

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zavodsky, B.; Le Roy, A.; Smith, M. R.; Case, J.

2016-12-01

In support of NASA's recently launched GPM `core' satellite, the NASA-SPoRT project is leveraging experience in research-to-operations transitions and training to provide feedback on the operational utility of GPM products. Thus far, SPoRT has focused on evaluating the Level 2 GPROF passive microwave and IMERG rain rate estimates. Formal evaluations with end-users have occurred, as well as internal evaluations of the datasets. One set of end users for these products is National Weather Service Forecast Offices (WFOs) and National Weather Service River Forecast Centers (RFCs), comprising forecasters and hydrologists. SPoRT has hosted a series of formal assessments to determine uses and utility of these datasets for NWS operations at specific offices. Forecasters primarily have used Level 2 swath rain rates to observe rainfall in otherwise data-void regions and to confirm model QPF for their nowcasting or short-term forecasting. Hydrologists have been evaluating both the Level 2 rain rates and the IMERG rain rates, including rain rate accumulations derived from IMERG; hydrologists have used these data to supplement gauge data for post-event analysis as well as for longer-term forecasting. Results from specific evaluations will be presented. Another evaluation of the GPM passive microwave rain rates has been in using the data within other products that are currently transitioned to end-users, rather than as stand-alone observations. For example, IMERG Early data is being used as a forcing mechanism in the NASA Land Information System (LIS) for real-time soil moisture product over eastern Africa. IMERG is providing valuable precipitation information to LIS in an otherwise data-void region. Results and caveats will briefly be discussed. A third application of GPM data is using the IMERG Late and Final products for model verification in remote regions where high-quality gridded precipitation fields are not readily available. These datasets can now be used to verify NWP model forecasts over Eastern Africa using the SPoRT-MET scripts verification package, a wrapper around the NCAR Model Evaluation Toolkit (MET) verification software.

Comparison of Two Methods for Detecting Alternative Splice Variants Using GeneChip® Exon Arrays

PubMed Central

Fan, Wenhong; Stirewalt, Derek L.; Radich, Jerald P.; Zhao, Lueping

2011-01-01

The Affymetrix GeneChip Exon Array can be used to detect alternative splice variants. Microarray Detection of Alternative Splicing (MIDAS) and Partek® Genomics Suite (Partek® GS) are among the most popular analytical methods used to analyze exon array data. While both methods utilize statistical significance for testing, MIDAS and Partek® GS could produce somewhat different results due to different underlying assumptions. Comparing MIDAS and Partek® GS is quite difficult due to their substantially different mathematical formulations and assumptions regarding alternative splice variants. For meaningful comparison, we have used the previously published generalized probe model (GPM) which encompasses both MIDAS and Partek® GS under different assumptions. We analyzed a colon cancer exon array data set using MIDAS, Partek® GS and GPM. MIDAS and Partek® GS produced quite different sets of genes that are considered to have alternative splice variants. Further, we found that GPM produced results similar to MIDAS as well as to Partek® GS under their respective assumptions. Within the GPM, we show how discoveries relating to alternative variants can be quite different due to different assumptions. MIDAS focuses on relative changes in expression values across different exons within genes and tends to be robust but less efficient. Partek® GS, however, uses absolute expression values of individual exons within genes and tends to be more efficient but more sensitive to the presence of outliers. From our observations, we conclude that MIDAS and Partek® GS produce complementary results, and discoveries from both analyses should be considered. PMID:23675234

Global Precipitation Measurement Mission: Architecture and Mission Concept

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bundas, David

2005-01-01

The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission is a collaboration between the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), and other partners, with the goal of monitoring the diurnal and seasonal variations in precipitation over the surface of the earth. These measurements will be used to improve current climate models and weather forecasting, and enable improved storm and flood warnings. This paper gives an overview of the mission architecture and addresses some of the key trades that have been completed, including the selection of the Core Observatory s orbit, orbit maintenance trades, and design issues related to meeting orbital debris requirements.

National Climate Assessment

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-05-06

NASA Earth Science Division Director Michael Freilich shows meteorologists an AERONET sun photometer, right, and a model of the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory during a media event for the release of the Third U.S. National Climate Assessment, South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, May 6, 2014. NASA Earth-observing satellite observations and analysis by the NASA-supported research community underlie many of the findings in the new climate change assessment. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Assimilating All-Sky GPM Microwave Imager(GMI) Radiance Data in NASA GEOS-5 System for Global Cloud and Precipitation Analyses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, M. J.; Jin, J.; McCarty, W.; Todling, R.; Holdaway, D. R.; Gelaro, R.

2014-12-01

The NASA Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO) works to maximize the impact of satellite observations in the analysis and prediction of climate and weather through integrated Earth system modeling and data assimilation. To achieve this goal, the GMAO undertakes model and assimilation development, generates products to support NASA instrument teams and the NASA Earth science program. Currently Atmospheric Data Assimilation System (ADAS) in the Goddard Earth Observing System Model, Version 5(GEOS-5) system combines millions of observations and short-term forecasts to determine the best estimate, or analysis, of the instantaneous atmospheric state. However, ADAS has been geared towards utilization of observations in clear sky conditions and the majority of satellite channel data affected by clouds are discarded. Microwave imager data from satellites can be a significant source of information for clouds and precipitation but the data are presently underutilized, as only surface rain rates from the Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission (TRMM) Microwave Imager (TMI) are assimilated with small weight assigned in the analysis process. As clouds and precipitation often occur in regions with high forecast sensitivity, improvements in the temperature, moisture, wind and cloud analysis of these regions are likely to contribute to significant gains in numerical weather prediction accuracy. This presentation is intended to give an overview of GMAO's recent progress in assimilating the all-sky GPM Microwave Imager (GMI) radiance data in GEOS-5 system. This includes development of various new components to assimilate cloud and precipitation affected data in addition to data in clear sky condition. New observation operators, quality controls, moisture control variables, observation and background error models, and a methodology to incorporate the linearlized moisture physics in the assimilation system are described. In addition preliminary results showing impacts of assimilating all-sky GMI data on GEOS-5 forecasts are discussed.

NASA GPM GV Science Implementation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Petersen, W. A.

2009-01-01

Pre-launch algorithm development & post-launch product evaluation: The GPM GV paradigm moves beyond traditional direct validation/comparison activities by incorporating improved algorithm physics & model applications (end-to-end validation) in the validation process. Three approaches: 1) National Network (surface): Operational networks to identify and resolve first order discrepancies (e.g., bias) between satellite and ground-based precipitation estimates. 2) Physical Process (vertical column): Cloud system and microphysical studies geared toward testing and refinement of physically-based retrieval algorithms. 3) Integrated (4-dimensional): Integration of satellite precipitation products into coupled prediction models to evaluate strengths/limitations of satellite precipitation producers.

TMDs and SSAs in hadronic interactions

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Aschenauer, E. C.; D’Alesio, U.; Murgia, F.

2016-06-17

Here we present an overview on the current experimental and phenomenological status of transverse single spin asymmetries (tSSAs) in proton-proton collisions. In particular, we focus on large- pT inclusive pion, photon, jet, pion-jet production and Drell-Yan processes. For all of them theoretical estimates are given in terms of a generalised parton model (GPM) based on a transverse momentum dependent (TMD) factorisation scheme. We also make comparisons with the corresponding results in a collinear twist-3 formalism and in a modified GPM approach. On the experimental side, a selection of the most interesting and recent results from RHIC is presented.

Liquid-Xe detector for contraband detection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vartsky, D.; Israelashvili, I.; Cortesi, M.; Arazi, L.; Coimbra, A. E.; Moleri, L.; Erdal, E.; Bar, D.; Rappaport, M.; Shchemelinin, S.; Caspi, E. N.; Aviv, O.; Breskin, A.

2016-07-01

We describe progress made with a liquid-Xe (LXe) detector coupled to a gaseous photomultiplier (GPM), for combined imaging and spectroscopy of fast neutrons and gamma-rays in the MeV range. The purpose of this detector is to enable the detection of hidden explosives and fissile materials in cargo and containers. The expected position resolution is about 2 m and 3.5 mm for fast neutrons and gamma-rays, respectively. Experimental results obtained using an 241Am source yielded energy and time resolutions of 11% and 1.2 ns RMS, respectively. Initial results obtained with the position-sensitive GPM are presented.

NASA Lewis Research Center's Preheated Combustor and Materials Test Facility

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nemets, Steve A.; Ehlers, Robert C.; Parrott, Edith

1995-01-01

The Preheated Combustor and Materials Test Facility (PCMTF) in the Engine Research Building (ERB) at the NASA Lewis Research Center is one of two unique combustor facilities that provide a nonvitiated air supply to two test stands, where the air can be used for research combustor testing and high-temperature materials testing. Stand A is used as a research combustor stand, whereas stand B is used for cyclic and survivability tests of aerospace materials at high temperatures. Both stands can accommodate in-house and private industry research programs. The PCMTF is capable of providing up to 30 lb/s (pps) of nonvitiated, 450 psig combustion air at temperatures ranging from 850 to 1150 g F. A 5000 gal tank located outdoors adjacent to the test facility can provide jet fuel at a pressure of 900 psig and a flow rate of 11 gal/min (gpm). Gaseous hydrogen from a 70,000 cu ft (CF) tuber is also available as a fuel. Approximately 500 gpm of cooling water cools the research hardware and exhaust gases. Such cooling is necessary because the air stream reaches temperatures as high as 3000 deg F. The PCMTF provides industry and Government with a facility for studying the combustion process and for obtaining valuable test information on advanced materials. This report describes the facility's support systems and unique capabilities.

GPM Plans for Radiometer Intercalibration

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stocker, Erich Franz; Stout, John; Chou, Joyce

2011-01-01

The international Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission led by NASA and JAXA is planned as a multi-radiometer constellation mission. A key mission component is the ability to intercalibrate the Tb from the partner constellation radiometers and create inter-calibrated, mission consistent Tc. One of the enabling strategies for this approach is the launching of a joint NASA/JAXA core satellite which contains a JAXA/NICT provided dual precipitation radar and a NASA provided Microwave Imaging passive radiometer. The observations from these instruments on the core satellite provide the opportunity to develop a transfer reference standard that can then be applied across the partner provided constellation radiometers that enables the creation of mission consistent brightness temperatures. The other aspect of the strategy is the development of a community consensus intercalibration algorithm that will be applied to the Tb observations from partner radiometers and create the best calibrated Tc. Also described is the development of the framework in which the inter-calibration is included in the final algorithm. A part of the latter effort has been the development of a generic, logical structure which can be applied across radiometer types and which guarantees the user community that key information for using Tc properly is recorded. Key

Global snowfall: A combined CloudSat, GPM, and reanalysis perspective.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Milani, Lisa; Kulie, Mark S.; Skofronick-Jackson, Gail; Munchak, S. Joseph; Wood, Norman B.; Levizzani, Vincenzo

2017-04-01

Quantitative global snowfall estimates derived from multi-year data records will be presented to highlight recent advances in high latitude precipitation retrievals using spaceborne observations. More specifically, the analysis features the 2006-2016 CloudSat Cloud Profiling Radar (CPR) and the 2014-2016 Global Precipitation (GPM) Microwave Imager (GMI) and Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) observational datasets and derived products. The ERA-Interim reanalysis dataset is also used to define the meteorological context and an independent combined modeling/observational evaluation dataset. An overview is first provided of CloudSat CPR-derived results that have stimulated significant recent research regarding global snowfall, including seasonal analyses of unique snowfall modes. GMI and DPR global annual snowfall retrievals are then evaluated against the CloudSat estimates to highlight regions where the datasets provide both consistent and diverging snowfall estimates. A hemispheric seasonal analysis for both datasets will also be provided. These comparisons aim at providing a unified global snowfall characterization that leverages the respective instrument's strengths. Attention will also be devoted to regions around the globe that experience unique snowfall modes. For instance, CloudSat has demonstrated an ability to effectively discern snowfall produced by shallow cumuliform cloud structures (e.g., lake/ocean-induced convective snow produced by air/water interactions associated with seasonal cold air outbreaks). The CloudSat snowfall database also reveals prevalent seasonal shallow cumuliform snowfall trends over climate-sensitive regions like the Greenland Ice Sheet. Other regions with unique snowfall modes, such as the US East Coast winter storm track zone that experiences intense snowfall rates directly associated with strong low pressure systems, will also be highlighted to demonstrate GPM's observational effectiveness. Linkages between CloudSat and GPM global snowfall analyses and independent ERA-Interim datasets will also be presented as a final evaluation exercise.

Test drilling and aquifer test in the Marburg schist near Mount Airy, Frederick County, Maryland

USGS Publications Warehouse

Meyer, Gerald

1955-01-01

This memorandum summarizes briefly the data obtained by test drilling and in an aquifer test at Mount Airy, Md. The tests were a part of the State - Federal cooperative study of the ground-water resources of Frederick County, and it is intended that a more complete analysis of the test data will be included in a future report describing the ground-water resource of Frederick County. The purpose of this memorandum is to make the test data immediately available to the general public. Mount Airy is located along the Carroll-Frederick County boundary bout 2 miles north of the intersection of U.S. Highway 40 with the county boundary. Its population is approximately 1,000. The municipal well field, consisting of two drilled wells (fig. 1) is in a valley about one-half mile west of the center of Mount Airy, within about 400 feet of a small stream, and north of Prospect Road. Well 1, about 40 feet north of Prospect Road, is 125 feet deep, 8 inches in diameter, and reportedly yielded 265 gallons per minute (gpm) in 1947 and 201 gpm in a half hour test in March 1955. The writer determined during the tests described in this memorandum that the well has about 34 feet of casing. Well 2, 85 feet north of well 1, is 96 feet deep, 8 inches in diameter, and reportedly yielded 120 gpm in 1947 and 127 gpm in a half hour test in March 1955. The wells are equipped with deep-well turbine pumps powered by electric motors. Cenorally only well 1 is used, and it is pumped for only a few short intervals each day to meet the water requirements of the town (about 75,000 - 80,000 gallons daily). The reported yields of these wells are considerably higher than the average for crystalline-rock wells in the Piedmont of Maryland. The test drilling was done under contract with Edward I. Brown, well driller, between May 3 and May 12, 1955. Water-supply facilities of the town of Mount Airy were kindly made available for the aquifer tests from May 22 to May 30, 1955. The pumping tests consisted of a step-drawdown and interference test on the public-supply wells on May 30, 1955, and aquifer test in which public-supply well 1 was pumped constantly for 48 hours and the effect of this pumpage was measured in all the wells and test holes on May 23-25.

