Micro Rain Radar Data for Atlantic Coast Snowstorms (2020-2023)

January 30, 2020, through February 28, 2023, data from the Micro Rain Radar 2 instrument deployed during the IMPACTS field campaign. This dataset contains vertical profiles of reflectivity, Doppler velocity, and derived microphysical parameters like liquid water content and drop size distribution. The campaign was conducted by NASA to study the formation and evolution of snowbands over the U.S. Atlantic Coast.

Use Cases

• Analyzing vertical structure of snowbands using reflectivity and Doppler velocity profiles.
• Studying snow particle growth mechanisms by examining droplet size and drop size distribution data.
• Identifying melting layer heights within winter storms for improved remote sensing interpretation.
• Estimating precipitation intensity and water content via rain rate and liquid water content columns.
• Validating and improving numerical weather prediction models with detailed in-storm microphysical observations.

Strengths

• Data spans three consecutive winter seasons (2020-2023), providing multi-year observations of snowstorm events.
• Contains multiple derived microphysical parameters (e.g., liquid water content, drop size distribution) from raw radar measurements.
• Collected as part of a focused NASA field campaign (IMPACTS) with specific science objectives for snowband study.

Limitations

• Exact dataset size, row count, and total file volume are not specified on any platform.
• License is listed as 'other-license-specified' on Data.gov but is 'None' on NASA Earthdata, creating a conflict.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Data collected by the UAlbany Micro Rain Radar 2 (MRR-2) instrument during the IMPACTS field campaign.

Time Range

2020-01-30 to 2023-02-28

Freshness

2026-03-12 20:35:01.255305

Geography

U.S. Atlantic Coast