CoSMIR OLYMPEX: Airborne Microwave Brightness Temperatures

From November 5 to December 19, 2015, this dataset contains brightness temperatures measured by the Conical Scanning Millimeter-wave Imaging Radiometer (CoSMIR) aboard the NASA DC-8 aircraft. It provides data from nine channels at frequencies including 50.3, 52.8, 89.0, 165.5, and 183.31 GHz, collected during the Olympic Mountains Experiment (OLYMPEX) for the Global Precipitation Mission (GPM). The primary data files are in HDF-5 format, accompanied by PNG browse imagery showing time series plots.

Use Cases

• Validating satellite-based precipitation retrievals from the GPM mission using coincident airborne measurements.
• Analyzing the vertical structure of atmospheric water vapor and cloud ice based on multi-frequency brightness temperature data.
• Studying precipitation processes over complex terrain (the Olympic Mountains) during the OLYMPEX field campaign.
• Developing or testing radiative transfer models for microwave frequencies between 50 and 183 GHz.

Strengths

• Data is collected from a well-defined, high-profile NASA field campaign (OLYMPEX) for satellite ground validation.
• Provides multi-channel measurements at specific microwave frequencies (e.g., 50.3, 52.8, 89.0, 165.5, 183.31±1/3/7 GHz) crucial for atmospheric sounding.
• Includes browse imagery (PNG) for quick visualization of brightness temperature time series.

Limitations

• Column names and a precise row/record count are not provided in the available metadata, limiting understanding of the data structure.
• Conflicting 'last updated' dates exist between sources (2026-04-10 on datagov vs. 2015-12-19 on nasa_earthdata), creating uncertainty about metadata maintenance.
• The license is specified only as 'other-license-specified' without explicit details on reuse terms.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Airborne remote sensing via the Conical Scanning Millimeter-wave Imaging Radiometer (CoSMIR) instrument on the NASA DC-8 aircraft.

Time Range

November 5, 2015 to December 19, 2015

Freshness

2026-04-10 03:01:09.811458

Geography

Olympic Mountains region, Washington, USA (inferred from OLYMPEX campaign)