Ground Validation Visibility and Precipitation Data for GCPEx 2012

January 15 to March 1, 2012 data from the GPM Cold-season Precipitation Experiment (GCPEx) in Huronia, Canada. This dataset contains measurements from an Environment Canada FD12P sensor, combining forward scatter visibility metering with present weather detection to measure intensity and amount of liquid and solid precipitation. It was collected by the GHRC DAAC to validate satellite-based microwave sensors for detecting and estimating falling snow.

Use Cases

• Validating satellite-based microwave sensor estimates of snowfall rates and detection accuracy.
• Analyzing relationships between visibility measurements and precipitation type (liquid vs. solid) during winter conditions.
• Studying the intensity and temporal distribution of precipitation events during a defined cold-season field campaign.
• Correlating ground-based present weather observations with multi-frequency active and passive remote sensing data.

Strengths

• Data covers a focused 47-day field campaign (January 15 - March 1, 2012) for a specific scientific experiment.
• Sensor provides combined measurements of visibility, precipitation type, intensity, and amount for both rain and snow.
• Dataset is hosted on multiple authoritative platforms (NASA Earthdata, Data.gov), indicating recognized importance for validation.

Limitations

• Specific column names, row counts, and dataset size are not provided by any source.
• Sources conflict on the last updated date (2012-03-01 vs. 2026 03-13), creating uncertainty about metadata maintenance.

Provenance

Source

GHRC DAAC (Global Hydrology Resource Center Distributed Active Archive Center)

Collection Method

Collected via ground-based Environment Canada FD12P visibility and present weather sensor during the GCPEx field campaign.

Time Range

2012-01 15 to 2012-03-01

Freshness

2026-03-13 02:04:49.621691

Geography

Huronia, Canada