Interactive Visualization of Near Real Time and Production Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission Data Online Using CesiumJS

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lammers, Matthew

2016-01-01

Advancements in the capabilities of JavaScript frameworks and web browsing technology make online visualization of large geospatial datasets viable. Commonly this is done using static image overlays, prerendered animations, or cumbersome geoservers. These methods can limit interactivity andor place a large burden on server-side post-processing and storage of data. Geospatial data, and satellite data specifically, benefit from being visualized both on and above a three-dimensional surface. The open-source JavaScript framework CesiumJS, developed by Analytical Graphics, Inc., leverages the WebGL protocol to do just that. It has entered the void left by the abandonment of the Google Earth Web API, and it serves as a capable and well-maintained platform upon which data can be displayed. This paper will describe the technology behind the two primary products developed as part of the NASA Precipitation Processing System STORM website: GPM Near Real Time Viewer (GPMNRTView) and STORM Virtual Globe (STORM VG). GPMNRTView reads small post-processed CZML files derived from various Level 1 through 3 near real-time products. For swath-based products, several brightness temperature channels or precipitation-related variables are available for animating in virtual real-time as the satellite-observed them on and above the Earths surface. With grid-based products, only precipitation rates are available, but the grid points are visualized in such a way that they can be interactively examined to explore raw values. STORM VG reads values directly off the HDF5 files, converting the information into JSON on the fly. All data points both on and above the surface can be examined here as well. Both the raw values and, if relevant, elevations are displayed. Surface and above-ground precipitation rates from select Level 2 and 3 products are shown. Examples from both products will be shown, including visuals from high impact events observed by GPM constellation satellites.

GPM Precipitation Estimates over the Walnut Gulch Experimental Watershed/LTAR site in Southeastern Arizona

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goodrich, D. C.; Tan, J.; Petersen, W. A.; Unkrich, C. C.; Demaria, E. M.; Hazenberg, P.; Lakshmi, V.

2017-12-01

Precipitation profiles from the GPM Core Observatory Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) form part of the a priori database used in GPM Goddard Profiling (GPROF) algorithm passive microwave radiometer retrievals of rainfall. The GPROF retrievals are in turn used as high quality precipitation estimates in gridded products such as IMERG. Due to the variability in and high surface emissivity of land surfaces, GPROF performs precipitation retrievals as a function of surface classes. As such, different surface types may possess different error characteristics, especially over arid regions where high quality ground measurements are often lacking. Importantly, the emissive properties of land also result in GPROF rainfall estimates being driven primarily by the higher frequency radiometer channels (e.g., > 89 GHz) where precipitation signals are most sensitive to coupling between the ice-phase and rainfall production. In this study, we evaluate the rainfall estimates from the Ku channel of the DPR as well as GPROF estimates from various passive microwave sensors. Our evaluation is conducted at the level of individual satellite pixels (5 to 15 km in diameter), against a dense network of weighing rain gauges (90 in 150 km2) in the USDA-ARS Walnut Gulch Experimental Watershed and Long-Term Agroecosystem Research (LTAR) site in southeastern Arizona. The multiple gauges in each satellite pixel and precise accumulation about the overpass time allow a spatially and temporally representative comparison between the satellite estimates and ground reference. Over Walnut Gulch, both the Ku and GPROF estimates are challenged to delineate between rain and no-rain. Probabilities of detection are relatively high, but false alarm ratios are also high. The rain intensities possess a negative bias across nearly all sensors. It is likely that storm types, arid conditions and the highly variable precipitation regime present a challenge to both rainfall retrieval algorithms. An array of ground-based sensors is being deployed during the 2017 monsoon season to better understand possible reasons for this discrepancy.

Does the GPM mission resolve the systematic error dependence with climatology and topography - a statistical and hydrologic evaluation over India?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beria, H.; Nanda, T., Sr.; Bisht, D. S.; Chatterjee, C.

2016-12-01

Increasing hydrologic extremes in a changing climate with lack of quality rainfall forcings have inspired the development of a number of satellite and reanalysis based precipitation products in the past decade. Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) has emerged as the front runner in this race, providing high quality precipitation forcings in the tropical part of the world. However, TRMM is known to suffer from its poor sensitivity to low rainfall intensities due to limited resolving power of its sensors, and is also not known to accurately resolve topography in its rainfall estimates. The Global Precipitation Mission (GPM), a follow-up mission of TRMM, promises enhanced spatio-temporal resolution along with upgrades in sensors and rainfall estimation techniques. In this study, the rainfall estimates of Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for GPM (IMERG), was compared with those of TRMM for the major basins in India for the year 2014. IMERG depicted higher skill (in terms of correlation) for the majority of basins at all rainfall intensities, with a drastic improvement in low rainfall estimates (smaller biases in 75 out of 86 basins). IMERG was found to improve the topographic resolution, with lower error in high elevation basins. IMERG could better resolve the sharp topographic gradient in the Western Ghat region of India. However, IMERG suffered from poor skill in the semi-arid basins of Rajasthan, at all rainfall intensities. Rainfall-runoff exercise over Mahanadi River basin (a flood prone basin on the Eastern coast of India) using Variable Infiltration Capacity Model (VIC) showed better simulations with TRMM, mainly due to the overestimation of low rainfall events by IMERG. Also, the calibration scheme could be put to fault as the period of availability of IMERG is rather small, and more in-depth hydrologic analysis could only be carried out with sufficiently longer time series. Overall, the fine spatial and temporal resolution along with improved accuracy, promises new horizons in hydrologic forecasting under data scarcity.

Converting to DEA/MDEA mix ups sweetening capacity

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Spears, M.L.; Hagan, K.M.; Bullin, J.A.

1996-08-12

Mixing amines can be the best method for increasing capacity or improving efficiency in an amine sweetening unit. In many cases, it may be possible simply to add a second amine to the existing solution on the fly, or as the unit is running. Union Pacific Resources` Bryan, Tex., gas plant provides one example. The plant was converted from diethanolamine (DEA) to a DEA/MDEA (methyl DEA) mixture after analysis by TSWEET, a process-simulation program. After conversion, CO{sub 2} levels in the sales gas fell to less than pipeline specifications. Data were taken for the absorber at a constant amine circulationmore » of 120 gpm. A comparison of the performance data to the values calculated by the program proved the accuracy of TSWEET. The conversion and performance of the plant are described.« less

A Ground Validation Network for the Global Precipitation Measurement Mission

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schwaller, Mathew R.; Morris, K. Robert

2011-01-01

A prototype Validation Network (VN) is currently operating as part of the Ground Validation System for NASA's Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission. The VN supports precipitation retrieval algorithm development in the GPM prelaunch era. Postlaunch, the VN will be used to validate GPM spacecraft instrument measurements and retrieved precipitation data products. The period of record for the VN prototype starts on 8 August 2006 and runs to the present day. The VN database includes spacecraft data from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) precipitation radar (PR) and coincident ground radar (GR) data from operational meteorological networks in the United States, Australia, Korea, and the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Satellite and ground radar data products are collected whenever the PR satellite track crosses within 200 km of a VN ground radar, and these data are stored permanently in the VN database. VN products are generated from coincident PR and GR observations when a significant rain event occurs. The VN algorithm matches PR and GR radar data (including retrieved precipitation data in the case of the PR) by calculating averages of PR reflectivity (both raw and attenuation corrected) and rain rate, and GR reflectivity at the geometric intersection of the PR rays with the individual GR elevation sweeps. The algorithm thus averages the minimum PR and GR sample volumes needed to "matchup" the spatially coincident PR and GR data types. The result of this technique is a set of vertical profiles for a given rainfall event, with coincident PR and GR samples matched at specified heights throughout the profile. VN data can be used to validate satellite measurements and to track ground radar calibration over time. A comparison of matched TRMM PR and GR radar reflectivity factor data found a remarkably small difference between the PR and GR radar reflectivity factor averaged over this period of record in stratiform and convective rain cases when samples were taken from high in the atmosphere. A significant difference in PR and GR reflectivity was found in convective cases, particularly in convective samples from the lower part of the atmosphere. In this case, the mean difference between PR and corrected GR reflectivity was -1.88 dBZ. The PR-GR bias was found to increase with the amount of PR attenuation correction applied, with the PR-GR bias reaching -3.07 dBZ in cases where the attenuation correction applied is greater than 6 dBZ. Additional analysis indicated that the version 6 TRMM PR retrieval algorithm underestimates rainfall in case of convective rain in the lower part of the atmosphere by 30%-40%.

Mental health service utilization of Somali adolescents: religion, community, and school as gateways to healing.

PubMed

Ellis, B Heidi; Lincoln, Alisa K; Charney, Meredith E; Ford-Paz, Rebecca; Benson, Molly; Strunin, Lee

2010-11-01

This mixed-method study examines the utility of the Gateway Provider Model (GPM) in understanding service utilization and pathways to help for Somali refugee adolescents. Somali adolescents living in the Northeastern United States, and their caregivers, were interviewed. Results revealed low rates of use of mental health services. However other sources of help, such as religious and school personnel, were accessed more frequently. The GPM provides a helpful model for understanding refugee youth access to services, and an elaborated model is presented showing how existing pathways to help could be built upon to improve refugee youth access to services.

Effect of granular porous media on the composting of swine manure

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kim, Ku-Yong; Kim, Hyun-Woo; Han, Sun-Kee

2008-11-15

This study investigated the feasibility of a bulking agent of granular porous media (GPM) for the composting of swine manure. Two lab-scale composting reactors were operated to evaluate the general performances and maturity parameters using GPM made of wastes from the Portland cement manufacturing processes as an alternative bulking agent. The overall volatile solid (VS) removal was 38.5% (dry basis). During the experiments, moisture content ranged between 41% and 53%, ensuring feasibility of microbial activity in composting. Cured compost showed proper maturity and low phytotoxicity, despite the slight decreases of CO{sub 2} production and VS removal at the second batchmore » operation. Various physico-chemical parameters of the cured compost met the regulatory standards reported elsewhere. The pH, carbon-to-nitrogen ratio, ammonia nitrogen and soluble organic carbon (SOC) of the cured compost were significantly correlated to the germination index (GI) using the seeds of Chinese cabbage and lettuce, indicating the progressive biodegradation of phytotoxins as well as organic matter. Consequently, the results obtained in this study demonstrate that GPM could contribute to the environmentally friendly and economical composting of problematic swine manure as a recyclable bulking agent.« less

Explore GPM IMERG and Other Global Precipitation Products with GES DISC GIOVANNI

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Liu, Zhong; Ostrenga, Dana M.; Vollmer, Bruce; MacRitchie, Kyle; Kempler, Steven

2015-01-01

New features and capabilities in the newly released GIOVANNI allow exploring GPM IMERG (Integrated Multi-satelliE Retrievals for GPM) Early, Late and Final Run global half-hourly and monthly precipitation products as well as other precipitation products distributed by the GES DISC such as TRMM Multi-Satellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA), MERRA (Modern Era Retrospective-Analysis for Research and Applications), NLDAS (North American Land Data Assimilation Systems), GLDAS (Global Land Data Assimilation Systems), etc. GIOVANNI is a web-based tool developed by the GES DISC (Goddard Earth Sciences and Data Information Services Center) to visualize and analyze Earth science data without having to download data and software. The new interface in GIOVANNI allows searching and filtering precipitation products from different NASA missions and projects and expands the capabilities to inter-compare different precipitation products in one interface. Knowing differences in precipitation products is important to identify issues in retrieval algorithms, biases, uncertainties, etc. Due to different formats, data structures, units and so on, it is not easy to inter-compare precipitation products. Newly added features and capabilities (unit conversion, regridding, etc.) in GIOVANNI make inter-comparisons possible. In this presentation, we will describe these new features and capabilities along with examples.

The South Fork Experimental Watershed: Soil moisture and precipitation network for satellite validation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cosh, M. H.; Prueger, J. H.; McKee, L.; Bindlish, R.

2013-12-01

A recently deployed long term network for the study of soil moisture and precipitation was deployed in north central iowa, in cooperation between USDA and NASA. This site will be a joint calibration/validation network for the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) and Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) missions. At total of 20 dual gauge precipitation gages were established across a watershed landscape with an area of approximately 600 km2. In addition, four soil moisture probes were installed in profile at 5, 10, 20, and 50 cm. The network was installed in April of 2013, at the initiation of the Iowa Flood Study (IFloodS) which was a six week intensive ground based radar observation period, conducted in coordination with NASA and the University of Iowa. This site is a member watershed of the Group on Earth Observations Joint Experiments on Crop Assessment and Monitoring (GEO-JECAM) program. A variety of quality control procedures are examined and spatial and temporal stability aspects of the network are examined. Initial comparisons of the watershed to soil moisture estimates from satellites are also conducted.

Access NASA Satellite Global Precipitation Data Visualization on YouTube

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Z.; Su, J.; Acker, J. G.; Huffman, G. J.; Vollmer, B.; Wei, J.; Meyer, D. J.

2017-12-01

Since the satellite era began, NASA has collected a large volume of Earth science observations for research and applications around the world. Satellite data at 12 NASA data centers can also be used for STEM activities such as disaster events, climate change, etc. However, accessing satellite data can be a daunting task for non-professional users such as teachers and students because of unfamiliarity of terminology, disciplines, data formats, data structures, computing resources, processing software, programing languages, etc. Over the years, many efforts have been developed to improve satellite data access, but barriers still exist for non-professionals. In this presentation, we will present our latest activity that uses the popular online video sharing web site, YouTube, to access visualization of global precipitation datasets at the NASA Goddard Earth Sciences (GES) Data and Information Services Center (DISC). With YouTube, users can access and visualize a large volume of satellite data without necessity to learn new software or download data. The dataset in this activity is the 3-hourly TRMM (Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission) Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA). The video consists of over 50,000 data files collected since 1998 onwards, covering a zone between 50°N-S. The YouTube video will last 36 minutes for the entire dataset record (over 19 years). Since the time stamp is on each frame of the video, users can begin at any time by dragging the time progress bar. This precipitation animation will allow viewing precipitation events and processes (e.g., hurricanes, fronts, atmospheric rivers, etc.) on a global scale. The next plan is to develop a similar animation for the GPM (Global Precipitation Measurement) Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for GPM (IMERG). The IMERG provides precipitation on a near-global (60°N-S) coverage at half-hourly time interval, showing more details on precipitation processes and development, compared to the 3-hourly TMPA product. The entire video will contain more than 330,000 files and will last 3.6 hours. Future plans include development of fly-over videos for orbital data for an entire satellite mission or project. All videos will be uploaded and available at the GES DISC site on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/user/NASAGESDISC).

Monitoring All Weather Precipitation Using PIP and MRR

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bliven, Francis; Petersen, Walter; Kulie, Mark; Pettersen, Claire; Wolff, David; Dutter, Michael

2015-04-01

The objective of this study is to demonstrate the science benefit of monitoring all weather precipitation for the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission Ground Validation Program using a combination of two instruments: the Precipitation Imaging Package (PIP) and a Microwave Rain Radar-II (MRR). The PIP is a new ground based precipitation imaging instrument that uses a high speed camera and advanced processing software to image individual hydrometeors, measure hydrometeor size distributions, track individual hydrometeors and compute fall velocities. PIP hydrometeor data are also processed using algorithms to compute precipitation rates in one-minute time increments, and to discriminate liquid, mixed and frozen (e.g., snow) precipitation. The MRR, a vertically-pointing 24 GHz radar, is well documented in the literature and monitors hydrometeor vertical profile characteristics such as Doppler fall-speed spectra, radar reflectivity, size distribution and precipitation rate. Of interest to GPM direct and physical ground validation are collections of robust, satellite overpass-coincident, long-duration datasets consisting of observations of the aforementioned hydrometeor characteristics for falling snow and mixes of falling-snow and rain, as there are relatively few instruments that provide continuous observations of coincident hydrometeor image, size, and fall velocity in cold regions due to harsh environmental conditions. During extended periods of 2013 and 2014, concurrent PIP and MRR data sets were obtained at the National Weather Service station in Marquette, Michigan (2014), and at the NASA Wallops Flight Facility in Wallops Island, Virginia (2013,14). Herein we present examples of those data sets for a variety of weather conditions (rain, snow, frontal passages, lake effect snow events etc.). The results demonstrate 1) that the PIP and MRR are well-suited to long term operation in cold regions; 2) PIP and MRR data products are useful for characterizing a wide variety of precipitation types and conditions; 3) systematic variability in bulk snow characteristics such as fall speed and size distributions can be observed between event types, but also within individual event types (e.g., within a given synoptic or lake effect storm). The observed behavior suggests that added information on environmental or cloud parameters may be necessary to further define snowfall types/regimes or to estimate snow water equivalent rates using satellite or ground-based active or passive remote sensing tools.

