Dual-Frequency Radar Data for Ground Precipitation Validation

NASA's GPM Ground Validation Dual-frequency Dual-polarized Doppler Radar (D3R) IPHEx dataset provides radar reflectivity and Doppler velocity measurements for validating satellite precipitation estimates. The instrument, developed by a government-industry-academic consortium, operates at Ku-band (13.91 GHz) and Ka-band (35.56 GHz) frequencies, covering a fixed range from 450 meters to 39.75 kilometers. Data is stored in netCDF-4 format with browse imagery in PNG.

Use Cases

• Validating satellite-derived precipitation estimates from the GPM mission using ground-based radar reflectivity measurements.
• Analyzing the microphysical structure of precipitation events using dual-frequency (Ku and Ka band) radar data.
• Studying Doppler velocity to understand wind patterns and particle motion within precipitating systems.
• Comparing ground-truth precipitation data from the Integrated Precipitation and Hydrology Experiment (IPHEx) field campaign with model outputs.

Strengths

• Data originates from a specialized, dual-frequency radar system developed by a NASA-funded consortium for high-quality ground validation.
• Measurements cover a specific and fixed range from 450 m to 39.75 km, providing consistent spatial coverage for analysis.
• The dataset's cross-platform presence on Data.gov and NASA Earthdata indicates its importance and curated status.

Limitations

• Key metadata such as row count, dataset size, and precise temporal coverage is unavailable across all sources.
• A conflict exists in the 'last updated' date, with Data.gov listing 2026-03-13 and NASA Earthdata listing 2014-06-15, casting doubt on data currency.

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

Collected by the ground-based Dual-frequency Dual-polarized Doppler Radar (D3R) during the Integrated Precipitation and Hydrology Experiment (IPHEx) field campaign.

Freshness

2026-03-13 02:25:15.196385

Geography

Coverage is from the fixed radar location during the IPHEx campaign, with a measurement range of 450 m to 39.75 km.