Dual-Frequency Radar Data for Iowa Flood Studies

Radar reflectivity and Doppler velocity measurements were collected by the NASA-funded D3R instrument during the Iowa Flood Studies (IFloodS) campaign from May 9 to June 13, 2013. This dataset supports the validation and improvement of satellite precipitation retrieval algorithms for flood prediction. It was developed by a government-industry-academic consortium under NASA's Global Precipitation Measurement Project.

Use Cases

• Validating satellite-based precipitation estimates from the GPM mission using ground radar reflectivity measurements.
• Analyzing storm microphysics and particle size distribution using dual-frequency (Ku and Ka band) radar data.
• Studying wind fields and precipitation dynamics within storms using Doppler velocity measurements.
• Improving numerical weather prediction and flood forecasting models by providing high-resolution ground truth data.

Strengths

• Data was collected during a dedicated NASA field campaign (IFloodS) specifically designed for satellite validation.
• Measurements are from a specialized dual-frequency, dual-polarized Doppler radar (D3R) operating at Ku (13.91 GHz) and Ka (35.56 GHz) bands.
• The dataset provides a continuous time series over a fixed range from 450 meters to 39.75 kilometers for over a month.

Limitations

• The exact number of data rows, file size, and specific column names are not provided by any source.
• Sources conflict on the last updated date, with one listing 2026-03-13 and another listing 2013-06 13.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Project.

Collection Method

Measurements gathered by the ground-based D3R radar instrument during the IFloodS field campaign.

Time Range

2013-05-09 to 2013-06-13

Freshness

2026-03-13 02:25:13.662619

Geography

Iowa, United States (inferred from Iowa Flood Studies campaign).