Airborne Microwave Brightness Temperatures for Precipitation Validation

Brightness temperature data from nine microwave channels were collected by the Conical Scanning Millimeter-wave Imaging Radiometer (CoSMIR) instrument aboard the NASA ER-2 aircraft. This dataset was generated during the Integrated Precipitation and Hydrology Experiment (IPHEx) field campaign in North Carolina from May 7 to June 14, 2014, with the goal of validating satellite precipitation measurements. The data are provided by the Global Hydrology Resource Center Distributed Active Archive Center (GHRC DAAC).

Use Cases

• Calibrating and validating satellite-based precipitation retrieval algorithms using coincident airborne brightness temperature measurements.
• Analyzing the sensitivity of different microwave frequencies (e.g., 50.3, 89.0, 183.31±7 GHz) to various hydrometeor types.
• Assimilating high-resolution airborne radiometer data into regional hydrology models for the IPHEx study area.
• Studying the spatial and temporal variability of brightness temperatures over complex terrain in North Carolina.

Strengths

• Provides data from nine specific microwave channels, enabling multi-frequency analysis of atmospheric conditions.
• Covers a defined, intensive field campaign period of over five weeks (May 7 - June 14, 2014).
• Serves as a direct validation source for the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission satellite products.

Limitations

• Key technical specifications are unknown, including row count, file size, and specific column names.
• Conflicting license information exists between platforms ('other-license-specified' and 'None').
• Data is limited to a specific geographic region (North Carolina) and a short time period in 2014.

Provenance

Source

GHRC_DAAC

Collection Method

Measured by the CoSMIR conical and cross-track scanning radiometer onboard the NASA ER-2 aircraft.

Time Range

2014-05-07 to 2014-06-14

Freshness

2026-03-13 02:25:47.720116

Geography

North Carolina, USA