Pumping tests of well Campbell et al. No. 2, Gila Hot Springs, Grant County, New Mexico

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Schwab, G.E.; Summers, W.K.; Colpitts, R.M. Jr.

1982-03-01

Well Campbell et al. No. 2 near Gila Hot Springs in southwestern New Mexico (Section 5, Township 13 South, Range 13 West) was pumped for a five-step test and a 48-hour constant-rate test during October 1981. Measurements included depth to water in the pumping well and two observation wells, and discharge rates at the pumping well and two springs. The water level in the pumping well responded during both tests. However, water-level changes in the observation wells were too small for analytical use and discharge rates from the springs showed no change. Chemical analyses of water samples collected from twomore » springs and the pumping well show very similar water chemistries. Estimates of hydraulic properties show transmissivity from 12,000 to 14,000 gpd/ft and a storativity of 0.05. Combining these parameters with well data gives the first-year optimum discharge rate as 50 gpm with 20 feet of drawdown. Pumping this well at 50 gpm for forty years should produce only small water-level changes in wells a few hundred feet away. It would diminish the flow of the springs, and for planning purposes the combined discharge of the springs and well should be considered constant.« less

Weather from 250 Miles Up: Visualizing Precipitation Satellite Data (and Other Weather Applications) Using CesiumJS

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lammers, Matt

2017-01-01

Geospatial weather visualization remains predominately a two-dimensional endeavor. Even popular advanced tools like the Nullschool Earth display 2-dimensional fields on a 3-dimensional globe. Yet much of the observational data and model output contains detailed three-dimensional fields. In 2014, NASA and JAXA (Japanese Space Agency) launched the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) satellite. Its two instruments, the Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) and GPM Microwave Imager (GMI) observe much of the Earth's atmosphere between 65 degrees North Latitude and 65 degrees South Latitude. As part of the analysis and visualization tools developed by the Precipitation Processing System (PPS) Group at NASA Goddard, a series of CesiumJS [Using Cesium Markup Language (CZML), JavaScript (JS) and JavaScript Object Notation (JSON)] -based globe viewers have been developed to improve data acquisition decision making and to enhance scientific investigation of the satellite data. Other demos have also been built to illustrate the capabilities of CesiumJS in presenting atmospheric data, including model forecasts of hurricanes, observed surface radar data, and gridded analyses of global precipitation. This talk will present these websites and the various workflows used to convert binary satellite and model data into a form easily integrated with CesiumJS.

Global Ionospheric and Plasmaspheric Monitoring With FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC and Ground GPS Observables

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tsai, H.; Ho, T.; Cheng, M.; Hsu, B.; Liu, J. G.

2011-12-01

The global ionosphere map (GIM) provides instantaneous "snapshots" of the global total electron content (TEC) distribution by interpolating the ground-based GPS observables, which include the ionospheric and plasmaspheric content. The increasing use of the FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC (F3/C) satellites provides a change to monitor the global ionospheric and plasmaspheric content individually. The global plasmasphere map (GPM) is constructed by the F3/C non-radio occultation (RO) data in 3-hour snapshot, while the re-defined GIM in narrow sense is contructed with the blending of F3/C RO, the ground GPS observables, and the GPM. The result can be used to study the interaction between ionosphere and plasmasphere.

Irma Tracked from Space on This Week @NASA – September 8, 2017

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-09-08

During the week of Sept. 5, spacecraft captured imagery of hurricane Irma as the storm reached category 5 status in the Atlantic Ocean. Irma was seen from the International Space Station, Global Precipitation Measurement mission or GPM, and the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership satellite. Imagery from space is used to help forecasters and officials track and characterize storms and other natural events. Also, Johnson Space Center Recovering from Harvey, Whitson and Fischer Return to Earth, 40 Years of Voyager, and Bridenstine Nominated for Administrator!

A Multi-Frequency Wide-Swath Spaceborne Cloud and Precipitation Imaging Radar

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Li, Lihua; Racette, Paul; Heymsfield, Gary; McLinden, Matthew; Venkatesh, Vijay; Coon, Michael; Perrine, Martin; Park, Richard; Cooley, Michael; Stenger, Pete;

NASA CYGNSS Mission Applications Workshop

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Amin, Aimee V. (Compiler); Murray, John J. (Editor); Stough, Timothy M. (Editor); Molthan, Andrew (Editor)

2015-01-01

NASA's Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System, (CYGNSS), mission is a constellation of eight microsatellites that will measure surface winds in and near the inner cores of hurricanes, including regions beneath the eyewall and intense inner rainbands that could not previously be measured from space. The CYGNSS-measured wind fields, when combined with precipitation fields (e.g., produced by the Global Precipitation Measurement [GPM] core satellite and its constellation of precipitation imagers), will provide coupled observations of moist atmospheric thermodynamics and ocean surface response, enabling new insights into hurricane inner core dynamics and energetics. The outcomes of this workshop, which are detailed in this report, comprise two primary elements: (1) A report of workshop proceedings, and; (2) Detailed Applications Traceability Matrices with requirements and operational considerations to serve broadly for development of value-added tools, applications, and products.

Day 1 for the Integrated Multi-Satellite Retrievals for GPM (IMERG) Data Sets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huffman, G. J.; Bolvin, D. T.; Braithwaite, D.; Hsu, K. L.; Joyce, R.; Kidd, C.; Sorooshian, S.; Xie, P.

2014-12-01

The Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for GPM (IMERG) is designed to compute the best time series of (nearly) global precipitation from "all" precipitation-relevant satellites and global surface precipitation gauge analyses. IMERG was developed to use GPM Core Observatory data as a reference for the international constellation of satellites of opportunity that constitute the GPM virtual constellation. Computationally, IMERG is a unified U.S. algorithm drawing on strengths in the three contributing groups, whose previous work includes: 1) the TRMM Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA); 2) the CPC Morphing algorithm with Kalman Filtering (K-CMORPH); and 3) the Precipitation Estimation from Remotely Sensed Information using Artificial Neural Networks using a Cloud Classification System (PERSIANN-CCS). We review the IMERG design, development, testing, and current status. IMERG provides 0.1°x0.1° half-hourly data, and will be run at multiple times, providing successively more accurate estimates: 4 hours, 8 hours, and 2 months after observation time. In Day 1 the spatial extent is 60°N-S, for the period March 2014 to the present. In subsequent reprocessing the data will extend to fully global, covering the period 1998 to the present. Both the set of input data set retrievals and the IMERG system are substantially different than those used in previous U.S. products. The input passive microwave data are all being produced with GPROF2014, which is substantially upgraded compared to previous versions. For the first time, this includes microwave sounders. Accordingly, there is a strong need to carefully check the initial test data sets for performance. IMERG output will be illustrated using pre-operational test data, including the variety of supporting fields, such as the merged-microwave and infrared estimates, and the precipitation type. Finally, we will summarize the expected release of various output products, and the subsequent reprocessing sequence.

Initial yield to depth relation for water wells drilled into crystalline bedrock - Pinardville quadrangle, New Hampshire

USGS Publications Warehouse

Drew, L.J.; Schuenemeyer, J.H.; Amstrong, T.R.; Sutphin, D.M.

2001-01-01

A model is proposed to explain the statistical relations between the mean initial water well yields from eight time increments from 1984 to 1998 for wells drilled into the crystalline bedrock aquifer system in the Pinardville area of southern New Hampshire and the type of bedrock, mean well depth, and mean well elevation. Statistical analyses show that the mean total yield of drilling increments is positively correlated with mean total well depth and mean well elevation. In addition, the mean total well yield varies with rock type from a minimum of 46.9 L/min (12.4 gpm) in the Damon Pond granite to a maximum of 74.5 L/min (19.7 gpm) in the Permian pegmatite and granite unit. Across the eight drilling increments that comprise 211 wells each, the percentages of very low-yield wells (1.9 L/min [0.5 gpm] or less) and high-yield wells (151.4 L/min [40 gpm] or more) increased, and those of intermediate-yield wells decreased. As housing development progressed during the 1984 to 1998 interval, the mean depth of the wells and their elevations increased, and the mix of percentages of the bedrock types drilled changed markedly. The proposed model uses a feed-forward mechanism to explain the interaction between the increasing mean elevation, mean well depth, and percentages of very low-yielding wells and the mean well yield. The increasing percentages of very low-yielding wells through time and the economics of the housing market may control the system that forces the mean well depths, percentages of high-yield wells, and mean well yields to increase. The reason for the increasing percentages of very low-yield wells is uncertain, but the explanation is believed to involve the complex structural geology and tectonic history of the Pinardville quadrangle.

Linam Ranch cryogenic gas plant: A design and operating retrospective

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Harwell, L.J.; Kuscinski, J.

1999-07-01

GPM Gas Corporation's Linam Ranch Gas Plant is the processing hub of their southeastern New Mexico gathering system, producing a y-grade NGL product which is pipelined primarily to the Phillips petrochemical complex at Sweeney, Texas, GPM acquired the facility near Hobbs, N.M. late in 1994 when it was still operating as a refrigerated lean oil plant, renamed it, and commenced an upgrade project culminating in its conversion to a high recovery cryogenic facility in early 1996 with a processing capacity of 150 MMscfd. Facilities that were upgraded included inlet liquids receiving and handling, the amine system, mol sieve dehydration, themore » sulfur recovery unit, inlet compression, and the propane refrigeration system. A Foxboro I/A DCS was also placed into operation. The lean oil system was replaced with a high recovery turboexpander unit supplied by KTI Fish based on their Flash Vapor Reflux (FVR) process. Resulting ethane recovery was greater than 95% for the new facilities. New residue compression units were installed including steam generators on the turbine exhausts, which complemented the existing plant steam system. During the three years since conversion to cryogenic operation, GPM has steadily improved plant operations. Expansion of the mol sieve dehydration system and retrofit of evaporation combustion air cooling on gas turbines have expanded nameplate capacity to 170 MMscfd while maintaining ethane recovery at 95%. Future expansion to 200 MMscfd with high recovery is achievable. In addition, creative use of the Foxboro DCS has been employed to implement advanced control schemes for handling inlet liquid slugs, gas and amine balancing for parallel amine contactors, improved sulfur recovery unit (SRU) trim air control, and constraint-based process optimization to maximize horsepower utilization and ethane recovery. Some challenges remain, leaving room for additional improvements. However, GPM's progress so far has resulted in a current ethane recovery level in excess of 97% when processing gas at the original design throughput of 150 MMscfd.« less

Electric Power Generation from Low to Intermediate Temperature Resources

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gosnold, William D.

This project was designed to test the concept on the Eland-Lodgepole Field near Dickinson, North Dakota in the Williston Basin. The field is in secondary-recovery water-flood and consists of 12 producing oil wells, 5 water injection wells and one disposal well. Water production at the site averages approximately 320 gallons per minute (20.2 l s-1) and the temperature is 100 ⁰C. Engineers at Ormat estimated power production potential with the existing resource to be approximately 350 kWh. Unfortunately, ownership of the field was transferred from Encore, Inc., to Denbury, Inc., within the first week of the project. After two yearsmore » of discussion and planning, Denbury decided not to pursue this project due to complications with the site location and its proximity to Patterson Lake. Attempts to find other partners operating in the Williston Basin were unsuccessful. Consequently, we were unable to pursue the primary objective of the project. However, during negations with Denbury and subsequent time spent contacting other potential partners, we focused on objectives 2 and 3 and developed a clear understanding of the potential for co-produced production in the Williston Basin and the best practices for developing similar projects. At least nine water bearing formations with temperatures greater than 90 ⁰C extend over areas of several 10s of km2. The total energy contained in the rock volume of those geothermal aquifers is 283.6 EJ (1 EJ = 1018 J). The total energy contained in the water volume, determined from porosities which range from 2 percent to 8 percent, is 6.8 EJ. The aquifers grouped by 10 ⁰C temperature bins (Table 1) include one or more formations due to the bowl-shape structure of the basin. Table 1. Summary of energy available in geothermal aquifers in the Williston Basin Analysis of overall fluid production from active wells, units, fields and formations in North Dakota showed that few sites co-produce sufficient fluid for significant power production with ORC technology. Average co-produced water for 10,480 wells is 3.2 gallons per minute (gpm). Even excluding the tight formations, Bakken and Three Forks, average co-produced water for the remaining 3,337 is only 5 gpm. The output of the highest producing well is 184 gpm and the average of the top 100 wells is 52 gpm. Due to the depth of the oil producing formations in the Williston Basin, typically 3 km or greater, pumps are operated slowly to prevent watering out thus total fluid production is purposefully maintained at low volumes. There remain potential possibilities for development of geothermal fluids in the Williston Basin. Unitized fields in which water production from several tens of wells is collected at a single site are good possibilities for development. Water production in the unitized fields is greater than 1000 gpm is several areas. A similar possibility occurs where infill-drilling between Bakken and Three Forks horizontal wells has created areas where large volumes of geothermal fluids are available on multi-well pads and in unitized fields. Although the Bakken produces small amounts of water, the water/oil ration is typically less than 1, the oil and water mix produced at the well head can be sent through the heat exchanger on an ORC. It is estimated that several tens of MWh of power could be generated by a distributed system of ORC engines in the areas of high-density drilling in the Bakken Formation. Finally, horizontal drilling in water bearing formations is the other possibility. Several secondary recovery water-flood projects in the basin are producing water above 100 ⁰C at rates of 300 gpm to 850 gpm. Those systems also could produce several tens of MWh of power with ORC technology. Objective 3 of the project was highly successful. The program has produced 5 PhDs, 7 MS, and 3 BS students with theses in geothermal energy. The team has involved 7 faculty in 4 different engineering and science disciplines, ChE, EE, GE, and Geol. The team has produced 26 peer-reviewed papers and 62 presentations at professional meetings. Faculty involved in the program developed five graduate level courses covering different elements in heat flow and geothermal energy that are now offered in the Harold Hamm School of Geology and Geological Engineering. Lessons learned – Keys to developing a successful project;1. Determine target formations; a. Data from oil and gas operators, state oil and gas regulatory agencies, and state geological surveys help to identify producing formations and their properties; 2. Determine the quantity of energy available in the target formations; a. A complete thermal analysis of the basin or region yields the most useful information; b. Critical data include: BHT, heat flow, stratigraphy, lithology, lithological properties, and thermal conductivity, subsurface structure; 3. Determine fluid production potential; a. State oil and gas regulatory agencies, and state geological surveys have data on oil, gas and water production. State Water Commission/Agencies have data on water quality, aquifers, and regulations; b. Consider single horizontal wells, multiple conventional wells, and unitized fields; 4. Calculate energy production capacity of each formation based on different well combination and power plant scenarios. This is a broad overview rather than a site specific analysis; 5. Research and understand the local electrical power industry. Obtain the PPA before committing to the project; 6. Work with the high-level personnel in the oil company partner. Obtain an MOU that addresses all issues in the project including what to expect if the company goes out of business, is bought out, changes management, etc; and 7. Be prepared for project delays.« less

Hydraulic design of a re-circulating water cooling system of a combined cycle power plant in Thailand

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sarkar, C.K.; Pandit, D.R.; Kwon, S.G.

