GPM DPR: Global Precipitation Profiles from Dual-Frequency Radar

GPM_2ADPR Version 07 provides precipitation estimates derived from the Ku and Ka band radars on the GPM spacecraft's Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar. The data includes single- and dual-frequency-derived precipitation products across swaths of 245 km and 125 km, with retrievals performed at each radar range bin. This dataset is produced by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and was last updated in March 2026.

Use Cases

• Validate and calibrate climate models based on dual-frequency precipitation estimates.
• Analyze precipitation structure and intensity based on Ku-band and Ka-band radar profiles.
• Study atmospheric water vapor distribution based on high-sensitivity radar retrievals.
• Compare precipitation characteristics between wide (245 km) and narrow (125 km) satellite swaths.

Strengths

• Provides Version 07 data, superseding all older versions for consistency.
• Includes three main product classes: Ku-band, Ka-band, and dual-frequency-derived precipitation.
• Offers both standard and high-sensitivity estimates from the Ka-band radar.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Retrievals from the Ku and Ka radars of the Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) on the core GPM spacecraft.

Time Range

Temporal coverage is not explicitly stated in the provided description.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 02:28:02.650896; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Global coverage from satellite swaths of 245 km (Ku-band) and 125 km (Ka-band).