TRMM TMPA-RT: Daily Near Real-Time Precipitation

Discontinued in December 2019, this dataset provides daily accumulated precipitation estimates derived from near real-time 3-hourly TRMM Multi-Satellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA-RT). It covers latitudes from 60°S to 60°N, with data beyond 50°S/N screened out due to unreliability, and is formatted in netCDF-4. The product has a latency of about 7 hours after the UTC day closes, offering rapid data but with reduced quality compared to research-grade products.

Use Cases

• Monitoring daily precipitation totals for flood forecasting based on near real-time latency.
• Analyzing spatial precipitation patterns over tropical and mid-latitude regions (60S-60N) using the 0.25-degree grid.
• Computing conditional mean precipitation where data coverage is incomplete, using the provided counts of valid retrievals per grid cell.
• Transitioning historical analysis workflows from the discontinued TMPA-RT product to the successor IMERG dataset.

Strengths

• Provides near real-time data with a latency of about 7 hours after the UTC day closes.
• Includes counts of valid retrievals per grid cell, enabling computation of mean precipitation even with fewer than 8 samples per day.
• Formatted in netCDF-4 with efforts to align with CF-compliant standards for interoperability.

Limitations

• The dataset was discontinued on December 31, 2019, and is no longer updated.
• Precipitation estimates at high latitudes (beyond 50°S/N) are screened out and considered very unreliable.
• The near real-time product has reduced quality compared to the research-quality TMPA product.

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

Derived by summing valid retrievals from the Near Real-Time 3-hourly TRMM Multi-Satellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA 3B42RT).

Freshness

Last updated metadata dates conflict: one source shows 2026-04-09, another shows 2020-01-01, indicating potential metadata inconsistency.

Geography

Global grid from 60°S to 60°N, with unreliable high-latitude data (beyond 50°S/N) screened out.