NASA Logo - GSFC + NASA Homepage
+ Goddard Homepage
Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Ground Validation

GPM Ground Validation Data Archive

Welcome to the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission Ground Validation (GV) web portal. The goal of this site is to provide a one-stop-shopping portal for accessing the various radar, disdrometer, gauge and other instrument data sets supporting GPM GV activities. Use the tabs above to access the various datasets, including:

Software and Tools

GVradar GVradar
SIMBA SIMBA
NASA's Radar Software Library Radar Software Library (RSL)
NASA's RSL in IDL RSL-in-IDL

Special and International Partner Projects

GPM Validation Network

In support of GPM GV efforts, NASA has developed the GPM Ground Validation System GVS) Validation Network (VN). In the GPM era the VN will perform a direct match-up of GPM’s space-based Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) data with ground radar data from the U.S. network of NOAA Weather Surveillance Radar-1988 Doppler (WSR-88D, or NEXRAD. Ground radar networks from international partners will also be part of the VN. The VN match-up will help evaluate the reflectance attenuation correction algorithms of the DPR and will identify biases between ground observations and satellite retrievals as they occur in different meteorological regimes

Field Campaigns

The NASA Global Precipitation Measurement Mission (GPM) Ground Validation (GV) program, as a member of the broader NASA Precipitation Measurement Mission, is providing ground and airborne precipitation datasets supporting physical validation of satellite-based precipitation retrieval algorithms. The requisite GV measurements include multi-frequency dual-polarimetric radar (S, C, X, Ka/Ku and W bands), airborne microphysical probe, radar and radiometer observations (e.g., provision of a GPM core satellite "proxy"), and ground-based disdrometer and raingauge network observations as a core instrument and measurement complement. The GPM-GV instrument suite has been deployed in numerous field campaigns in several different precipitation regimes. These campaigns and regimes range from the Light Precipitation Validation Experiment (LPVEX), Helsinki, Finland, fall-winter 2010, partnered with CloudSat; the Mid-latitude Continental Convective Clouds Experiment (MC3E), Ponca City, OK, April-May, 2011, partners DOE-ARM); the GPM Cold Season Precipitation Experiment (GCPEX), Ontario, Canada, Jan-Feb. 2012, partners Environment Canada); the Iowa Flood Season campaign (IFloods), May-June 2013, partner with the University of Iowa; and the Integrated Precipitation Hydrology Experiment (IPHEx).

All data from these campaigns are managed by the GPM GV data portal at GHRC/NSSTC.