AMPR IPHEx: Airborne Microwave Brightness Temperatures for Precipitation Validation

NASA's GPM Ground Validation Advanced Microwave Precipitation Radiometer (AMPR) IPHEx dataset contains Level 2B calibrated and georeferenced brightness temperature measurements. Data were collected from an ER-2 aircraft over North Carolina between May 1 and June 14, 2014, to evaluate satellite precipitation accuracy and support hydrological modeling. The dataset includes four microwave frequencies (10, 19, 37, 85 GHz), aircraft navigation data, and is provided in netCDF-4 format with accompanying Python software for analysis.

Use Cases

• Validating satellite-based precipitation estimates based on calibrated airborne brightness temperature measurements.
• Improving hydrological model inputs in the southeastern U.S. using high-resolution microwave radiometer data.
• Analyzing the spatial and temporal structure of precipitation systems using georeferenced, multi-frequency brightness temperatures.
• Developing or testing precipitation retrieval algorithms for the 10-85 GHz microwave spectrum.

Strengths

• Provides calibrated, georeferenced data from a controlled airborne campaign with a specific time range (May 1 to June 14, 2014).
• Includes data at four distinct microwave frequencies (10, 19, 37, 85 GHz) relevant for precipitation studies.
• Supported by custom Python software for reading, plotting, and analysis, enhancing usability.

Limitations

• Key metadata such as row count, file size, and specific column names are unavailable across all sources.
• Conflicting last-update dates exist between platforms (2014-06-14 vs. 2026-04-10), creating uncertainty about data currency.
• Spatial coverage is limited to a specific field campaign region in North Carolina over a six-week period.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Acquired by the AMPR instrument flown aboard the high-altitude ER-2 aircraft during the IPHEx field campaign.

Time Range

2014-05-01 to 2014-06-14

Freshness

2026-04-10 02:41:54.792819

Geography

North Carolina, United States