GPM GPROF: Global Satellite Precipitation Profiles from Microwave Radiometers

Version 07 climate-reference data uses ECMWF-Interim reanalysis for homogeneous ancillary conditions over the climate time series. The Goddard Profiling (GPROF) algorithm retrieves precipitation and cloud hydrometeor profiles from a constellation of 10 passive microwave sensors, providing bulk 3-hour global coverage. This dataset is produced by NASA's GPM mission and was last updated in March 2026.

Use Cases

• Validate and calibrate climate models based on consistent, long-term precipitation profiles.
• Study global precipitation patterns and vertical cloud structure based on Bayesian retrieval of hydrometeors.
• Analyze atmospheric water vapor and precipitation uncertainty from multi-sensor brightness temperature observations.

Strengths

• Provides data from a constellation of 10 different satellite microwave sensors for broad spatial coverage.
• Uses a consistent Bayesian algorithm and climate-referenced ancillary data (ECMWF-Interim) for homogeneous long-term records.
• Includes vertical structure of cloud and precipitation hydrometeors along with their uncertainty estimates.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count and spatial/temporal resolution details are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) GES DISC

Collection Method

Retrieved via the GPROF Bayesian algorithm from passive microwave brightness temperatures collected by the GPM constellation of satellites.

Time Range

Climate time series; specific range not provided.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 01:57:42.777588; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Global coverage from satellite constellation.