MC3E Aircraft Flight Summaries and Radar Track Imagery

Flight summaries and imagery document aircraft operations for the Midlatitude Continental Convective Clouds Experiment (MC3E). The dataset includes processed sonde maps, radar animations, parameter charts, and track graphs from the April-June 2011 campaign in central Oklahoma. It results from a collaboration between NASA's GPM Ground Validation program and the DOE's Atmospheric Radiation Measurement facility.

Use Cases

• Validating satellite-based precipitation estimates from the GPM mission using ground-based and airborne radar track data.
• Analyzing the spatial and temporal evolution of convective systems using aircraft operational time logs and parameter vs. time charts.
• Studying atmospheric profiles and cloud characteristics with sonde maps and radar animations from specific flight days.
• Correlating aircraft navigation data with radar imagery for coordinated analysis of storm events.

Strengths

• Provides specific, processed flight summaries from a major collaborative field campaign (NASA GPM and DOE ARM).
• Includes time-series visualizations such as parameter versus time charts and radar track graphs.
• Contains imagery from a key event date, with an animation for May 11, 2011 and KICT radar snapshots.

Limitations

• The exact data volume, row count, and specific column names are not provided by any source.
• Sources conflict on the last updated date, listing both 2011-06-02 and 2026-03 13.
• The dataset's primary content appears to be processed summaries and imagery, not raw instrument data.

Provenance

Source

University of North Dakota, processed for NASA GPM Ground Validation and DOE ARM.

Collection Method

Processed from aircraft and instrument operational data during the MC3E field campaign.

Time Range

April-June 2011

Freshness

2026-03-13 02:04:45.241419

Geography

Central Oklahoma, USA