APR-3: Airborne Radar Precipitation Measurements from OLYMPEX
Updated 1mo ago
13filesBIN
Available on 2 platforms
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Description
From November 12 to December 19, 2015, this dataset was collected during the Olympic Mountains Experiment (OLYMPEX) field campaign in the Pacific Northwest. It contains multi-frequency Doppler radar measurements from the APR-3 instrument aboard a DC-8 aircraft at 10 km altitude. The data includes radar reflectivity, Doppler velocity, linear depolarization ratio, and normalized radar cross-section measurements at Ku, Ka, and W bands.
Use Cases
Validating satellite-based precipitation estimates from the GPM mission based on airborne radar reflectivity.
Analyzing the three-dimensional structure of winter storms using cross-track scanning Doppler velocity data.
Studying cloud microphysics and hydrometeor types using multi-frequency (Ku, Ka, W-band) radar measurements.
Investigating surface scattering properties over complex terrain using normalized radar cross-section measurements.
Strengths
Provides a specific 38-day time series from a defined field campaign (Nov 12 - Dec 19, 2015).
Includes multi-frequency (Ku, Ka, W-band) and multi-parameter (reflectivity, velocity, depolarization) radar measurements.
Data is associated with a major NASA mission (GPM Ground Validation) and a specific aircraft platform (DC-8).
Limitations
Key metadata such as row count, file size, and specific column names are not provided across all sources.
There is a conflict in the 'last updated' metadata, with one source showing 2015 and another showing 2026, casting doubt on provenance tracking.
The dataset's spatial coverage is described only generally as the 'Pacific Northwest' during OLYMPEX.
Provenance
Source
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Collection Method
Collected by the Airborne Precipitation Radar 3rd Generation (APR-3) instrument on a DC-8 aircraft during the OLYMPEX field campaign.
Time Range
2015-11-12 to 2015-12-19
Freshness
2026-04-10 03:02:26.166901
Geography
Pacific Northwest, specifically the Olympic Mountains region during the OLYMPEX campaign.
License is listed as 'other-license-specified' on some platforms but not detailed; primary data format is HDF-5.