The paper describes the hydraulic design and hydraulic transient analysis of the re-circulating water cooling system of the combined cyclo Sipco power cogeneration plant in Thailand. The power plant of 450 MW total capacity is proposed to be built in two stages. Stage one will produce 300 MW of power and will consist of two gas turbine generators (GTG) and one steam turbine generator (STG). Stage two will produce 150 MW of power and will consist of one GTG and one STG. The cooling system will consist of one GTG and one STG. The cooling system will consist of coolingmore » towers, a combined collecting basin and pump intake sump, pumps and motors, and separate conveyance systems and condensers for the generator units in the two stages. In a re-circulating water cooling system, cold water is pumped from the pump intake sump to the condensers through the conveyance system and hot water from the condensers is carried through the returning pipeline system to the cooling towers, whence the water after cooling is drained into the sump at the base of the towers. Total cooling water requirement for the system in stage one is estimated to be 112,000 gallons per minute (GPM), and that in stage two, 56,000 GPM. The sump is designed using the computer program HEC-2, developed by the US Army Corps of Engineers (COE) and the pump intake basin, following the recommendations of the Hydraulic Institute. The pumps were sized by computing the head loss in the system, and, the steady state and transient performances (during pump start-up and shut-down procedures and due to possible power or mechanical failure of one or all pumps) of the system were analyzed by mathematically modeling the system using the computer program WHAMO (Water Hammer nd Mass Oscillations), also developed by the COE.« less

Quantifying Airborne Allergen Levels Before and After Rain Events Using TRMM/GPM and Ground-Sampled Data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stewart, Randy M.

2006-01-01

Allergies affect millions of Americans, increasing health risks and also increasing absenteeism and reducing productivity in the workplace. Outdoor allergens, such as airborne pollens and mold spores, commonly trigger respiratory distress symptoms, but rainfall reduces the quantity of allergens in the air (EPA, 2003). The current NASA Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission provides accurate information related to rain events. These capabilities will be further enhanced with the future Global Precipitation Measurement mission. This report examines the effectiveness of combining these NASA resources with established ground-based allergen/spore sampling systems to better understand the benefits that rain provides in removing allergens and spores from the air.

Precipitation Estimates for Hydroelectricity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tapiador, Francisco J.; Hou, Arthur Y.; de Castro, Manuel; Checa, Ramiro; Cuartero, Fernando; Barros, Ana P.

2011-01-01

Hydroelectric plants require precise and timely estimates of rain, snow and other hydrometeors for operations. However, it is far from being a trivial task to measure and predict precipitation. This paper presents the linkages between precipitation science and hydroelectricity, and in doing so it provides insight into current research directions that are relevant for this renewable energy. Methods described include radars, disdrometers, satellites and numerical models. Two recent advances that have the potential of being highly beneficial for hydropower operations are featured: the Global Precipitation Measuring (GPM) mission, which represents an important leap forward in precipitation observations from space, and high performance computing (HPC) and grid technology, that allows building ensembles of numerical weather and climate models.

2nd Generation Airborne Precipitation Radar (APR-2)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Durden, S.; Tanelli, S.; Haddad, Z.; Im, E.

2012-01-01

Dual-frequency operation with Ku-band (13.4 GHz) and Ka-band (35.6 GHz). Geometry and frequencies chosen to simulate GPM radar. Measures reflectivity at co- and cross-polarizations, and Doppler. Range resolution is approx. 60 m. Horizontal resolution at surface is approx. 1 km. Reflectivity calibration is within 1.5 dB, based on 10 deg sigmaO at Ku-band and Mie scattering calculations in light rain at Ka-band. LDR measurements are OK to near -20 dB; LDR lower than this is likely contaminated by system cross-polarization isolation. Velocity is motion-corrected total Doppler, including particle fall speed. Aliasing can be seen in some places; can usually be dealiased with an algorithm. .

Assessing Landslide Characteristics and Developing a Landslide Potential Hazard Map in Rwanda and Uganda Using NASA Earth Observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sinclair, L.; Conner, P.; le Roux, J.; Finley, T.

2015-12-01

The International Emergency Disasters Database indicates that a total of 482 people have been killed and another 27,530 have been affected by landslides in Rwanda and Uganda, although the actual numbers are thought to be much higher. Data for individual countries are poorly tracked, but hotspots for devastating landslides occur throughout Rwanda and Uganda due to the local topography and soil type, intense rainfall events, and deforestation. In spite of this, there has been little research in this region that utilizes satellite imagery to estimate areas susceptible to landslides. This project utilized Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) data and Google Earth to identify landslides that occurred within the study area. These landslides were then added to SERVIR's Global Landslide Catalog (GLC). Next, Landsat 8 OLI, the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM), and Shuttle Radar Topography Mission Version 2 (SRTM V2) data were used to create a Landslide Susceptibility Map. This was combined with population data from the Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC) to create a Landslide Hazard map. A preliminary assessment of the relative performance of GPM and TRMM in identifying landslide conditions was also performed. The additions to the GLC, the Landslide Susceptibility Map, the Landslide Hazard Map, and the preliminary assessment of satellite rainfall performance will be used by SERVIR and the Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development (RCMRD) for disaster risk management, land use planning, and determining landslide conditions and moisture thresholds.

A Statistical Method for Reducing Sidelobe Clutter for the Ku-Band Precipitation Radar on Board the GPM Core Observatory

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kubota, Takuji; Iguchi, Toshio; Kojima, Masahiro; Liao, Liang; Masaki, Takeshi; Hanado, Hiroshi; Meneghini, Robert; Oki, Riko

2016-01-01

A statistical method to reduce the sidelobe clutter of the Ku-band precipitation radar (KuPR) of the Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) on board the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory is described and evaluated using DPR observations. The KuPR sidelobe clutter was much more severe than that of the Precipitation Radar on board the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), and it has caused the misidentification of precipitation. The statistical method to reduce sidelobe clutter was constructed by subtracting the estimated sidelobe power, based upon a multiple regression model with explanatory variables of the normalized radar cross section (NRCS) of surface, from the received power of the echo. The saturation of the NRCS at near-nadir angles, resulting from strong surface scattering, was considered in the calculation of the regression coefficients.The method was implemented in the KuPR algorithm and applied to KuPR-observed data. It was found that the received power from sidelobe clutter over the ocean was largely reduced by using the developed method, although some of the received power from the sidelobe clutter still remained. From the statistical results of the evaluations, it was shown that the number of KuPR precipitation events in the clutter region, after the method was applied, was comparable to that in the clutter-free region. This confirms the reasonable performance of the method in removing sidelobe clutter. For further improving the effectiveness of the method, it is necessary to improve the consideration of the NRCS saturation, which will be explored in future work.

Evaluation of Precipitation Detection over Various Surfaces from Passive Microwave Imagers and Sounders

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Munchak, S. Joseph; Skofronick-Jackson, Gail

2012-01-01

During the middle part of this decade a wide variety of passive microwave imagers and sounders will be unified in the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission to provide a common basis for frequent (3 hr), global precipitation monitoring. The ability of these sensors to detect precipitation by discerning it from non-precipitating background depends upon the channels available and characteristics of the surface and atmosphere. This study quantifies the minimum detectable precipitation rate and fraction of precipitation detected for four representative instruments (TMI, GMI, AMSU-A, and AMSU-B) that will be part of the GPM constellation. Observations for these instruments were constructed from equivalent channels on the SSMIS instrument on DMSP satellites F16 and F17 and matched to precipitation data from NOAA's National Mosaic and QPE (NMQ) during 2009 over the continuous United States. A variational optimal estimation retrieval of non-precipitation surface and atmosphere parameters was used to determine the consistency between the observed brightness temperatures and these parameters, with high cost function values shown to be related to precipitation. The minimum detectable precipitation rate, defined as the lowest rate for which probability of detection exceeds 50%, and the detected fraction of precipitation, are reported for each sensor, surface type (ocean, coast, bare land, snow cover) and precipitation type (rain, mix, snow). The best sensors over ocean and bare land were GMI (0.22 mm/hr minimum threshold and 90% of precipitation detected) and AMSU (0.26 mm/hr minimum threshold and 81% of precipitation detected), respectively. Over coasts (0.74 mm/hr threshold and 12% detected) and snow-covered surfaces (0.44 mm/hr threshold and 23% detected), AMSU again performed best but with much lower detection skill, whereas TMI had no skill over these surfaces. The sounders (particularly over water) benefited from the use of re-analysis data (vs. climatology) to set the a-priori atmospheric state and all instruments benefit from the use of a conditional snow cover emissivity database over land. It is recommended that real-time sources of these data be used in the operational GPM precipitation algorithms.

NASA's Potential Contributions to Avalanche Forecasting Using Active and Passive Microwave Measurements

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Blonski, Slawomir

2007-01-01

This Candidate Solution is based on using active and passive microwave measurements acquired from NASA satellites to improve USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture) Forest Service forecasting of avalanche danger. Regional Avalanche Centers prepare avalanche forecasts using ground measurements of snowpack and mountain weather conditions. In this Solution, range of the in situ observations is extended by adding remote sensing measurements of snow depth, snow water equivalent, and snowfall rate acquired by satellite missions that include Aqua, CloudSat, future GPM (Global Precipitation Measurement), and the proposed SCLP (Snow and Cold Land Processes). Measurements of snowpack conditions and time evolution are improved by combining the in situ and satellite observations with a snow model. Recurring snow observations from NASA satellites increase accuracy of avalanche forecasting, which helps the public and the managers of public facilities make better avalanche safety decisions.

MX Siting Investigation. Water Resources Program. Volume II. Review Draft, Water Appropriations Hearing Presentation and Support Documentation, Dry Lake Valley, Nevada.

DTIC Science & Technology

1981-09-30

will be required to de - liver the 651 gpm (41 l/s) needed for peak water use at the LSC. The existing Air Force test well at 3S-64E-12ca has been pumped...Valley is probably over 10,000 feet (3048 m) thick in the central part of the valley and is composed of alluvial fan, fluvial, playa , srl lacustrine...VALLEY T3.NSmIP STATION T E𔃾P SP. or SS. SILICA C AL C IU4 ACG. E5SILJ4 SCDIU I QANSA-SECT 5 6 C1 Ŕ VQ %;,. DES C CONE PH SOLIDS (5102) CA V$ A% 1 IN/6

A new perspective on the raindrop size distribution and its implications for retrievals of light rainfall

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gatlin, P. N.; Thurai, M.; Petersen, W. A.; Bringi, V. N.

2017-12-01

As GPM facilitates precipitation estimation at higher latitudes where light rainfall is more common it becomes more important that we can fully describe the raindrop size distribution (RSD) across the continuum of observed raindrop sizes. An adequate understanding and the capability to represent the RSD in light rain and drizzle extends from GPM radar algorithms into radiometer-based algorithms, where auto-conversion from cloud to rainwater contents and size distributions becomes important for light rain/drizzle estimation. This study provides insights into the effect of small raindrops on our ability to accurately map rainfall. The RSD has been widely defined using a gamma distribution—the assumption often being verified and approach being reinforced using measurements that imperfectly measure the small end of the RSD. However, we find that the gamma model as it is applied in its current form, to include commonly used disdrometer measurements to define it, is not capable of accurately describing the small raindrops we have observed during light rainfall. We demonstrate the difficulty encountered at light rain rates (e.g., 0.5 mm/hr or less) and for drops typically < 0.6 - 0.7 mm in diameter using a disdrometer with a pixel resolution of 50 microns operated alongside a 2DVD, with both instruments inside a small DFIR wind fence. Measurements were made in two locations with different climates—Greely, Colorado and Huntsville, Alabama. The resultant comparison reveals that the gamma RSD model overestimates the characteristic raindrop diameter (Dm), especially for light rainfall. A generalized gamma distribution provides a closer fit to the RSD observations across the continuum of raindrop sizes and highlights a drizzle mode of the RSD exists that would otherwise not be described with the commonly used gamma RSD model. Our analysis also suggests that RSD-based separation of stratiform and convective rainfall requires special consideration for light rainfall cases, especially those with small mass-weighted mean diameters (Dm < 0.6 mm).

LLNL Experimental Test Site (Site 300) Potable Water System Operations Plan

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ocampo, R. P.; Bellah, W.

The existing Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) Site 300 drinking water system operation schematic is shown in Figures 1 and 2 below. The sources of water are from two Site 300 wells (Well #18 and Well #20) and San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) Hetch-Hetchy water through the Thomas shaft pumping station. Currently, Well #20 with 300 gallons per minute (gpm) pump capacity is the primary source of well water used during the months of September through July, while Well #18 with 225 gpm pump capacity is the source of well water for the month of August. The well watermore » is chlorinated using sodium hypochlorite to provide required residual chlorine throughout Site 300. Well water chlorination is covered in the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Experimental Test Site (Site 300) Chlorination Plan (“the Chlorination Plan”; LLNL-TR-642903; current version dated August 2013). The third source of water is the SFPUC Hetch-Hetchy Water System through the Thomas shaft facility with a 150 gpm pump capacity. At the Thomas shaft station the pumped water is treated through SFPUC-owned and operated ultraviolet (UV) reactor disinfection units on its way to Site 300. The Thomas Shaft Hetch- Hetchy water line is connected to the Site 300 water system through the line common to Well pumps #18 and #20 at valve box #1.« less

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Experimental Test Site (Site 300) Potable Water System Operations Plan

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ocampo, Ruben P.; Bellah, Wendy

The existing Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) Site 300 drinking water system operation schematic is shown in Figures 1 and 2 below. The sources of water are from two Site 300 wells (Well #18 and Well #20) and San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) Hetch-Hetchy water through the Thomas shaft pumping station. Currently, Well #20 with 300 gallons per minute (gpm) pump capacity is the primary source of well water used during the months of September through July, while Well #18 with 225 gpm pump capacity is the source of well water for the month of August. The well watermore » is chlorinated using sodium hypochlorite to provide required residual chlorine throughout Site 300. Well water chlorination is covered in the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Experimental Test Site (Site 300) Chlorination Plan (“the Chlorination Plan”; LLNL-TR-642903; current version dated August 2013). The third source of water is the SFPUC Hetch-Hetchy Water System through the Thomas shaft facility with a 150 gpm pump capacity. At the Thomas shaft station the pumped water is treated through SFPUC-owned and operated ultraviolet (UV) reactor disinfection units on its way to Site 300. The Thomas Shaft Hetch- Hetchy water line is connected to the Site 300 water system through the line common to Well pumps #18 and #20 at valve box #1.« less

Water for a rapidly growing urban community, Oakland County, Michigan

USGS Publications Warehouse

Twenter, F.R.; Knutilla, R.L.

