Iowa Flood Center Stream Flow Data for GPM Satellite Validation

GPM Ground Validation Iowa Flood Center Stream Flow IFloodS V1 dataset contains river stage measurements collected during the Iowa Flood Studies field campaign. The Iowa Flood Center gathered this data in real-time at 15-minute intervals from sensors on bridges across Iowa to evaluate GPM satellite rainfall for flood forecasting. Data collection spanned from March 31, 2013, through June 30, 2013.

Use Cases

• Validating Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) satellite rainfall estimates against ground-based river stage observations.
• Calibrating and improving flood forecast models using high-frequency (15-minute) stream flow time-series data.
• Analyzing the relationship between satellite-derived precipitation and terrestrial hydrological response in a midwestern US river system.

Strengths

• Data provides high-temporal-resolution measurements collected at 15-minute intervals.
• Collection was conducted during a dedicated, time-bound field campaign (IFloodS) from March to June 2013.
• Dataset is hosted by NASA and appears on multiple platforms, indicating its recognized role in satellite validation.

Limitations

• Core data attributes like row count, file size, and specific column names are unknown across all sources.
• Data format is listed as XML, but available file formats include BIN, ISO, HTML, and PDF, indicating potential ancillary or packaged files rather than the core data.
• License is ambiguously listed as 'other-license-specified' on Data.gov but is 'None' on NASA Earthdata, creating a conflict.

Provenance

Source

Iowa Flood Center, collected for NASA's Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission validation.

Collection Method

Real-time monitoring of stage levels using sensors attached to bridges, with data downloaded from the Iowa Flood Information System (IFIS).

Time Range

March 31, - June 30, 2013

Freshness

2026-03-13 02:03:55.615397

Geography

Iowa, United States