Micro Rain Radar Observations from the ICE-POP Winter Campaign

Precipitation data were collected by two Micro Rain Radar (MRR) instruments during the International Collaborative Experiments for Pyeongchang 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (ICE-POP) field campaign in South Korea. The dataset covers the period from November 1, 2017, to March 1, 2018, and was produced by the GHRC DAAC as part of the Global Precipitation Measurement mission's Ground Validation efforts. Its primary objectives were to study severe winter weather in complex terrain and improve short-term forecasting and satellite precipitation estimates.

Use Cases

• Validating satellite-derived precipitation estimates from the GPM mission using ground-based radar reflectivity and precipitation rate data.
• Analyzing droplet size distributions and hydrometeor types during severe winter storms in mountainous regions.
• Studying the spatial and temporal variability of orographic precipitation for short-term weather forecasting model improvement.
• Investigating the microphysical properties of precipitation in complex terrain to understand snowfall formation processes.

Strengths

• Data originates from a focused, international field campaign (ICE-POP) specifically designed to study winter weather, ensuring relevance to the research domain.
• The dataset provides a continuous five-month time series from two instruments, offering a substantial observational record for the winter season.
• It is hosted on multiple authoritative platforms (NASA Earthdata and Data.gov), indicating vetting and sustained availability.

Limitations

• Key technical details like row count, file size, and specific column names are unavailable from the provided sources, limiting precise assessment of scope.
• There is a conflict in the reported 'last updated' date between sources (2018-03-01 vs. 2026-03-13), creating uncertainty about the most recent metadata maintenance.

Provenance

Source

GHRC_DAAC (Global Hydrology Resource Center Distributed Active Archive Center)

Collection Method

Collected by two ground-based Micro Rain Radar (MRR) instruments during the ICE-POP field campaign.

Time Range

2017-11-01 to 2018-03-01

Freshness

2026-03-13 02:22:48.755616

Geography

South Korea, specifically the Pyeongchang region during the 2018 Winter Games.