1972-01-01

Oakland County, an area of 899 square miles, is in southeastern Michigan. The southern part of the county is overlapped by the suburbs of the city of Detroit. In 1970, about 850,000 people were living in the county and using about 100 million gallons of water a day. More than 80 percent of the water used for large industrial and municipal supplies came from Detroit's water system. The average annual rate of streamflow from the county is about 370 million gallons per day (575 cubic feet per second). Median annual 7-day low flows range from 0 to 0.25 cfs per square mile. Low flows can be augmented by more than 60,000 acre-feet of water captured during high streamflow by construction of small reservoirs at 21 inventoried sites. Glacial deposits and the Marshall Sandstone are the prime sources of ground water. Most wells that penetrate the full thickness of glacial deposits in the northwestern part of the county will yield at least 50 gpm (gallons per minute), and many will yield more than 400 gpm. The Marshall Sandstone, which occurs only in the Holly area, is capable of yielding more than 1,000 gpm. The chemical quality of both surface and ground water is relatively good throughout the county. Only in the southern part of the county is the dissolved solids above the acceptable standard of 500 milligrams per liter.

Orbital Debris Quarterly News, Volume 13, No. 3

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Liou, J.-C. (Editor); Shoots, Debi (Editor)

2009-01-01

This issue of the Orbital Debris Quarterly contains articles on the congressional hearing that was held on orbital debris and space traffic; the update received by the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) on the collision of the Iridium 33 and Cosmos 2251 satellites; the micrometeoroid and orbital debris (MMOD) inspection of the Hubble Space Telescope Wide Field Planetary Camera; an analysis of the reentry survivability of the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) spacecraft; an update on recent major breakup fragments; and a graph showing the current debris environment in low Earth orbit.

Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Validation Network

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schwaller, Mathew; Moris, K. Robert

2010-01-01

The method averages the minimum TRMM PR and Ground Radar (GR) sample volumes needed to match-up spatially/temporally coincident PR and GR data types. PR and GR averages are calculated at the geometric intersection of the PR rays with the individual Ground Radar(GR)sweeps. Along-ray PR data are averaged only in the vertical, GR data are averaged only in the horizontal. Small difference in PR & GR reflectivity high in the atmosphere, relatively larger differences. Version 6 TRMM PR underestimates rainfall in the case of convective rain in the lower part of the atmosphere by 30 to 40 percent.

Integrated Precipitation and Hydrology Experiment (IPHEx)/Orographic Precipitation Processes Study Field Campaign Report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Barros, A. P.; Petersen, W.; Wilson, A. M.

2016-04-01

Three Microwave Radiometers (two 3-channel and one 2-channel) were deployed in the Southern Appalachian Mountains in western North Carolina as part of the Integrated Precipitation and Hydrology Experiment (IPHEx), which was the first National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Global Precipitation Mission (GPM) Ground Validation (GV) field campaign after the launch of the GPM Core Satellite (Barros et al. 2014). The radiometers were used along with other instrumentation to estimate the liquid water content of low-level clouds and fog. Specifically, data from the radiometers were collected to help, with other instrumentation, to characterize fog formation, evolution, and dissipation in themore » region (by monitoring the liquid water path in the column) and observe the effect of that fog on the precipitation regime. Data were collected at three locations in the Southern Appalachians, specifically western North Carolina: a valley in the inner mountain region, a valley in the open mountain pass region, and a ridge in the inner region. This project contributes to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Climate Research Facility mission by providing in situ observations designed to improve the understanding of clouds and precipitation processes in complex terrain. The end goal is to use this improved understanding of physical processes to improve remote-sensing algorithms and representations of orographic precipitation microphysics in climate and earth system models.« less

Geopotential models in the Australian region

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kearsley, A. H. W.; Holloway, R. D.

1989-01-01

The ability of three high-order geopotential models (OSU81, GPM2 and OSU86E) to recover the gravity anomaly field (delta g) in the Australian region was tested. The region was divided into 2 x 2 deg blocks, and the mean and rms of the residual gravity (delta g measured - delta g modeled) was found to estimate the fit of the model to the point gravity data. The results showed that OSU81 and GPM2 performed similarly, recovering the delta g with a mean value of less than plus or minus 5 mGal in 63 and 70 percent of the blocks, respectively. However, both these models achieved a fit of worse that was plus or minus 13 mGal in 6 to 7 percent of cases. These were in areas either on or near the coast, or in the Central Australian region, inferring that for a precise geoid slope determination in these regions, a detailed analysis of delta g in region is needed. On the other hand, OSU86E produced a very good result, having a mean fit of less than plus or minus 5 mGal in 80 percent of the blocks, and worse than plus or minus 13 mGal in only 1 percent of cases. The rms values for this model were also improved over the other two models, indicating that for applications requiring highest precision, the preferred model is OSU86E.

A novel liquid-Xenon detector concept for combined fast-neutrons and gamma imaging and spectroscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Breskin, A.; Israelashvili, I.; Cortesi, M.; Arazi, L.; Shchemelinin, S.; Chechik, R.; Dangendorf, V.; Bromberger, B.; Vartsky, D.

2012-06-01

A new detector concept is presented for combined imaging and spectroscopy of fast-neutrons and gamma rays. It comprises a liquid-Xenon (LXe) converter and scintillator coupled to a UV-sensitive gaseous imaging photomultiplier (GPM). Radiation imaging is obtained by localization of the scintillation-light from LXe with the position-sensitive GPM. The latter comprises a cascade of Thick Gas Electron Multipliers (THGEM), where the first element is coated with a CsI UV-photocathode. We present the concept and provide first model-simulation results of the processes involved and the expected performances of a detector having a LXe-filled capillaries converter. The new detector concept has potential applications in combined fast-neutron and gamma-ray screening of hidden explosives and fissile materials with pulsed sources.

Applications of Precipitation Feature Databases from GPM core and constellation Satellites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, C.

2017-12-01

Using the observations from Global Precipitation Mission (GPM) core and constellation satellites, global precipitation was quantitatively described from the perspective of precipitation systems and their properties. This presentation will introduce the development of precipitation feature databases, and several scientific questions that have been tackled using this database, including the topics of global snow precipitation, extreme intensive convection, hail storms, extreme precipitation, and microphysical properties derived with dual frequency radars at the top of convective cores. As more and more observations of constellation satellites become available, it is anticipated that the precipitation feature approach will help to address a large variety of scientific questions in the future. For anyone who is interested, all the current precipitation feature databases are freely open to public at: http://atmos.tamucc.edu/trmm/.

Sensitivity of Spaceborne and Ground Radar Comparison Results to Data Analysis Methods and Constraints

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Morris, Kenneth R.; Schwaller, Mathew

2011-01-01

With the availability of active weather radar observations from space from the Precipitation Radar (PR) on board the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TR.MM) satellite, numerous studies have been performed comparing PR reflectivity and derived rain rates to similar observations from ground-based weather radars (GR). These studies have used a variety of algorithms to compute matching PR and GR volumes for comparison. Most studies have used a fixed 3-dimensional Cartesian grid centered on the ground radar, onto which the PR and GR data are interpolated using a proprietary approach and/or commonly available GR analysis software (e.g., SPRINT, REORDER). Other studies have focused on the intersection of the PR and GR viewing geometries either explicitly or using a hybrid of the fixed grid and PR/GR common fields of view. For the Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) of the upcoming Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission, a prototype DPR/GR comparison algorithm based on similar TRMM PR data has been developed that defines the common volumes in terms of the geometric intersection of PR and GR rays, where smoothing of the PR and GR data are minimized and no interpolation is performed. The PR and GR volume-averaged reflectivity values of each sample volume are accompanied by descriptive metadata, for attributes including the variability and maximum of the reflectivity within the sample volume, and the fraction of range gates in the sample average having reflectivity values above an adjustable detection threshold (typically taken to be 18 dBZ for the PR). Sample volumes are further characterized by rain type (Stratiform or Convective), proximity to the melting layer, underlying surface (land/water/mixed), and the time difference between the PR and GR observations. The mean reflectivity differences between the PR and GR can differ between data sets produced by the different analysis methods; and for the GPM prototype, by the type of constraints and categorization applied to the data. In this paper, we will show results comparing the 3-D gridded analysis "black box" approach to the GPM prototype volume-matching approach, using matching TRMM PR and WSR-88D ground radar data. The affects of applying data constraints and data categorizations on the volume-matched data to the results will be shown, and explanations of the differences in terms of data and analysis algorithm characteristics will be presented. Implications of the differences to the determination of PR/DPR calibration differences and use of ground radar data to evaluate the PR and DPR attenuation correction algorithms will be discussed.

Geology and ground-water resources of the Bristol-Plainville-Southington area, Connecticut

USGS Publications Warehouse

La Sala, A. M.

1964-01-01

The Bristol-Plainville-Southington area straddles the boundary between the New England Upland and the Connecticut Valley Lowland sections of the New England physiographic province. The western parts of Bristol are Southington lie in the New England Upland section, an area of rugged topography underlain by metamorphic rocks of Palezoic age. The eastern part of the area, to the east of a prominent scarp marking the limit of the metamorphic rocks, is in the Connecticut Valley Lowland and is underlain by sedimentary rocks and interbedded basaltic lava flows of Triassic age. The lowland is characterized for the most part by broad valleys and low intervening linear hills, but in the eastern parts of Plainville and Southington, basaltic rocks form a rugged highland. The bedrock is largely mantled by glacial deposits of Wisconsin age. On hills the glacial deposits are mainly ground moraine, and in valleys mainly stratified. The metamorphic rocks comprise the Hartland Formation, Bristol Granite Gneiss of Gregory (1906), and Prospect Gneiss. These formations contain water in fractures, principally joints occurring in regular sets. The rocks generally yield supplies of 5 to 15 gpm (gallons per minute) to drilled wells averaging about 140 feet in depth. The rocks of Triassic age in the area are the New Haven Arkose, Talcott Basalt, Shuttle Meadow Formation, Holyoke Basalt, and East Berlin Formation. The formations contain water principally in joints and other fractures and, to a lesser extent, in bedding-plane openings and pore spaces. Drilled wells penetrating these rocks generally range from 100 to 200 feet in depth and yield an average of nearly 20 gpm. The maximum yield obtained from a well in these rocks is 180 gpm. The ground moraine of Pleistocene age is composed principally of till. The deposit averages about 24 feet in thickness, and wells penetrating it average about 16 feet in depth. The ground moraine yields small supplier of water suitable for household use when tapped by shallow large-diameter wells. The stratified glacial deposits, which are as much as 300 feet thick, comprise ice-contact and proglacial deposits and deposits of generally obscure origin termed 'undifferentiated stratified deposits.' The ice-contact and undifferentiated stratified deposits, some of which underlie proglacial deposits, are coarse grained and contain gravel beds from which supplies of as much as 1,400 gpm can be obtained. The proglacial deposits are, on the whole, finer grained than the other stratified deposits, but in places they allow development of wells producing as much as 500 gpm. However, the stratified glacial deposits throughout much of the Bristol-Plainville-Southington area are fine grained and provide only small supplies.

Bridging Ground Validation and Algorithms: Using Scattering and Integral Tables to Incorporate Observed DSD Correlations into Satellite Algorithms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Williams, C. R.

2012-12-01

The NASA Global Precipitation Mission (GPM) raindrop size distribution (DSD) Working Group is composed of NASA PMM Science Team Members and is charged to "investigate the correlations between DSD parameters using Ground Validation (GV) data sets that support, or guide, the assumptions used in satellite retrieval algorithms." Correlations between DSD parameters can be used to constrain the unknowns and reduce the degrees-of-freedom in under-constrained satellite algorithms. Over the past two years, the GPM DSD Working Group has analyzed GV data and has found correlations between the mass-weighted mean raindrop diameter (Dm) and the mass distribution standard deviation (Sm) that follows a power-law relationship. This Dm-Sm power-law relationship appears to be robust and has been observed in surface disdrometer and vertically pointing radar observations. One benefit of a Dm-Sm power-law relationship is that a three parameter DSD can be modeled with just two parameters: Dm and Nw that determines the DSD amplitude. In order to incorporate observed DSD correlations into satellite algorithms, the GPM DSD Working Group is developing scattering and integral tables that can be used by satellite algorithms. Scattering tables describe the interaction of electromagnetic waves on individual particles to generate cross sections of backscattering, extinction, and scattering. Scattering tables are independent of the distribution of particles. Integral tables combine scattering table outputs with DSD parameters and DSD correlations to generate integrated normalized reflectivity, attenuation, scattering, emission, and asymmetry coefficients. Integral tables contain both frequency dependent scattering properties and cloud microphysics. The GPM DSD Working Group has developed scattering tables for raindrops at both Dual Precipitation Radar (DPR) frequencies and at all GMI radiometer frequencies less than 100 GHz. Scattering tables include Mie and T-matrix scattering with H- and V-polarization at the instrument view angles of nadir to 17 degrees (for DPR) and 48 & 53 degrees off nadir (for GMI). The GPM DSD Working Group is generating integral tables with GV observed DSD correlations and is performing sensitivity and verification tests. One advantage of keeping scattering tables separate from integral tables is that research can progress on the electromagnetic scattering of particles independent of cloud microphysics research. Another advantage of keeping the tables separate is that multiple scattering tables will be needed for frozen precipitation. Scattering tables are being developed for individual frozen particles based on habit, density and operating frequency. And a third advantage of keeping scattering and integral tables separate is that this framework provides an opportunity to communicate GV findings about DSD correlations into integral tables, and thus, into satellite algorithms.

TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI) Updates for Final Data Version Release

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kroodsma, Rachael A; Bilanow, Stephen; Ji, Yimin; McKague, Darren

2017-01-01

The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Microwave Imager (TMI) dataset released by the Precipitation Processing System (PPS) will be updated to a final version within the next year. These updates are based on increased knowledge in recent years of radiometer calibration and sensor performance issues. In particular, the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Microwave Imager (GMI) is used as a model for many of the TMI version updates. This paper discusses four aspects of the TMI data product that will be improved: spacecraft attitude, calibration and quality control, along-scan bias corrections, and sensor pointing accuracy. These updates will be incorporated into the final TMI data version, improving the quality of the data product and ensuring accurate geophysical parameters can be derived from TMI.

The NASA Earth Science Program and Small Satellites

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Neeck, Steven P.

2015-01-01

Earth's changing environment impacts every aspect of life on our planet and climate change has profound implications on society. Studying Earth as a single complex system is essential to understanding the causes and consequences of climate change and other global environmental concerns. NASA's Earth Science Division (ESD) shapes an interdisciplinary view of Earth, exploring interactions among the atmosphere, oceans, ice sheets, land surface interior, and life itself. This enables scientists to measure global and climate changes and to inform decisions by Government, other organizations, and people in the United States and around the world. The data collected and results generated are accessible to other agencies and organizations to improve the products and services they provide, including air quality indices, disaster prediction and response, agricultural yield projections, and aviation safety. ESD's Flight Program provides the spacebased observing systems and supporting infrastructure for mission operations and scientific data processing and distribution that support NASA's Earth science research and modeling activities. The Flight Program currently has 21 operating Earth observing space missions, including the recently launched Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission, the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2), the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission, and the International Space Station (ISS) RapidSCAT and Cloud-Aerosol Transport System (CATS) instruments. The ESD has 22 more missions and instruments planned for launch over the next decade. These include first and second tier missions from the 2007 Earth Science Decadal Survey, Climate Continuity missions to assure availability of key climate data sets, and small-sized competitively selected orbital missions and instrument missions of opportunity belonging to the Earth Venture (EV) Program. Small satellites (500 kg or less) are critical contributors to these current and future satellite missions. Some examples are the aforementioned Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2), the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow On (GRACE FO), and the Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS) microsatellite constellation. Small satellites also support ESD in space validation and risk reduction of enabling technologies (components and systems). The status of the ESD Flight Program and the role of small satellites will be discussed.

