CAMEX-4 Florida Keys Polarimetric Weather Radar Data

X-POW mobile Doppler radar data captured surface rainfall rates and 3D precipitation microphysics during the CAMEX-4 field experiment. The radar operated at 9.3 GHz with dual polarization in the Florida Keys. This dataset supports retrievals of hydrometeor contents and drop size distribution profiles.

Use Cases

• Estimating surface rainfall rates using radar reflectivity measurements.
• Classifying precipitation types (e.g., rain, snow, hail) via polarimetric variables.
• Retrieving 3D profiles of water and frozen hydrometeor content.
• Analyzing drop size distributions within storm systems.
• Studying storm structure and evolution using Doppler velocity data.

Strengths

• Provides dual-polarization (horizontal and vertical) data enabling detailed precipitation classification.
• Collected during a dedicated NASA field experiment (CAMEX-4) for targeted atmospheric study.
• Supports 3D microphysical retrievals beyond basic reflectivity, including hydrometeor content.

Limitations

• Key metadata such as row count, file size, and specific column names are unavailable from all sources.
• Sources conflict on the last update date: Data.gov lists 2026-03 13, while NASA Earthdata lists 2001-09-28.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Collected by the Mobile X-band Polarimetric Weather Radar on Wheels (X-POW), a Doppler scanning radar.

Time Range

During the CAMEX-4 field experiment.

Freshness

2026-03-13 04:58:27.208093

Geography

Florida Keys, USA.