Olympic Mountains Experiment Ground Meteorological Station Data

Over two months of ground-based meteorological measurements were collected from November 13, 2015, through January 17, 2016, at a station in Albert Head, British Columbia. The dataset includes precipitation rate, reflectivity, pressure, temperature, humidity, wind speed, and wind direction, captured by specialized instruments operated by Environment and Climate Change Canada. It was created for the NASA GPM Ground Validation OLYMPEX campaign to validate satellite precipitation observations.

Use Cases

• Validating satellite-derived precipitation estimates from the GPM mission by comparing with ground-based precipitation rate and reflectivity measurements.
• Analyzing the relationship between surface meteorological conditions (pressure, temperature, humidity, wind) and precipitation events during the OLYMPEX campaign.
• Comparing point measurements from a ground station (e.g., OTT Pluvio2 gauge) with co-located CAX-1 radar scans to assess radar calibration and precipitation detection algorithms.

Strengths

• Data is instrument-specific, sourced from a Vaisala WXT520 Weather Transmitter, OTT Parsivel2, and OTT Pluvio2 sensors, providing detailed measurement provenance.
• Covers a continuous, focused period of 66 days during the intensive OLYMPEX field campaign, suitable for event-based analysis.
• Includes co-located radar (CAX-1) data, enabling direct comparison between ground station measurements and remote sensing observations.

Limitations

• Conflicting license information: one source specifies 'other-license-specified' while another lists 'None', requiring user verification.
• Limited temporal scope to a single winter season (late 2015 to early 2016), restricting long-term climate trend analysis.
• Specific column names and row counts are not provided by any platform, hindering precise assessment of data volume and structure.

Provenance

Source

Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) instruments, processed by the NASA GHRC DAAC.

Collection Method

Measured by ground-based meteorological station sensors including a Vaisala FD12P, OTT Parsivel2, OTT Pluvio2, and Vaisala WXT520.

Time Range

November 13, 2015 to January 17, 2016

Freshness

2026-03-13 02:26:56.701368

Geography

Albert Head, British Columbia, Canada