Successful Multi-Leg Completion of KS-13 ML-1 & Increased Power Generation of Puna Geothermal Venture (PGV), Hawai'i

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Drakos, P. S.; Spielman, P.; Peters, B.

2017-12-01

Located in the Puna district on the Big Island in Hawaii, Puna Geothermal Venture (PGV) is the only geothermal power plant in the state. PGV is comprised of two air-cooled power plants with a total generating capacity of 38 MW. Commercial operation commenced in 1993 and the project was acquired by Ormat in June 2004. Over the years, generation has increased by upgrading the plant through resource development and with the addition of a bottoming OEC (Ormat Energy Converter) in 2011. The geothermal reservoir at PGV is hosted within a step-over along the axis of the Kilauea Lower East Rift Zone (LERZ). Subsurface permeability at PGV is controlled by sub-vertical and rift-parallel fractures/faults and dike swarms which are the result of active tectonic dilation across the rift and shallow volcanic activity related to Kilauea. At PGV, the location and attitude of these fractures are well constrained at depth by drilling to be orientated at N63°E and dipping at 5° NW. These fractures are aligned en-echelon and form a major left-step along the rift axis which results in a localized zone of enhanced dilation. In 2016, a program was initiated to increase injection capacity and enthalpy in the PGV wellfield. Existing injection well KS-13 was selected as a candidate for re-drill based on a comprehensive resource model and reservoir modeling predictions. KS-13 ML1 was designed as a multi-leg completion from the existing KS-13 well, whereby the final completion is a forked well composed of the original wellbore and the newly completed second wellbore. The target area for the new multi-leg (ML) were large aperture, steeply dipping fractures associated with the 1955 eruptive fissure. Well KS-13 ML1 was drilled using PGV's Rig and a retrievable whipstock to mill a casing exit window. With the original wellbore temporarily plugged, a multi-rate water loss test was performed and an injectivity of 6 gpm/psi was measured. Following the removal of the whipstock ramp and packer from the original hole a 2nd test was performed on both KS-13+KS-13ML1. An injectivity of 7.2 gpm/psi was measured. KS-13 injection tripled from 600 kph prior to the redrill to 1800 kph afterward, and allowed an injection well that was cooling production to be shut in. This increased production enthalpy from 500 Btu/lbm to 580 Btu/lbm and available plant output increased 41% from 27 to 38 MW.

Geology and ground-water resources of the Douglas basin, Arizona, with a section on chemical quality of the ground water

USGS Publications Warehouse

Coates, Donald Robert; Cushman, R.L.; Hatchett, James Lawrence

1955-01-01

year period 1947-51, inclusive. Most irrigation wells in the Douglas basin are less than 200 feet in depth and usually produce less than 400 gpm (gallons per minute). The average specific capacity of the wells is about 12 gpm per foot of drawdown. Although water in some parts of the basin is artesian, all irrigation wells must be pumped. Ground water in the basin is generally of excellent to good quality for irrigation use, In small areas along the southern part of Whitewater Draw and east of Douglas the ground water is high in dissolved-solids content. Although most of the water is hard, it is generally satisfactory for domestic use. In many areas the fluoride content is more than 1.5 ppm (parts per million).

Engineering Yarrowia lipolytica to express secretory invertase with strong FBA1IN promoter.

PubMed

Hong, Seung-Pyo; Seip, John; Walters-Pollak, Dana; Rupert, Ross; Jackson, Raymond; Xue, Zhixiong; Zhu, Quinn

2012-02-01

Oleaginous yeast Yarrowia lipolytica is an important host for the production of lipid-derived compounds or heterologous proteins. Selection of strong promoters and effective expression systems is critical for heterologous protein secretion. To search for a strong promoter in Y. lipolytica, activities of FBA1, TDH1 and GPM1 promoters were compared to that of TEF1 promoter by constructing GUS reporter fusions. The FBA1 promoter activity was 2.2 and 5.5 times stronger than the TDH1 and GPM1 promoters, respectively. The FBA1IN promoter (FBA1 sequence of -826 to +169) containing an intron (+64 to +165) showed five-fold higher expression than the FBA1 promoter (-831 to -1). The transcriptional enhancement by the 5'-region within the FBA1 gene was confirmed by GPM1::FBA1 chimeric promoter construction. Using the strong FBA1IN promoter, four different S. cerevisiae SUC2 expression cassettes were tested for the SUC+ phenotype in Y. lipolytica. Functional invertase secretion was facilitated by the Xpr2 prepro-region with an additional 13 amino acids of mature Xpr2, or by the native Suc2 signal sequence. However, these two secretory signals in tandem, or the mature Suc2 with no secretory signal, did not direct secretion of functional invertase. Unlike previously reported Y. lipolytica SUC+ strains, our engineered stains secreted most of invertase into the medium. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

GPM V05 Gridded Text Products

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stocker, Erich Franz; Kelley, Owen

2017-01-01

This presentation will summarize the changes in the products for the GPM V05 reprocessing cycle. It will concentrate on discussing the gridded text product from the core satellite retrievals. However, all aspects of the GPROF GMI changes in this product are equally appropriate to the other two gridded text products. The GPM mission reprocessed its products in May of 2017 as part of a continuing improvement of precipitation retrievals. This lead to important improvement in the retrievals and therefore also necessitated reprocessing the gridded test products. The V05 GPROF changes not only improved the retrievals but substantially alerted the format and this compelled changes to the gridded text products. Especially important in this regard is the GPROF2017 (used in V05) change from reporting the fraction of the total precipitation rate that occurring as convection or in liquid phase. Instead, GPROF2017, and therefore V05 gridded text products, report the rate of convective precipitation in mm/hr. The GPROF2017 algorithm now reports the frozen precipitation rate in mm/hr rather than the fraction of total precipitation that is liquid. Because of the aim of the gridded text product is to remain simple the radar and combined results will also change in V05 to reflect this change in the GMI retrieval. The presentation provides an analysis of these changes as well as presenting a comparison with the swath products from which the hourly text grids were derived.

Sensitivity of simulated snow cloud properties to mass-diameter parameterizations.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Duffy, G.; Nesbitt, S. W.; McFarquhar, G. M.

2015-12-01

Mass to diameter (m-D) relationships are used in model parameterization schemes to represent ice cloud microphysics and in retrievals of bulk cloud properties from remote sensing instruments. One of the most common relationships, used in the current Global Precipitation Measurement retrieval algorithm for example, assigns the density of snow as a constant tenth of the density of ice (0.1g/m^3). This assumption stands in contrast to the results of derived m-D relationships of snow particles, which imply decreasing particle densities at larger sizes and result in particle masses orders of magnitude below the constant density relationship. In this study, forward simulations of bulk cloud properties (e.g., total water content, radar reflectivity and precipitation rate) derived from measured size distributions using several historical m-D relationships are presented. This expands upon previous studies that mainly focused on smaller ice particles because of the examination of precipitation-sized particles here. In situ and remote sensing data from the GPM Cold season Experiment (GCPEx) and Canadian CloudSAT/Calypso Validation Program (C3VP), both synoptic snowstorm field experiments in southern Ontario, Canada, are used to evaluate the forward simulations against total water content measured by the Nevzorov and Cloud Spectrometer and Impactor (CSI) probe, radar reflectivity measured by a C band ground based radar and a nadir pointing Ku/Ka dual frequency airborne radar, and precipitation rate measured by a 2D video disdrometer. There are differences between the bulk cloud properties derived using varying m-D relations, with constant density assumptions producing results differing substantially from the bulk measured quantities. The variability in bulk cloud properties derived using different m-D relations is compared against the natural variability in those parameters seen in the GCPEx and C3VP field experiments.

Toward Improving Ice Water Content and Snow Rate Retrievals from Spaceborne Radars, Emphasizing Ku and Ka-Bands

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Heymsfield, A.; Bansemer, A.; Tanelli, S.; Poellot, M.

2015-12-01

This study uses a data set from either overflying aircraft or ground-based radars operating at Ku and Ka bands, combined with in-situ microphysical measurements to develop radar reflectivity (Ze)-ice water content (IWC) and Ze-snowfall rate (S) relationships that are suited for retrieval of snowfall rate from the GPM radars. During GCPEX, the NASA DC-8 aircraft, carrying the JPL APR-2 KU and KA band radars overflew the UND Citation aircraft, making microphysical measurements in the ice clouds below. On two days, 19 and 28 January 2011, there are a total of almost 7000 1-sec colocations of the aircraft, where a collocation was defined as having a combination of a spatial separation of less than 3 km and a time separation of less than 10 minutes. During the NASA GPM Mid-latitude Continental Convective Cloud Experiment (MC3E), the Citation aircraft made in-situ observations over Oklahoma in 2011. We evaluated the data from two types of collocations. First, there were two Citation spirals on 27 April 2011, over the NPOL radar. At the same time, the UHF-band KUZR radar was collecting data in a vertically-pointing mode. Also, the Ka band KAZR Doppler radar was operating in a zenith orientation. Reflectivities and Doppler velocities, without and with appreciable Mie-scattering effects of the hydrometers (for KUZR and KAZR, respectively), are thus available during the spirals. Also during MC3E, six deep convective clouds with a total of more than 5000 5-sec samples and a range of temperatures from -40 to 0C were sampled by the Citation at the same time that NEXRAD reflectivities were measured at about the same position. These data allows us to evaluate various backscatter models and to develop multi-wavelength Z-IWC and Z-S relationships. We will present the results of this study.

In Situ Verification of the NASA D3R's Hydrometeor Classification and Rainfall Products during the OLYMPEx Field Campaign

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, H.; Chandra, C. V.

2017-12-01

As a ground validation (GV) radar for the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) satellite mission, the NASA dual-frequency, dual-polarization, Doppler radar (D3R) was deployed just north of Pacific Beach, WA between November 8th, 2015 and January 15th, 2016, as part of the Olympic Mountains Experiment (OLYMPEx). The D3R's observations were coordinated with a diverse array of instruments including the NASA NPOL S-band radar, Autonomous Parsivel Unit (APU) disdrometers, rain gauges, and airborne probe. The Ku- and Ka-band D3R is analogous to the GPM core satellite dual-frequency precipitation radar (DPR), but can provide more detailed insight into the precipitation microphysics through the ground-based dual-frequency dual-polarization observations. Previous studies have revealed that the dual polarization radar can be used to identify different hydrometeor types and their size and shape information. However, most of the previous studies are devoted to S-, C-, and/or X-band frequencies since they are standard operating frequency in many countries. This paper presents a region-based hydrometeor classification methodology applied for the NASA D3R measurements collected during OLYMPEx. This paper also details the differential phase based attenuation correction methodology and rainfall algorithm developed for the D3R. The D3R's hydrometeor classification and rainfall products are evaluated using other remote sensors and in situ measurements. In particular, the derived hydrometeor types are cross compared with collocated S-band products and images collected by the airborne probe. The rainfall performance are assessed using rain gauge and disdrometer observations. Results show that the NASA D3R has great potential for monitoring precipitation microphysics and rainfall estimation, especially light rainfall that is hard to be observed by traditional ground or space based sensors.

Aerosol Radiative Forcing Estimates from South Asian Clay Brick Production Based on Direct Emission Measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weyant, C.; Athalye, V.; Ragavan, S.; Rajarathnam, U.; Kr, B.; Lalchandani, D.; Maithel, S.; Malhotra, G.; Bhanware, P.; Thoa, V.; Phuong, N.; Baum, E.; Bond, T. C.

2012-12-01

About 150-200 billion clay bricks are produced in India every year. Most of these bricks are fired in small-scale traditional kilns that burn coal or biomass without pollution controls. Reddy and Venkataraman (2001) estimated that 8% of fossil fuel related PM2.5 emissions and 23% of black carbon emissions in India are released from brick production. Few direct emissions measurements have been done in this industry and black carbon emissions, in particular, have not been previously measured. In this study, 9 kilns representing five common brick kiln technologies were tested for aerosol properties and gaseous pollutant emissions, including optical scattering and absorption and thermal-optical OC/EC. Simple relationships are then used to estimate the radiative-forcing impact. Kiln design and fuel quality greatly affect the overall emission profiles and relative climate warming. Batch production kilns, such as the Downdraft kiln, produce the most PM2.5 (0.97 gPM2.5/fired brick) with an OC/EC fraction of 0.3. Vertical Shaft Brick kilns using internally mixed fuels produce the least PM (0.09 gPM2.5/kg fired brick) with the least EC (OC/EC = 16.5), but these kilns are expensive to implement and their use throughout Southern Asia is minimal. The most popular kiln in India, the Bull's Trench kiln, had fewer emissions per brick than the Downdraft kiln, but an even higher EC fraction (OC/EC = 0.05). The Zig-zag kiln is similar in structure to the Bull's Trench kiln, but the emission factors are significantly lower: 50% reduction for CO, 17% for PM2.5 and 60% for black carbon. This difference in emissions suggests that converting traditional Bull's Trench kilns into less polluting Zig-zag kilns would result in reduced atmospheric warming from brick production.

An application programming interface for extreme precipitation and hazard products

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kirschbaum, D.; Stanley, T.; Cappelaere, P. G.; Reed, J.; Lammers, M.

2016-12-01

Remote sensing data provides situational awareness of extreme events and hazards over large areas in a way that is impossible to achieve with in situ data. However, more valuable than raw data is actionable information based on user needs. This information can take the form of derived products, extraction of a subset of variables in a larger data matrix, or data processing for a specific goal. These products can then stream to the end users, who can use these data to improve local to global decision making. This presentation will outline both the science and methodology of two new data products and tools that can provide relevant climate and hazard data for response and support. The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission provides near real-time information on rain and snow around the world every thirty minutes. Through a new applications programing interface (API), this data can be freely accessed by consumers to visualize, analyze, and communicate where, when and how much rain is falling worldwide. The second tool is a global landslide model that provides situational awareness of potential landslide activity in near real-time, utilizing several remotely sensed data products. This hazard information is also provided through an API and is being ingested by the emergency response community, international aid organizations, and others around the world. This presentation will highlight lessons learned through the development, implementation, and communication of these products and tools with the goal of enabling better and more effective decision making.

A Rapid Prototyping Look at NASA's Next Generation Earth-Observing Satellites; Opportunities for Global Change Research and Applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cecil, L.; Young, D. F.; Parker, P. A.; Eckman, R. S.

