GPM 3GPROF METOP-C: Global Monthly Precipitation Grids for Climate Studies

Version 07 climate-reference precipitation data from NASA's GPM mission uses a 2-3 month lagged ECMWF reanalysis for homogeneous ancillary conditions. This Level 3 product provides global gridded monthly precipitation averages at 0.25-degree resolution, derived from microwave sensors sensitive to liquid and ice hydrometeors. The dataset is produced by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and was last updated in March 2026.

Use Cases

• Conduct climate trend analysis based on homogeneous, climate-reference ancillary data.
• Validate and calibrate climate models using global gridded monthly precipitation averages.
• Study atmospheric water vapor and precipitation processes based on microwave radiometer retrievals.

Strengths

• Uses a homogeneous climate-reference ancillary dataset (ECMWF-Interim reanalysis) for consistent long-term analysis.
• Provides global coverage at a 0.25-degree spatial resolution.
• Data is from the current Version 07, superseding all older versions.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Ancillary data has a 2-3 month lag behind regular production, which may affect near-real-time applications.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) GES DISC

Collection Method

Retrievals from the METOP-C satellite's Microwave Humidity Sounder (MHS) processed by the GPROF algorithm.

Time Range

Monthly temporal resolution.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 02:18:03.205195; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Global spatial coverage.