GPM Radiometer Precipitation Profiles from AMSR-2 Sensor

Version 07 data provides consistent precipitation retrievals from nine passive microwave sensors, including AMSR-2, TMI, and SSMIS, forming the bulk of GPM's 3-hour global coverage. The Goddard Profiling (2AGPROF) algorithm uses a Bayesian method with an a-priori database of rain profiles to retrieve mean rain rates and vertical hydrometeor structure. This dataset is produced by the GES DISC organization.

Use Cases

• Analyze precipitation intensity and uncertainty from the retrieved mean rain rate field.
• Study the vertical distribution of cloud and precipitation using the retrieved hydrometeor structure profiles.
• Compare sensor-specific brightness temperature (Tb) observations against simulated Tb values from the algorithm's a-priori database.
• Investigate data consistency across the nine sensor products (NRT, standard, climate) which use different ancillary data sources like GANAL and ECMWF reanalysis.

Strengths

• Provides consistent retrievals across nine satellite sensors enabling multi-mission analysis.
• Algorithm uses a parametric Bayesian method well-suited for GPM's constellation approach.
• Offers three processing levels (NRT within 3 hours, standard within 48 hours, climate within 3 months) for different latency needs.

Limitations

• The a-priori database for initial algorithm versions was constructed from various sources, potentially introducing early version inconsistencies.
• Specific spatial resolution, temporal coverage, and volume metrics for the AMSR-2 product are not provided in the description.
• Older data versions are superseded and no longer available, limiting longitudinal analysis with previous methodologies.

Provenance

Source

Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC).

Collection Method

Retrievals from the Goddard Profiling (2AGPROF) algorithm applied to brightness temperature data from the AMSR-2 radiometer on the GCOM-W1 satellite and eight other partner sensors.

Time Range

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Freshness

Near-realtime products are available within 3 hours of data collection.

Geography

Global coverage achieved by the GPM satellite constellation.