2006-12-01

The NASA Applied Sciences Program extends the results of Earth Science Division (ESD) research and knowledge beyond the scientific and research communities to contribute to national priority applications with societal benefits. The Applied Sciences Program focuses on, (1) assimilation of NASA Earth-science research results and their associated uncertainties to improve decision support systems and, (2) the transition of NASA research results to evolve improvements in future operational systems. The broad range of Earth- science research results that serve as inputs to the Applied Sciences Program are from NASA's Research and Analysis Program (R&A) within the ESD. The R&A Program has established six research focus areas to study the complex processes associated with Earth-system science; Atmospheric Composition, Carbon Cycle and Ecosystems, Climate Variability and Change, Earth Surface and Interior, Water and Energy Cycle, and Weather. Through observations-based Earth-science research results, NASA and its partners are establishing predictive capabilities for future projections of natural and human perturbations on the planet. The focus of this presentation is on the use of research results and their associated uncertainties from several of NASA's nine next generation missions for societal benefit. The newly launched missions are, (1) CloudSat, and (2) CALIPSO (Cloud Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations), both launched April 28, 2006, and the planned next generation missions include, (3) the Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO), (4) the Global Precipitation Mission (GPM), (5) the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM), (6) Glory, for measuring the spatial and temporal distribution of aerosols and total solar irradiance for long-term climate records, (7) Aquarius, for measuring global sea surface salinity, (8) the Ocean Surface Topography Mission (OSTM), and (9) the NPOESS Preparatory Project (NPP) for measuring long-term climate trends and global biological productivity. NASA's Applied Sciences Program is taking a scientifically rigorous systems engineering approach to facilitate rapid prototyping of potential uses of the projected research capabilities of these new missions into decision support systems. This presentation includes an example of a prototype experiment that focuses on two of the Applied Sciences Program's twelve National Applications focus areas, Water Management and Energy Management. This experiment is utilizing research results and associated uncertainties from existing Earth-observation missions as well as from several of NASA's nine next generation missions. This prototype experiment is simulating decision support analysis and research results leading to priority management and/or policy issues concentrating on climate change and uncertainties in alpine areas on the watershed scale.

Validating GPM-based Multi-satellite IMERG Products Over South Korea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, J.; Petersen, W. A.; Wolff, D. B.; Ryu, G. H.

2017-12-01

Accurate precipitation estimates derived from space-borne satellite measurements are critical for a wide variety of applications such as water budget studies, and prevention or mitigation of natural hazards caused by extreme precipitation events. This study validates the near-real-time Early Run, Late Run and the research-quality Final Run Integrated Multi-Satellite Retrievals for GPM (IMERG) using Korean Quantitative Precipitation Estimation (QPE). The Korean QPE data are at a 1-hour temporal resolution and 1-km by 1-km spatial resolution, and were developed by Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) from a Real-time ADjusted Radar-AWS (Automatic Weather Station) Rainrate (RAD-RAR) system utilizing eleven radars over the Republic of Korea. The validation is conducted by comparing Version-04A IMERG (Early, Late and Final Runs) with Korean QPE over the area (124.5E-130.5E, 32.5N-39N) at various spatial and temporal scales during March 2014 through November 2016. The comparisons demonstrate the reasonably good ability of Version-04A IMERG products in estimating precipitation over South Korea's complex topography that consists mainly of hills and mountains, as well as large coastal plains. Based on this data, the Early Run, Late Run and Final Run IMERG precipitation estimates higher than 0.1mm h-1 are about 20.1%, 7.5% and 6.1% higher than Korean QPE at 0.1o and 1-hour resolutions. Detailed comparison results are available at https://wallops-prf.gsfc.nasa.gov/KoreanQPE.V04/index.html

A Decentralized Eigenvalue Computation Method for Spectrum Sensing Based on Average Consensus

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mohammadi, Jafar; Limmer, Steffen; Stańczak, Sławomir

2016-07-01

This paper considers eigenvalue estimation for the decentralized inference problem for spectrum sensing. We propose a decentralized eigenvalue computation algorithm based on the power method, which is referred to as generalized power method GPM; it is capable of estimating the eigenvalues of a given covariance matrix under certain conditions. Furthermore, we have developed a decentralized implementation of GPM by splitting the iterative operations into local and global computation tasks. The global tasks require data exchange to be performed among the nodes. For this task, we apply an average consensus algorithm to efficiently perform the global computations. As a special case, we consider a structured graph that is a tree with clusters of nodes at its leaves. For an accelerated distributed implementation, we propose to use computation over multiple access channel (CoMAC) as a building block of the algorithm. Numerical simulations are provided to illustrate the performance of the two algorithms.

Addressing the unmet need for visualizing conditional random fields in biological data

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background The biological world is replete with phenomena that appear to be ideally modeled and analyzed by one archetypal statistical framework - the Graphical Probabilistic Model (GPM). The structure of GPMs is a uniquely good match for biological problems that range from aligning sequences to modeling the genome-to-phenome relationship. The fundamental questions that GPMs address involve making decisions based on a complex web of interacting factors. Unfortunately, while GPMs ideally fit many questions in biology, they are not an easy solution to apply. Building a GPM is not a simple task for an end user. Moreover, applying GPMs is also impeded by the insidious fact that the “complex web of interacting factors” inherent to a problem might be easy to define and also intractable to compute upon. Discussion We propose that the visualization sciences can contribute to many domains of the bio-sciences, by developing tools to address archetypal representation and user interaction issues in GPMs, and in particular a variety of GPM called a Conditional Random Field(CRF). CRFs bring additional power, and additional complexity, because the CRF dependency network can be conditioned on the query data. Conclusions In this manuscript we examine the shared features of several biological problems that are amenable to modeling with CRFs, highlight the challenges that existing visualization and visual analytics paradigms induce for these data, and document an experimental solution called StickWRLD which, while leaving room for improvement, has been successfully applied in several biological research projects. Software and tutorials are available at http://www.stickwrld.org/ PMID:25000815

Simulation of Space-borne Radar Observation from High Resolution Cloud Model - for GPM Dual frequency Precipitation Radar -

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, H.; Meneghini, R.; Jones, J.; Liao, L.

2011-12-01

A comprehensive space-borne radar simulator has been developed to support active microwave sensor satellite missions. The two major objectives of this study are: 1) to develop a radar simulator optimized for the Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (KuPR and KaPR) on the Global Precipitation Measurement Mission satellite (GPM-DPR) and 2) to generate the synthetic test datasets for DPR algorithm development. This simulator consists of two modules: a DPR scanning configuration module and a forward module that generates atmospheric and surface radar observations. To generate realistic DPR test data, the scanning configuration module specifies the technical characteristics of DPR sensor and emulates the scanning geometry of the DPR with a inner swath of about 120 km, which contains matched-beam data from both frequencies, and an outer swath from 120 to 245 km over which only Ku-band data will be acquired. The second module is a forward model used to compute radar observables (reflectivity, attenuation and polarimetric variables) from input model variables including temperature, pressure and water content (rain water, cloud water, cloud ice, snow, graupel and water vapor) over the radar resolution volume. Presently, the input data to the simulator come from the Goddard Cumulus Ensemble (GCE) and Weather Research and Forecast (WRF) models where a constant mass density is assumed for each species with a particle size distribution given by an exponential distribution with fixed intercept parameter (N0) and a slope parameter (Λ) determined from the equivalent water content. Although the model data do not presently contain mixed phase hydrometeors, the Yokoyama-Tanaka melting model is used along with the Bruggeman effective dielectric constant to replace rain and snow particles, where both are present, with mixed phase particles while preserving the snow/water fraction. For testing one of the DPR retrieval algorithms, the Surface Reference Technique (SRT), the simulator uses the normalized radar cross sections of the surface,σ0, at each frequency and incidence angle to generate the radar return power from the surface. The simulated σ0 data are modeled as realizations from jointly Gaussian random variables with means, variances and correlations obtained from measurements of σ0 from the JPL APR2 (2nd generation Airborne Precipitation Radar) data, which operates at approximately the same frequencies as the DPR. We will discuss the general capabilities of the radar simulator, present some sample results and show how they can be used to assess the performance of the radar retrieval algorithms proposed for the Dual-Frequency GPM radar. In addition, we will report on updates to the simulator using inputs from cloud models with spectral bin microphysics.

Community-Based Services that Facilitate Interoperability and Intercomparison of Precipitation Datasets from Multiple Sources

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Liu, Zhong; Kempler, Steven; Teng, William; Leptoukh, Gregory; Ostrenga, Dana

2010-01-01

Over the past 12 years, large volumes of precipitation data have been generated from space-based observatories (e.g., TRMM), merging of data products (e.g., gridded 3B42), models (e.g., GMAO), climatologies (e.g., Chang SSM/I derived rain indices), field campaigns, and ground-based measuring stations. The science research, applications, and education communities have greatly benefited from the unrestricted availability of these data from the Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC) and, in particular, the services tailored toward precipitation data access and usability. In addition, tools and services that are responsive to the expressed evolving needs of the precipitation data user communities have been developed at the Precipitation Data and Information Services Center (PDISC) (http://disc.gsfc.nasa.gov/precipitation or google NASA PDISC), located at the GES DISC, to provide users with quick data exploration and access capabilities. In recent years, data management and access services have become increasingly sophisticated, such that they now afford researchers, particularly those interested in multi-data set science analysis and/or data validation, the ability to homogenize data sets, in order to apply multi-variant, comparison, and evaluation functions. Included in these services is the ability to capture data quality and data provenance. These interoperability services can be directly applied to future data sets, such as those from the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission. This presentation describes the data sets and services at the PDISC that are currently used by precipitation science and applications researchers, and which will be enhanced in preparation for GPM and associated multi-sensor data research. Specifically, the GES-DISC Interactive Online Visualization ANd aNalysis Infrastructure (Giovanni) will be illustrated. Giovanni enables scientific exploration of Earth science data without researchers having to perform the complicated data access and match-up processes. In addition, PDISC tool and service capabilities being adapted for GPM data will be described, including the Google-like Mirador data search and access engine; semantic technology to help manage large amounts of multi-sensor data and their relationships; data access through various Web services (e.g., OPeNDAP, GDS, WMS, WCS); conversion to various formats (e.g., netCDF, HDF, KML (for Google Earth)); visualization and analysis of Level 2 data profiles and maps; parameter and spatial subsetting; time and temporal aggregation; regridding; data version control and provenance; continuous archive verification; and expertise in data-related standards and interoperability. The goal of providing these services is to further the progress towards a common framework by which data analysis/validation can be more easily accomplished.

The NASA Earth Science Flight Program: an update

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Neeck, Steven P.

2015-10-01

Earth's changing environment impacts every aspect of life on our planet and climate change has profound implications on society. Studying Earth as a single complex system is essential to understanding the causes and consequences of climate change and other global environmental concerns. NASA's Earth Science Division (ESD) shapes an interdisciplinary view of Earth, exploring interactions among the atmosphere, oceans, ice sheets, land surface interior, and life itself. This enables scientists to measure global and climate changes and to inform decisions by government, other organizations, and people in the United States and around the world. The data collected and results generated are accessible to other agencies and organizations to improve the products and services they provide, including air quality indices, disaster prediction and response, agricultural yield projections, and aviation safety. ESD's Flight Program provides the space based observing systems and infrastructure for mission operations and scientific data processing and distribution that support NASA's Earth science research and modeling activities. The Flight Program currently has 21 operating Earth observing space missions, including the recently launched Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission, the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2), the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission, and the International Space Station (ISS) RapidSCAT and Cloud-Aerosol Transport System (CATS) instruments. The ESD has 22 more missions and instruments planned for launch over the next decade. These include first and second tier missions from the 2007 Earth Science Decadal Survey, Climate Continuity missions and selected instruments to assure availability of key climate data sets, operational missions to ensure sustained land imaging provided by the Landsat system, and small-sized competitively selected orbital missions and instrument missions of opportunity belonging to the Earth Venture (EV) Program. Some examples are the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR), Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT), ICESat-2, SAGE III on ISS, Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow On (GRACE FO), Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution (TEMPO), Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS), ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station (ECOSTRESS), and Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) Lidar missions. An overview of plans and current status will be presented.

Microphysical properties of frozen particles inferred from Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Microwave Imager (GMI) polarimetric measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gong, Jie; Wu, Dong L.

2017-02-01

Scattering differences induced by frozen particle microphysical properties are investigated, using the vertically (V) and horizontally (H) polarized radiances from the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Microwave Imager (GMI) 89 and 166 GHz channels. It is the first study on frozen particle microphysical properties on a global scale that uses the dual-frequency microwave polarimetric signals.From the ice cloud scenes identified by the 183.3 ± 3 GHz channel brightness temperature (Tb), we find that the scattering by frozen particles is highly polarized, with V-H polarimetric differences (PDs) being positive throughout the tropics and the winter hemisphere mid-latitude jet regions, including PDs from the GMI 89 and 166 GHz TBs, as well as the PD at 640 GHz from the ER-2 Compact Scanning Submillimeter-wave Imaging Radiometer (CoSSIR) during the TC4 campaign. Large polarization dominantly occurs mostly near convective outflow regions (i.e., anvils or stratiform precipitation), while the polarization signal is small inside deep convective cores as well as at the remote cirrus region. Neglecting the polarimetric signal would easily result in as large as 30 % error in ice water path retrievals. There is a universal bell curve in the PD-TBV relationship, where the PD amplitude peaks at ˜ 10 K for all three channels in the tropics and increases slightly with latitude (2-4 K). Moreover, the 166 GHz PD tends to increase in the case where a melting layer is beneath the frozen particles aloft in the atmosphere, while 89 GHz PD is less sensitive than 166 GHz to the melting layer. This property creates a unique PD feature for the identification of the melting layer and stratiform rain with passive sensors.Horizontally oriented non-spherical frozen particles are thought to produce the observed PD because of different ice scattering properties in the V and H polarizations. On the other hand, turbulent mixing within deep convective cores inevitably promotes the random orientation of these particles, a mechanism that works effectively in reducing the PD. The current GMI polarimetric measurements themselves cannot fully disentangle the possible mechanisms.

Microphysical Properties of Frozen Particles Inferred from Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Microwave Imager (GMI) Polarimetric Measurements

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gong, Jie; Wu, Dongliang

2017-01-01

Scattering differences induced by frozen particle microphysical properties are investigated, using the vertically (V) and horizontally (H) polarized radiances from the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Microwave Imager (GMI) 89 and 166GHz channels. It is the first study on global frozen particle microphysical properties that uses the dual-frequency microwave polarimetric signals. From the ice cloud scenes identified by the 183.3 3GHz channel brightness temperature (TB), we find that the scatterings of frozen particles are highly polarized with V-H polarimetric differences (PD) being positive throughout the tropics and the winter hemisphere mid-latitude jet regions, including PDs from the GMI 89 and 166GHz TBs, as well as the PD at 640GHz from the ER-2 Compact Scanning Submillimeter-wave Imaging Radiometer (CoSSIR) during the TC4 campaign. Large polarization dominantly occurs mostly near convective outflow region (i.e., anvils or stratiform precipitation), while the polarization signal is small inside deep convective cores as well as at the remote cirrus region. Neglecting the polarimetric signal would result in as large as 30 error in ice water path retrievals. There is a universal bell-curve in the PD TB relationship, where the PD amplitude peaks at 10K for all three channels in the tropics and increases slightly with latitude. Moreover, the 166GHz PD tends to increase in the case where a melting layer is beneath the frozen particles aloft in the atmosphere, while 89GHz PD is less sensitive than 166GHz to the melting layer. This property creates a unique PD feature for the identification of the melting layer and stratiform rain with passive sensors. Horizontally oriented non-spherical frozen particles are thought to produce the observed PD because of different ice scattering properties in the V and H polarizations. On the other hand, changes in the ice microphysical habitats or orientation due to turbulence mixing can also lead to a reduced PD in the deep convective cores. The current GMI polarimetric measurements themselves cannot fully disentangle the possible mechanisms.

