Climate-Referenced Satellite Precipitation Profiles from Microwave Radiometers

Version 07 climate-reference products provide precipitation and hydrometeor profiles using a Bayesian retrieval algorithm from multiple passive microwave sensors, including GMI, SSMI, SSMIS, AMSR2, TMI, MHS, ATMS, and SAPHIR. The data is processed by the GES DISC using ECMWF-Interim reanalysis for homogeneous ancillary data to ensure consistency over the climate time series. These products are part of the GPM constellation's effort to achieve broad 3-hour global coverage.

Use Cases

• Analyze long-term precipitation trends using climate-referenced mean rain rate retrievals.
• Study vertical cloud and precipitation structure using retrieved hydrometeor profile data.
• Compare sensor-specific retrievals (e.g., from GMI vs. MHS) using consistent Bayesian algorithm parameters.
• Assess retrieval uncertainty for climate records using the provided uncertainty estimates per profile.
• Investigate surface and atmospheric condition impacts on retrievals using ECMWF-Interim ancillary data fields.

Strengths

• Provides consistent climate records using homogeneous ECMWF-Interim reanalysis ancillary data.
• Large spatial sampling achieved from a constellation of 9+ passive microwave sensors.
• Algorithm retrieves multiple science fields including mean rain rate, vertical hydrometeor profiles, and their uncertainty.

Limitations

• Climate products use ancillary data with a 2-3 month lag behind near-realtime production.
• Specific row counts, geographic bias details, and sample sizes are not provided in the description.
• Earlier mission data required for long-term consistency may be archived separately.

Provenance

Source

NASA GES DISC (Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center).

Collection Method

Satellite data from GPM constellation passive microwave sensors processed with the GPROF Bayesian retrieval algorithm.

Time Range

Temporal coverage is not explicitly stated, but aims for a climate time series.

Freshness

Update frequency is not specified, but climate products use ancillary data with a multi-month lag.

Geography

Global coverage from satellite constellation, with 17 km spatial resolution.