Vertical Variability of Rain Drop Size Distribution from Micro Rain Radar Measurements during IFloodS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adirosi, Elisa; Tokay, Ali; Roberto, Nicoletta; Gorgucci, Eugenio; Montopoli, Mario; Baldini, Luca

2017-04-01

Ground based weather radars are highly used to generate rainfall products for meteorological and hydrological applications. However, weather radar quantitative rainfall estimation is obtained at a certain altitude that depends mainly on the radar elevation angle and on the distance from the radar. Therefore, depending on the vertical variability of rainfall, a time-height ambiguity between radar measurement and rainfall at the ground can affect the rainfall products. The vertically pointing radars (such as the Micro Rain Radar, MRR) are great tool to investigate the vertical variability of rainfall and its characteristics and ultimately, to fill the gap between the ground level and the first available radar elevation. Furthermore, the knowledge of rain Drop Size Distribution (DSD) variability is linked to the well-known problem of the non-uniform beam filling that is one of the main uncertainties of Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission Dual frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR). During GPM Ground Validation Iowa Flood Studies (IFloodS) field experiment, data collected with 2D video disdrometers (2DVD), Autonomous OTT Parsivel2 Units (APU), and MRR profilers at different sites were available. In three different sites co-located APU, 2DVD and MRR are available and covered by the S-band Dual Polarimetric Doppler radar (NPOL). The first elevation height of the radar beam varies, among the three sites, between 70 m and 1100 m. The IFloodS set-up has been used to compare disdrometers, MRR and NPOL data and to evaluate the uncertainties of those measurements. First, the performance of disdrometers and MRR in determining different rainfall parameters at ground has been evaluated and then the MRR based parameters have been compared with the ones obtained from NPOL data at the lowest elevations. Furthermore, the vertical variability of DSD and integral rainfall parameters within the MRR bins (from ground to 1085 m each 35 m) has been investigated in order to provide some insight on the variability of the rainfall microphysical characteristics within about 1 km above the ground.

GPM Rainfall-Based Streamflow Analyses for East Africa

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Blankenship, Clay B.; Limaye, Ashutosh S.; Mitheu, Faith

2016-01-01

SERVIR is a joint project of NASA and US Agency for International Development (USAID). Mission is to use satellite data and geospatial technology to help developing countries manage resources, land use, and climate risks. Means to serve, in Spanish.

Inroads of remote sensing into hydrologic science during the WRR era

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lettenmaier, Dennis P.; Alsdorf, Doug; Dozier, Jeff; Huffman, George J.; Pan, Ming; Wood, Eric F.

2015-09-01

The first issue of WRR appeared eight years after the launch of Sputnik, but by WRR's 25th anniversary, only seven papers that used remote sensing had appeared. Over the journal's second 25 years, that changed remarkably, and remote sensing is now widely used in hydrology and other geophysical sciences. We attribute this evolution to production of data sets that scientists not well versed in remote sensing can use, and to educational initiatives like NASA's Earth System Science Fellowship program that has supported over a thousand scientists, many in hydrology. We review progress in remote sensing in hydrology from a water balance perspective. We argue that progress is primarily attributable to a creative use of existing and past satellite sensors to estimate such variables as evapotranspiration rates or water storage in lakes and reservoirs and to new and planned missions. Recent transforming technologies include the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE), the European Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) and U.S. Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) missions, and the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission. Future missions include Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) to measure river discharge and lake, reservoir, and wetland storage. Measurement of some important hydrologic variables remains problematic: retrieval of snow water equivalent (SWE) from space remains elusive especially in mountain areas, even though snow cover extent is well observed, and was the topic of 4 of the first 5 remote sensing papers published in WRR. We argue that this area deserves more strategic thinking from the hydrology community.

This Week @NASA - September 22, 2017

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-09-22

Satellite data continues to enable weather forecasters to look inside and outside of powerful hurricanes. Imagery from NOAA's GOES East satellite, captured Sept. 17 to Sept. 20, shows Hurricane Jose along the U.S. east coast, and Hurricane Maria, as it moved through the Leeward Islands, strengthening to a Category 5 hurricane, and making landfall in Puerto Rico. Meanwhile, The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) satellite found rain falling inside Maria at a rate of over 6.44 inches per hour in powerful storms that reached above 9.7 miles high. Also, SpaceX Dragon Returns with Science, Katherine Johnson Research Facility Opened, Earth’s Gravity Assist to OSIRIS-REx, Hubble Spots Asteroids Orbiting Each Other, and Engineering the Future!

"Newer, bigger, older" with NASA GIBS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schmaltz, J. E.; Alarcon, C.; Boller, R. A.; Cechini, M. F.; De Cesare, C.; De Luca, A. P.; Hall, J. R.; Huang, T.; King, J.; Plesea, L.; Pressley, N. N.; Roberts, J. T.; Rodriguez, J. D.; Thompson, C. K.

2015-12-01

The year 2015 witnessed a vast expansion of NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS) in a number of dimensions. Near real time imagery was added from a slew of additional sensors including GPM, SMAP, AMSR2, VIIRS, CERES, MOPITT, SSMI, and Aquarius, many of these representing measurements that had not been available in GIBS previously. The SMAP layers are also pioneering a new capability for GIBS to display individual granules. Higher resolution imagery, up to 30m/pixel, is now available in GIBS for some sensors, including ASTER GDEM and L1T and Web-Enabled Landsat Data (WELD). The imagery record is being extended into the past with the entire record of data from MODIS and AMSR-E reprocessing campaigns.

Multisensor Observation and Simulation of Snowfall During the 2003 Wakasa Bay Field Experiment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Johnson, Benjamin T.; Petty, Grant W.; Skofronick-Jackson, Gail; Wang, James W.

2005-01-01

This research seeks to assess and improve the accuracy of microphysical assumptions used in satellite passive microwave radiative transfer models and retrieval algorithms by exploiting complementary observations from satellite radiometers, such as TRMM/AMSR-E/GPM, and coincident aircraft instruments, such as the next generation precipitation radar (PR-2). We focus in particular on aircraft data obtained during the Wakasa Bay field experiment, Japan 2003, pertaining to surface snowfall events. The observations of vertical profiles of reflectivity and Doppler-derived fall speeds are used in conjunction with the radiometric measurements to identify 1-D profiles of precipitation particle types, sizes, and concentrations that are consistent with the observations.

Testing of an Annular Linear Induction Pump for the Fission Surface Power Technology Demonstration Unit

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Polzin, K. A.; Pearson, J. B.; Webster, K.; Godfoy, T. J.; Bossard, J. A.

2013-01-01

Results of performance testing of an annular linear induction pump that has been designed for integration into a fission surface power technology demonstration unit are presented. The pump electromagnetically pushes liquid metal (NaK) through a specially-designed apparatus that permits quantification of pump performance over a range of operating conditions. Testing was conducted for frequencies of 40, 55, and 70 Hz, liquid metal temperatures of 125, 325, and 525 C, and input voltages from 30 to 120 V. Pump performance spanned a range of flow rates from roughly 0.3 to 3.1 L/s (4.8 to 49 gpm), and pressure heads of <1 to 104 kPa (<0.15 to 15 psi). The maximum efficiency measured during testing was 5.4%. At the technology demonstration unit operating temperature of 525 C the pump operated over a narrower envelope, with flow rates from 0.3 to 2.75 L/s (4.8 to 43.6 gpm), developed pressure heads from <1 to 55 kPa (<0.15 to 8 psi), and a maximum efficiency of 3.5%. The pump was supplied with three-phase power at 40 and 55 Hz using a variable-frequency motor drive, while power at 55 and 70 Hz was supplied using a variable-frequency power supply. Measured performance of the pump at 55 Hz using either supply exhibited good quantitative agreement. For a given temperature, the peak in efficiency occurred at different flow rates as the frequency was changed, but the maximum value of efficiency was relative insensitive within 0.3% over the frequency range tested, including a scan from 45 to 78 Hz. The objectives of the FSP technology project are as follows:5 • Develop FSP concepts that meet expected surface power requirements at reasonable cost with added benefits over other options. • Establish a nonnuclear hardware-based technical foundation for FSP design concepts to reduce overall development risk. • Reduce the cost uncertainties for FSP and establish greater credibility for flight system cost estimates. • Generate the key nonnuclear products to allow Agency decision makers to consider FSP as a viable option for potential future flight development. The pump must be compatible with the liquid NaK coolant and have adequate performance to enable a viable flight system. Idaho National Laboratory (INL) was tasked with the design and fabrication of an ALIP suitable for the FSP reference mission. Under the program, a quarter-scale FSP technology demonstration is under construction to test the end-to-end conversion of simulated nuclear thermal power to usable electrical power intended to raise the entire FSP system to Technology Readiness Level 6. An ALIP for this TDU was fabricated under the direction of the INL and shipped to NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) for testing at representative operating conditions. This pump was designed to meet the requirements of the TDU experiment. The ALIP test circuit (ATC) at MSFC, previously used to conduct performance evaluation on another ALIP6 was used to test the present TDU pump for the FSP Technology Development program.

Status and Future of the Tropical Rainfall, Measuring Mission (TRMM)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Adler, Robert F.

2006-01-01

The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) will have completed nine years in orbit in November 2006. This successful research mission, a joint U.S./Japan effort, has become a key element in the routine monitoring of global precipitation. The package of rain measuring instrumentation, including the first meteorological radar in space, continues to function perfectly, and with the increase in orbital altitude (from 350 km to 400 km) in August 2001 and the mission extension approval in 2005, the satellite has sufficient station-keeping fuel to potentially last until 2012, or perhaps longer. The status of TRMM algorithms and products will be summarized, including the impact of the altitude boost in 2001, and the plans for the upcoming Version 7 of the products will be outlined. The role of TRMM as part of the constellation of rain-measuring satellites preceding GPM will be discussed, as well as its role in climate analysis using its unique radar/radiometer combination.

Science and applications-driven OSSE platform for terrestrial hydrology using NASA Land Information System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kumar, S.; Peters-Lidard, C. D.; Harrison, K.; Santanello, J. A.; Bach Kirschbaum, D.

2014-12-01

Observing System Simulation Experiments (OSSEs) are often conducted to evaluate the worth of existing data and data yet to be collected from proposed new missions. As missions increasingly require a broader ``Earth systems'' focus, it is important that the OSSEs capture the potential benefits of the observations on end-use applications. Towards this end, the results from the OSSEs must also be evaluated with a suite of metrics that capture the value, uncertainty, and information content of the observations while factoring in both science and societal impacts. In this presentation, we present the development of an end-to-end and end-use application oriented OSSE platform using the capabilities of the NASA Land Information System (LIS) developed for terrestrial hydrology. Four case studies that demonstrate the capabilities of the system will be presented: (1) A soil moisture OSSE that employs simulated L-band measurements and examines their impacts towards applications such as floods and droughts. The experiment also uses a decision-theory based analysis to assess the economic utility of observations towards improving drought and flood risk estimates, (2) A GPM-relevant study quantifies the impact of improved precipitation retrievals from GPM towards improving landslide forecasts, (3) A case study that examines the utility of passive microwave soil moisture observations towards weather prediction, and (4) OSSEs used for developing science requirements for the GRACE-2 mission. These experiments also demonstrate the value of a comprehensive modeling environment such as LIS for conducting end-to-end OSSEs by linking satellite observations, physical models, data assimilation algorithms and end-use application models in a single integrated framework.

Test holes drilled in support of ground-water investigations, Project Gnome, Eddy County, New Mexico

USGS Publications Warehouse

Cooper, J.B.

1962-01-01

Project Gnome is a proposed underground nuclear shot to be detonated within a massive salt bed in Eddy County, N. Mex. Potable and neat potable ground water is present in rocks above the salt and is being studied in relation to this nuclear event. This report presents details of two test holes which were drilled to determine ground-water conditions in the near vicinity of the shot point. A well-defined aquifer is present at the site of USGS test hole 1, about 1,000 feet south of the access shaft to the underground shot point. Water with 75 feet of artesian pressure head is contained in the Culebra dolomite member of the Rustler formation. The dolomite aquifer is 32 feet thick and its top lies at a depth of 517 feet below land surface. The aquifer yielded 100 gpm (gallons per minute) with a drawdown of 40 feet during a pumping period of 24 hours. Water was not found in rocks above or below the Culebra dolomite. At the site of USGS test hole 2, about 2 miles southwest of the access shaft no distinctive aquifer exists. About one-half gpm was yielded to the well from the rocks between the Culebra dolomite and the top of the salt. Water could not be detected in the Culebra dolomite or overlying rocks. The report contains drawdown and recovery curves of yield tests, drilling-time charts, and electric logs. The data are given in tables; they include summaries of hole construction, sample description logs, water measurements, drilling-time logs, and water analyses.

Evaluation of the toxicity of Streptomyces aburaviensis (R9) towards various agricultural pests

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The culture filtrate fraction extracted with dichloromethane from Streptomyces aburaviensis -R9 strain grown on glucose-peptone-molasses (GPM) broth was bioassayed for its effect on phytopathogenic fungi (Colletotrichum acutatum, C. fragariae, C. gloeosoprioids, Botrytis cinerea, Fusarium oxysporum,...

WATER FILTRATION AT DULUTH

EPA Science Inventory

After partial completion of the Lakewood Filtration Plant at Duluth, studies were begun with funding provided by the demonstration grant. Research covered a variety of topics and was done with a 10 gpm pilot plant located at the filtration plant, with the full scale plant operati...

A parsimonious land data assimilation system for the SMAP/GPM satellite era

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Land data assimilation systems typically require complex parameterizations in order to: define required observation operators, quantify observing/forecasting errors and calibrate a land surface assimilation model. These parameters are commonly defined in an arbitrary manner and, if poorly specified,...

Geothermal Progress Monitor, report No. 13

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

1992-02-01

Geothermal Progress Monitor (GPM) Issue No. 13 documents that most related factors favor the growth and geographic expansion of the US geothermal industry and that the industry is being technologically prepared to meet those challenges into the next century. It is the function of GPM to identify trends in the use of this resource and to provide a historical record of its development pathway. The information assembled for this issue of GPM indicates that trends in the use of geothermal energy in this country and abroad continue to be very positive. Favorable sentiments as well as pertinent actions on the part of both government and industry are documented in almost every section. The FEDERAL BEAT points up that the National Energy Strategy (NES) developed at the highest levels of the US government recognizes the environmental and energy security advantages of renewable energy, including geothermal, and makes a commitment to 'substantial diversification' of US sources of energy. With the announcement of the construction of several new plants and plant expansions, the INDUSTRY SCENE illustrates industry's continued expectation that the use of geothermal energy will prove profitable to investors. In DEVELOPMENT STATUS, spokesmen for both an investor-owned utility and a major geothermal developer express strong support for geothermal power, particularly emphasizing its environmental advantages. DEVELOPMENT STATUS also reports that early successes have been achieved by joint DOE/industry R & D at The Geysers which will have important impacts on the future management of this mature field. Also there is increasing interest in hot dry rock. Analyses conducted in support of the NES indicate that if all the postulated technology developments occur in this field, the price of energy derived from hot dry rock in the US could drop.